The U.S. transportation system is aging, with many States seeing an ever-increasing number of highways and bridges that need more immediate attention. As a result, system performance is reduced, leading to potentially adverse impacts to quality of life, mobility, travel time, freight movements, and emergency response times. Often the most pressing needs are on the local systems, as evidenced by bridges that are being posted for reduced loads.
Project bundling helps address this national issue. By awarding a single contract for several similar preservation, rehabilitation, or replacement projects, agencies can streamline design and construction, reduce costs, and effectively decrease transportation project backlogs.
This proven practice draws upon efficiencies found through project delivery streamlining, as well as benefits from alternative and traditional contracting methods. A bundled contract could cover a single county, district, or State, and it may be tiered to allow a combination of work types (design, preservation, rehabilitation, or complete replacement). Bundling design and construction contracts saves procurement time, leverages design expertise, and builds momentum toward keeping critical assets in a state of good repair.
New Jersey implemented project bundling prior to the start of EDC-5:
Adopted Project Bundling Across NJDOT. Project bundling has been used in NJ for years as a way to save time in the procurement of designers and contractors, as well as to save money through economies of scale and reduced staff paperwork. It is incorporated into the Department's policies and procedures and most commonly referred to as batch solicitation.
Routinely Uses Project Bundling for the Delivery of Federally-Funded Capital Projects and State-Funded Maintenance Projects. NJDOT assesses projects and programs at the planning phase for their suitability for a project bundling approach for either design, construction, or both. Major programs that use project bundling include:
- Sign Structure Replacement Program - ADA Compliance Program - Maintenance Roadway Repair Contracts - Statewide Guiderail Replacement
When possible, NJDOT looks to use project bundling on smaller projects as well to save time and money.
Awarding a single contract for several preservation, rehabilitation, or replacement projects helps agencies reduce costs and achieve program goals.
Project bundling offers a comprehensive and accelerated ...
Reducing fatalities on rural roads remains a major challenge in the United States. Roadway departures on the rural road network account for one-third of traffic fatalities. Systemic application of proven roadway departure countermeasures, such as rumble strips, friction treatments, and clear zones, helps keep vehicles in their travel lanes, reduce the potential for crashes, and reduce the severity of those crashes that do occur.
Data-driven systemic analysis can help agencies prioritize the locations and countermeasures that will be most effective by taking a broad view to evaluate risks across an entire roadway system. It can be used to proactively implement countermeasures where crashes are likely to happen, even for locations where no crashes have been recorded. The benefits include safer roads, quick deployment, and flexibility.
NJ Expands Systemic Application of Proven Safety Countermeasures
Stage of Innovation:
DEVELOPMENT
(January 2021)
With EDC-5, NJ plans to expand their current practices to reduce rural roadway departures:
Utilizes Crash Data for Proactive Systemic Approach. Currently, NJ uses crash data to analyze transportation systems for all public roads and applies a proactive systemic approach including rumble striping, low-cost countermeasure mitigation, high friction surface treatments, and signage improvements, unless a location is on the high crash list. Then NJ provides project-specific mitigation to reduce or eliminate the issue. NJ implements these approaches on rural roads through the Local Safety, High Risk Rural Roads, and Preliminary Engineering and Design Assistance Programs.
What's Next?
Be Proactive and Organize Workshops. The FHWA Resource Center conducted a Train-the-Trainer Workshop at NJDOT Headquarters in June 2019. Training events, hosted by the state's MPOs, were being planned for safety professionals, rural roadway facility owners and maintainers on roadway departures, location identification, systemic approach to safety, and proven safety countermeasures, with the assistance of the FHWA Safety Program Office and the FHWA Resource Center.
The planned in-person workshops were cancelled due to COVID restrictions and CDC/State guidelines. Instead NJDOT and FHWA plan to host virtual training sessions presented by the FHWA Resource Center, tentatively scheduled for March 2021.
Reducing Rural Roadway Departures: NEW & NOTEWORTHY
What is Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian (STEP)?
Pedestrians account for over 17.5 percent of all fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes, and the majority of these deaths occur at uncontrolled crossing locations (such as non-intersections) or at intersections with no traffic signal or STOP sign. Cost-effective countermeasures with known safety benefits can help reduce pedestrian fatalities in these scenarios.
FHWA promoted the following safety countermeasures through EDC-4 and EDC-5:
Road Diets can reduce vehicle speeds, limit the number of lanes pedestrians cross, and create space to add new pedestrian facilities.
Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons (PHBs) are a beneficial intermediate option between Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacons (RRFBs) and a full pedestrian signal. They provide positive stop control in areas without the high pedestrian traffic volumes that typically warrant signal installation.
Pedestrian Refuge Islands provide a safe place to stop at the midpoint of the roadway before crossing the remaining distance. This is particularly helpful for older pedestrians or others with limited mobility.
Raised Crosswalks can reduce vehicle speeds.
Crosswalk Visibility Enhancements, such as crosswalk lighting and enhanced signing and marking, help drivers detect pedestrians—particularly at night.
Stage of Innovation:
INSTITUTIONALIZED
(January 2021)
NJ's work on STEP began with EDC-4 and continued to progress during EDC-5:
Developed an Action Plan for Implementing Pedestrian Crossing Countermeasures at Uncontrolled Locations. For this collaborative effort, NJDOT and FHWA reviewed existing practice and policies impacting crossings and recommended actions for targeting specific safety countermeasures to help reduce the number and rate of pedestrian crashes, fatalities, and injuries on NJ highways.
Devised RecommendationsFollowing STEP Guidance for Implementing Lower-Cost Countermeasures. The recommended countermeasures can be deployed based on specific needs, have a proven record of reducing crashes, and represent underutilized innovations that can have an immediate impact.
Developed NJ 2020 Strategic Highway Safety Plan. STEP strategies have been included in the 2020 NJ Strategic Highway Safety Plan update, completed in August 2020 and implementation efforts of proposed actions items are underway.
What's Next?
New Jersey has developed strategies in the 2020 Strategic Highway Safety Plan and will implement these strategies with the goal of eliminating all pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads.
Following a decade of transportation planning studies, including a Road Safety Audit (RSA), pedestrian and cyclist improvements are being programmed for Atlantic City's Atlantic ...
Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons, one of FHWA’s seven Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian (STEP) countermeasures, proven methods of reducing pedestrian collisions, are the subject of a ...
EDC STEP-aligned projects have been successfully deployed in locations across New Jersey, including a recent pedestrian improvement project along Washington Avenue in the Borough of ...
Please join the NJDOT Bureau of Research on April 2nd for an Innovation Exchange Webinar, EDC Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian (STEP), that we are ...
The New Jersey Local Technical Assistance Program (NJLTAP) has partnered with the FHWA Division Office, NJDOT Bureau of Safety, Bicycle and Pedestrian Programs and Local ...
The following videos describe six of FHWA’s Proven Safety Countermeasures that improve pedestrian safety. NJDOT developed these videos to train and educate viewers on the ...
The NJ Local Technical Assistance Program is holding an all-day workshop training event to learn more about the FHWA EDC-5 innovative initiative: Safe Transportation for ...
The Local Safety Peer Exchange Summary Report describes a series of peer exchange events that highlighted local initiatives that demonstrate best practice in addressing traffic ...
UAS offer several transformative aspects for highway transportation, enhancing safety and productivity, while also reducing cost.
Unmanned aerial systems (UAS), sometimes referred to as drones, are multi-use aircraft controlled from a licensed operator on the ground. The benefits of UAS are wide ranging and impact nearly all aspects of highway transportation—replacing boots on the ground, increasing accuracy, speeding up data collection, and providing access to hard-to-reach locations.
UAS provide high-quality survey and data mapping that can be collected automatically or remotely. Large areas can be mapped relatively quickly in comparison to traditional survey and mapping practices. Other uses include survey and imagery as part of emergency response events, where traditional surveying and mapping practices may be inadequate or sites impossible to access. UAS can supplement conventional activities, such as bridge safety inspection and routine construction inspection, to increase safety and collect data from otherwise unattainable perspectives.
UAS improve operations, construction, inspection, and safety by collecting data needed to design, build, and operate the highway system. Bridge inspection enhanced by UAS improves safety for the inspection team and the traveling public by reducing the need for temporary work zones and specialized access equipment, which can also be very cost effective. Construction inspection with UAS allows for a bird’s eye view of a project’s progress and for the development of three-dimensional (3D) terrain models that document the construction process and assist in assessment of earthwork quantity measurement.
UAS technology gives State departments of transportation (DOTs) eyes-in-the-sky during incident responses for roadway disturbances and for damage assessments following fires, earthquakes, and bridge hits. It allows States to obtain quality data to make better-informed decisions, all collected from a relatively low-cost platform.
Field tours demonstrate UAS capabilities to staff and partnering organizations.
Integrating UAS in NJ Transportation Operations
Stage of Innovation:
INSTITUTIONALIZED
(December 2021)
NJ has been a national leader in UAS and initiated several activities before and since EDC-5:
Established Drone Program. NJDOT’s Division of Multi-Modal Services established a drone program and hired a UAS Coordinator position in Aeronautics to lead NJDOT’s UAS initiatives.
Leveraged Federal Financial Assistance. NJDOT successfully applied for three FHWA grants, including:
FHWA Tech Transfer Deployment Funds to hold a UAS Peer Exchange on Best Practices. A national UAS Peer Exchange was held based on the successful NJ model and NJDOT’s UAS Coordinator presented at the event in Washington DC.
FHWA STIC Incentive Program Funding to purchase equipment and training to evaluate the use of UAS for structural inspections, Traffic Incident Management (TIM), surveying and accelerating construction projects, determining flooding adjacent to state highways, and bridge deck thermography mapping.
FHWA State Planning & Research Program funds for research into Best Practices, Policies and Procedures to recommend potential legislative and regulatory remedies, enforcement and compliance strategies and tools, and training products for engineers and consultants involved in UAS operations.
Conducted Research and Field Demonstration Studies.Integrating UAS in transportation has been the subject of research and field studies to demonstrate the use case for high-mast light pole inspections, traffic incident management and monitoring, dredging and beach replenishment, photogrammetry, bridge inspection, and watershed management, among other topics.
In 2019 after the kick-off EDC-5, NJDOT established a protocol to streamline requests for UAS usage on projects through the SimpliGov online system. The agency also developed an internal Night Training Powerpoint Course to fulfill the FAA COA night authorization requirements, helping to support future requests for NJDOT UAS operations at night. Additionally, the agency created an interactive UAS display for "Take Your Child to Work Day" to promote staff and youth education of the program's work. This display was done as part of the NJDOT Commitment to Communities initiative and under the Bureau of Aeronautics' mandate to promote aviation awareness and showcase UAS unit benefits. By 2020, the NJDOT UAS program had supported more than a dozen construction management projects.
STIC Incentive Funding helped build the capacity of the UAS Program. Work on this grant was completed and the final report is available here. The NJDOT UAS Program was featured in the FHWA EDC-5 Webinar Series: (SR200). The presentation, Developing a UAS Program: From Startup to Additional Tasking, highlighted key challenges, benefits and lessons in standing up a UAS Program at a state DOT. The NJDOT UAS Program was highlighted in a video highlighting the innovation and benefits of the program for the state. The NJDOT UAS Program was featured in the UAS for Traffic Monitoring Applications webinar as part of the EDC-5 series of webinars in December 2020.
What's Next?
The UAS Program subsequently was awarded a second STIC Incentive Funding Grant to purchase additional equipment and to perform UAS Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC) trainings to support transportation emergency response and operations safety units. The NJDOT UAS Program is working with other state DOT agencies and domestic vendors to domestically source drone technology in response to the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act expected to go in effect in 2023.
NJDOT’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Operations Manual (UASFOM) is an example of knowledge sharing through development of a procedures manual that guides practice within the ...
This video features NJDOT's Unmanned Aerial Systems program in the Bureau of Aeronautics and explores how the adoption of drone technology can serve NJDOT's goals ...
NJDOT held a Peer Exchange on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS, also known as Drones) on October 3-5, with representatives including six state DOTs and FAA. ...
The NJ State Transportation Innovation Council (NJ STIC) Fall 2020 Meeting, held on November 6, 2020, focused on the introduction of EDC-6 Innovative Initiatives and summary of experience of EDC-5 initiative implementation. The topic anticipated the beginning of the Every Day Counts (EDC)-6 two-year program in January 2021. The STIC Meeting Agenda had been distributed to the invitees prior to the meeting. Participants could use the chat feature to offer comments or ask questions of the speakers during the online meeting.
After Asst. Commissioner Michael Russo offered his Welcome and Opening Remarks, Valeriya Remezova, Deputy Division Administrator for the FHWA NJ Office, and Amanda Gendek, Manager of the NJDOT Bureau of Research, rounded out the Welcome and Opening Remarks and set the stage for the primary focus of the Fall Quarterly STIC meeting on the transition from EDC-5 to EDC-6.
FHWA EDC-5 Innovation Updates. Helene Roberts, Innovation Coordinator and Performance Manager for the FHWA NJ Office, gave a brief update on NJDOT’s progress on institutionalization of EDC-5 initiatives. She presented a dashboard that displays the current and planned stage of deployment over the 2-year cycle for each innovation initiative, and tracks projects and funding under the STIC Incentive Grants and the Accelerated Innovation Deployment Demonstration Grant programs.
Core Innovation Area (CIA) Updates. The meeting continued with presentations from Core Innovative Area (CIA) Team Leaders who provided updates of the status of EDC-5 initiatives on topics of Safety, Mobility and Operations and Infrastructure Preservation.
Featured Presentation: Weather Savvy Instrumentation. Sal Cowan, Senior Director of Transportation Mobility at NJDOT, gave a presentation on the Weather Savvy Roads Pilot Project, a demonstration project funded through an Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Grant that involves equipment installation and development of a web interface that enables real-time monitoring of roadway conditions. This winter will provide an important test of the system’s capabilities.
Featured Presentation: Weather Savvy Instrumentation
EDC-6 Innovations: Priorities – Interactive Polling Exercise. Helene Roberts introduced each of the seven EDC-6 Innovative Initiatives with a brief description. Initiatives include strategies that focus on people, products and processes. A poll was conducted for each of the initiatives to gauge interest in the initiative among STIC members, and what kind of technical assistance would be most helpful in working toward institutionalization of each initiative. Helene noted that the responses will inform the NJDOT discussion around adoption of the EDC-6 initiatives.
EDC-5 & Other Initiatives – Challenges and Lessons Learned Break-Out Sessions. Meeting participants were divided into break-out sessions to explore their agency experience of the EDC-5 initiatives including the status of implementation and any challenges encountered. Participants were asked what kind of technical assistance would be most valuable as the agencies and organizations work toward institutionalization of these initiatives. Discussion also explored topics for Tech Talks! and success stories of innovation implementation throughout the State.
Reminders and Updates. Asst. Commissioner Mike Russo encouraged NJ STIC members to enroll in a mileage-based user fee (MBUF) study being sponsored by the Eastern Transportation Coalition (formerly the I-95 Corridor Coalition). The study is exploring an MBUF as a possible sustainable solution for transportation funding in New Jersey. The study needs participants; more information is available here.
Helene Roberts announced the FHWA EDC-6 Virtual Summit to be held on December 8th-10th. Registration is open to the public and the link to register is here. The Summit offers in-depth information on the new innovative initiatives, and an Innovation Showcase that will feature examples of STIC and non-STIC innovations from across the country in order to expand their use and impact.
The Fall Quarterly STIC meeting offered an opportunity for STIC members to share experiences of the EDC program and to contribute to the adoption of EDC-6 innovative initiatives in the next program round.
A recording of the NJ STIC Fall 2020 Meeting can be found here and to the right.
The NJ STIC Fall Meeting Presentation can be found in its entirety here and in sections below.
A summary of the polling and break-out sessions can be found here.
New Jersey’s Department of Transportation is participating in a pilot study exploring a potential future transportation funding solution for the roads, bridges and public transit in New Jersey. The pilot study will examine whether mileage-based user fees (MBUF) offer a feasible alternative to the fuel tax, which is seeing declining revenues as more drivers shift to more efficient and electric vehicles.
The pilot study is taking place through a partnership of the New Jersey Department of Transportation and The Eastern Transportation Coalition. NJDOT is neutral about whether MBUF is the ultimate answer, but recognizes the importance of further studying MBUF in real-world pilots as a means to finding a realistic and effective solution to our long-term funding challenge.
NJDOT is seeking participants from the transportation community to help test drive new technology needed for a MBUF system and offer their insights. While the pilot study is currently underway, there is still time to enroll in the program.
Enrollment is easy and only requires a couple of steps to begin:
Step Two: Visit the Coalition’s MBUF website to begin enrollment.
Within a week of enrollment, you’ll receive a device that turns your car into a “smart car.” Just plug it in, drive for four months, and provide feedback via quick online surveys.
The Eastern Transportation Coalition has already conducted pilot studies for trucks and passenger vehicles. Findings from these pilot studies and other technical memoranda addressing such topics as administration and compliance, privacy, interoperability, equity and fairness can be found here.
The Eastern Transportation Coalition, formerly known as the I-95 Corridor Coalition, is a partnership of 17 states and the District of Columbia focused on connecting for solutions to support the economic engine of the U.S. The Coalition represents 40% of the U.S. population and GDP.
The Coalition is neutral regarding MBUF as the ultimate solution for transportation funding but wants to ensure that the voices of citizens along the Eastern Seaboard are part of the national discussion. Results from studies across the country will help policymakers decide on next steps.
NJDOT’s Traffic Incident Management Program offers training and resources to improve the coordinated response to traffic incidents. Source: NJTIM website
NJDOT’s New Jersey’s Traffic Incident Management (TIM) program consists of a planned and coordinated multi-disciplinary process to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents so that traffic flow may be restored as safely and quickly as possible after an incident. According to the 2015 State of New Jersey Traffic Incident Management Strategic Plan, about half of all traffic congestion is caused by temporary, one-time occurrences, such as crashes, disabled vehicles, spilled cargo, highway maintenance and reconstruction, adverse weather, and planned special events. These occurrences reduce roadway capacity, disrupt the normal operation of the transportation system, increase the risk of secondary crashes, and result in lost time and productivity, increased cost of goods and services, negative impacts on air quality and the environment, and reduced quality of life and motorist satisfaction.
Training classes include incident resolution exercises. Source: NJTIM website
By reducing the duration and impact of traffic incidents, effective traffic incident management practices improve the safety of crash victims, other motorists, and emergency responders. TIM practices are designed to reduce the time to detect, respond to, investigate, and safely clear the incident, to safely manage personnel and equipment at the site, provide timely and accurate information to the public, and to manage affected traffic until normal conditions are restored. Stakeholders in the Traffic Incident Management program include federal, state, and local agencies and private sector partners including emergency medical services (EMS), fire and rescue, law enforcement, transportation agencies, medical examiners and coroners, hazardous materials contractors, towing and recovery, emergency management, public safety communications, and traffic information media.
The FHWA’s Every Day Counts (EDC) program, in cooperation with the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2), offered the first national traffic incident management process and training program as an innovation under EDC-2 in 2013-2014. First offered in 2010, NJDOT’s classes in TIM predated the FHWA EDC initiative. The NJ TIM Responder Training provides interactive, hands-on incident resolution exercises to help participants learn to coordinate incident response activities and optimize operations in the field. The training supports development of a unified practice among all stakeholders. NJDOT has continued to train in TIM during the pandemic and, as of September 1, 2020, the program has trained 29,798 incident responders.
NJDOT and the ITS Resource Center at NJIT have updated the NJTIM website. Source: NJTIM website
In alignment with the 2015 Strategic Plan, NJDOT and the ITS Resource Center at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, developed the NJ TIM website in 2016 to provide support to the TIM program. Recently, they have modernized the website through the addition of new content, including videos and other resources such as case studies and training recaps. A schedule of virtual trainings, and registration for individual and group training, are available. The website provides links to the Strategic Plan and Safety Guidelines for Emergency Responders, as well as contact information for all federal, state, county, and local law enforcement agencies operating in the state.
Video screenshot of hazard display message received by motorists. Source: NJDOT
Through EDC-4, FHWA promoted the use of data to improve traffic incident management. NJDOT is increasingly looking to technology to improve safety at incident sites. A pilot study looked at the effectiveness of using connected vehicle technology on 32 safety service vehicles to alert drivers to the presence of safety service patrol (SSP) workers via the mobile navigation app Waze. NJDOT established a Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) Integration Working Group to develop a plan for CAD integration among New Jersey agencies and other organizations. Using the OpenReach system, NJDOT has implemented the FHWA key performance measures: roadway clearance time; incident clearance time; and number of secondary crashes. Traffic incident management data sharing between the NJDOT and law enforcement systems is expected to decrease incident response times, properly capture the incident timeline, and improve the traffic incident management process. More information on these efforts can be found at the NJDOT Technology Transfer website.
Every two years, FHWA works with state transportation departments, local governments, tribes, private industry and other stakeholders to identify and champion a new collection of innovations that merit accelerated deployment through the Every Day Counts Program (EDC). The FHWA’s Center for Accelerated Innovation (CAI) has recently issued the next round of areas of innovation, EDC-6.
EDC is a state-based model that identifies and rapidly deploys proven, yet underutilized innovations to shorten the project delivery process, enhance roadway safety, reduce traffic congestion, and improve environmental sustainability. Proven innovations promoted through EDC facilitate greater efficiency at the state and local levels, saving time, money and resources that can be used to deliver more projects.
FHWA’s CAI fosters collaboration between stakeholders within the transportation community through the State Transportation Innovation Councils (STIC), which are charged with evaluating innovations and spearheading their deployment in each state.
FHWA announced that it will officially launch EDC-6 by webinar on September 23, 2020. More information is expected to follow regarding virtual summits during which transportation leaders and front-line professionals from across the country will discuss and identify opportunities for implementing the innovations that best fit the needs of their respective state transportation program. Following the summits, New Jersey will finalize their selection of innovations, establish performance goals for the level of implementation and adoption over the upcoming two-year cycle, and begin to implement the innovations with the support and assistance of the technical teams established for each innovation. Further descriptions of each of the EDC-6 Innovations are below:
Crowdsourcing for Advancing Operations. State and local transportation agencies need real-time, high-quality, and wide-ranging information to optimize roadway operations for reduced congestion and increased safety. Agencies are increasing the quality and quantity of operations data with crowdsourcing, which enables staff to make better decisions that lead to safer and more reliable travel and apply proactive strategies cost effectively. With crowdsourced data from multiple streams, agencies can capture in real time what happens between sensors, in rural areas, along arterials, and beyond jurisdictional boundaries.
e-Ticketing and Digital As-Builts. Highway construction projects generate massive amounts of valuable data that historically were communicated via paper, but agencies are improving on paper process by integrating them into electronic and digital workflows. Electronic ticketing improves the tracking, exchange, and archiving of materials tickets. Digital information, such as three-dimensional design models and other metadata, enhances the future usability of as-built plans for operations, maintenance, and asset management. Both can increase project safety, quality, and cost savings through efficient data gathering and sharing.
Strategic Workforce Development is among the innovative initiatives in EDC-6 offering strategies to identify, train, and place workers for highway construction jobs.
Next-Generation Traffic Incident Management: Integrating Technology, Data and Training. More than 6 million traffic crashes are reported each year, creating congestion and putting motorists and responders at risk of secondary crashes. Next-generation traffic incident management (NextGen TIM) builds on FHWA’s national TIM responder training program to shorten the duration and impact of incidents and improve the safety of motorists, crash victims, and responders. NextGen TIM offers tools, data, and training mechanisms that can benefit both new and existing TIM programs, including local agency and off-interstate applications.
Strategic Workforce Development. The demand for highway construction, maintenance, and operations workers is growing while the transportation industry is experiencing a revolution of emerging technologies that require new skills. The Highway Construction Workforce Partnership developed strategies and resources to demonstrate the value of a career in transportation and fill the jobs that support the Nation’s highway system. Resources include the “Identify, Train, Place” workforce development playbook and Roads to Your Future outreach campaign to attract and retain workers in highway construction jobs.
Targeted Overlay Pavement Solutions. Pavement overlays represent a significant portion of highway infrastructure dollars. Many pavements in the highway system have reached or are nearing the end of their design life while carrying traffic that exceeds their initial design criteria. Targeted overlay pavement solutions (TOPS) are now available for asphalt and concrete pavements that enable agencies to maximize their investment and help ensure safer, longer-lasting roadways. TOPS will improve performance, lessen traffic impacts, and reduce the cost of pavement ownership.
Ultra-High Performance Concrete for Bridge Preservation and Repair. Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC)—a fiber-reinforced, cementitious composite material with mechanical and durability properties that far exceed those of conventional concrete—has become popular for field-cast prefabricated bridge elements. Bridge preservation and repair is a new application of UHPC that offers superior strength, enhanced performance, and improved life-cycle cost over traditional methods.
Virtual Public Involvement. Public engagement during transportation project planning and development helps agencies identify issues and concerns early in the process, which can ultimately accelerate project delivery. Virtual public involvement supports agency efforts to engage the public more effectively by supplementing face-to-face information sharing with technology. Techniques such as telephone town halls, online meetings, and social media increase the number and variety of ways to inform the public, receive feedback, and collect and consider stakeholder input.
FHWA recently announced the award of a State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) funding grant ($38,490) to support NJDOT’s Division of Local Aid and Economic Development in their efforts to deliver software training to NJDOT and local transportation agency staff to perform electronic plan reviews.
The STIC-funded training initiative will be provided in conjunction with NJDOT’s efforts to implement features of the Project Management and Reporting System (PMRS), initially launched in 2018, to establish electronic document management, electronic plan review, and other 21st century project management innovations to help make project management more efficient. The PMRS is also being designed to integrate with tools, such as Bluebeam® Revu® and geographic information systems (GIS), to enable collaborative plan review and georeferencing project data.
NJDOT is continuing with its plan for an enterprise innovation shift to electronic project management. The NJDOT Division of Local Aid is about to implement Phase 2 of the PMRS. This implementation includes transitioning plan review from a paper-based process to an electronic process offering greater standardization and tracking capabilities. The Department’s shift is well-aligned with EDC-3’s e-Construction initiative and Local Aid’s objectives to improve program delivery through electronic review.
With this shift, Local Aid project managers will have easier access to project plans and documents from the District Offices in electronic formats from anywhere. The innovations embedded in the platform and supporting software will enable easy file sharing, efficient project transfers, tracking comments and their resolution, and the ability to track and review previous project phases more efficiently.
The STIC funding will support the NJDOT Division of Local Aid in the development of a software training program for municipal and county engineers and Local Aid staff. The training will be conducted over a two-month period with various morning and afternoon classes to offer flexibility in scheduling and attendance. The initial “live” training sessions are expected to be recorded for future online, “on-demand” use. The course development and training initiative will be carried out by a team that manages the Local Aid Resource Center in association with NJDOT Local Aid staff.
The training seeks to accomplish key goals aligned with the Department’s commitment to using technology to enable staff to be more efficient in accomplishing routine tasks and collaborative activities with external stakeholders. Ultimately, the transition to an online tool is expected to reduce paper consumption as well as centralize and standardize project management activities.
Click on NJ STIC Incentive Funding Grants to get more information on the purpose, eligibility and uses for which the NJ STIC has sought incentive funding in recent years.
NJDOT's Pavement and Drainage Management and Technology Unit is advancing the use of Pavement Preservation treatments on the state's roads to increase safety, enhance durability, improve customer experience and minimize costs. Pavement rehabilitation is needed for deficient roadways, but pavement preservation can extend pavement life for state highways in good and fair condition.
Watch this educational video to learn more about the Pavement Preservation program at NJDOT and the tools in the pavement preservation toolbox. The video explains the rationale for maintaining roads in a state of good repair and establishing a dedicated program for pavement preservation. The video highlights several pavement preservation treatments in the NJDOT toolbox and how, when and why the treatments are used.
