The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Talking TIM webinar series provides best practices, new technological innovations, and successful implementations. The webinar series provides a forum where TIM champions with any level of experience can exchange information about current practices, programs, and technologies. Each month, the FHWA TIM Program Team seeks to feature content that highlights successful programs, identifies best practices, and showcases technology that advances the profession.
January 2021: The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Role in TIM, Digital Alert Pilots in St Louis and Kansas City, and FHWA Every Day Counts Round Six (EDC-6) NextGen TIM Overview
February 2021: Innovative Tools for Responder and Road Worker Safety
March 2021: AASHTO’s Role in TIM, Nebraska Tow Temporary Traffic Control Program, Fire Truck Attenuators for Temporary Traffic Control, Massachusetts Legislation for Driver and Responder Safety
April 2021: Wisconsin’s Traffic Incident Management Enhancement (TIME) Program, City of Seattle TIM and Response Team Program, and North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) TIM Innovations
May 2021: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Role in TIM, Incident Detours Involving Railroad Crossings, Washington State’s TIM Program and Virtual Coordination, and Responder Vehicle to Traffic Management Center Video Sharing
June 2021: Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for Traffic Incident Management
July 2021: Lubbock Fire and Rescue Helmet Innovation, RESQUE-1 Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Assistance, Geographically-Tagged Information from Travelers
August 2021: CDOT TIM for Localities, Texas Commission on Law Enforcement TIM Training Requirement, Schertz Fire and Rescue TIM Training Institutionalization, Institutionalizing TIM training for EMS Professionals in Georgia
September 2021: Rural Roadway Strategies for Incident Management
October 2021: Autonomous Truck Mounted Attenuator Testing and Implementation in Colorado, Autonomous and Driverless Pilots for Large Trucks in Arizona, Rural-Focused Towing Programs in Florida
November 2021: National Kickoff: Crash Responder Safety Week 2021
December 2021: In-Cab Incident Alerts for Commercial Vehicles
January 2022: Illinois TIM Program Overview and Training Video Use, Law Enforcement and First Responder Interactions Plans for Automated Driving Systems (ADS), Total Solar Eclipse Planning for 2023 and 2024
February 2022: Public Safety Announcements across Nine States for Motorist and Traffic Incident Responder Safety, TIM Video Sharing Use Cases: Findings from the Recent EDC-6 Next Generation TIM Workshop, TRACS and MACH: Software to Simplify Electronic Crash Reporting and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD)
March 2022: Outreach for Responder Safety through Collaborations with the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the Towing and Recovery Association of America, North Carolina Tethered Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program, and Advanced Responder Warning through Safety Vests Fueled by Video Analytics
April 2022: Smart Lighting Strategies for Responder Vehicles, Incident Response After Action Reviews Using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Imagery, Incident Response After Action Reviews Using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Imagery
May 2022: Data Use and Visualization, Promoting Roadway Safety Through Move Over Law and Responder Struck-By Awareness, The New Jersey TIM Program
June 2022: Ohio DOT Quick Clear Demonstration, Electric Vehicle Battery Fires and the TIM Timeline, Montana’s TIM Program
July 2022: The National Unified Goal: What Is It and How Do We Make It Relevant?, Planning and Responding to Special Events in Minnesota, Iowa DOT TIM Program Overview and Strategies for Quicker Incident Detection
August 2022: Overview of the Florida Heartland TIM Committee and Florida’s Expanded Deployment of Cameras on Road Ranger Vehicles, What’s New for the 2022 TIM Capability Maturity Self-Assessment, The TIM National Unified Goal: Relevancy of the TIM NUG Strategies
September 2022: Move Over and Responder Safety Technologies, Houston Traffic Incident Management and Training
National Unified Goals Review and Feedback.
January 2023: Mitigating Work Zone Traffic Incidents Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), Every Day Counts Round 7 (EDC-7) Innovation, Next Generation TIM: Technology for Lifesaving Response, Traffic Incident Management National Unified Goal (NUG) Review and Feedback, Part 3
February 2023: Findings from Move Over Compliance and Responder Safety Technology Research, After Action Review of a Multi-Vehicle Fire, EDC-7 Summit Debrief: TIM Technologies for Saving Lives.
March 2023: Light-emitting diode (LED) Temporary Traffic Control Devices for Digital Motorist Alerts, Moveable Barriers and Debris Removal Systems, National Secondary Crash Research.
April 2023: Responder to Vehicle (R2V) Alerts in the District of Columbia, The Role of Medical Examiners in TIM, New Audience Listening Session
May 2023: Highway to the Danger Zone, North Carolina’s Rural Safety Service Patrol and TIM Program
June 2023: Using Apparatus to Protect Responders and Communicate with Drivers, Retrofitting Aging Fire Apparatus into Traffic Management Units with Truck Mounted Attenuator
July 2023: Emergency Vehicle Preemption in the Phoenix, AZ Region, Traffic Incident Management for Managed Lanes in Florida
August 2023: Medical Helicopter Landing Zone Considerations for Roadway Crashes, Wearable 360 Lighting: Real Roadside Visibility and Safety in a Distracted World
September 2023: Managing the I-40 Mississippi Bridge Closure, I-95 Bridge Collapse Response and Coordination in Pennsylvania
October 2023: North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Incident Management Assistance Patrol (IMAP) Tools and Safety Service Patrol (SSP) Research Needs, SSP State of Practice: Findings from the SSP Pooled Fund Study
December 2023: City of Fresno Improves Emergency Response Vehicle Routing Using Their Safer Platform, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Virtual Coordination Center (VCC)
February 2024: Good Practices and Current Research in Vehicle Lighting for Roadway Incidents, Changes for TIM in the Newly Released MMUCC 6th Edition and the MUTCD 11th Edition
March 2024: Missouri Department of Transportation (DOT) and Highway Patrol Full Scale TIM Demonstration, Active 911 on South Carolina Interstates for Faster On-Scene Traffic Incident Response
October 2024: Tennessee TIM Strategic Plan and Its Implementation, Effective Tool for Removing Crash and Disabled Vehicles from the Roadway
December 2024: Electric Vehicle Task Force: An Overview of Development, Products, and Next Steps, Electric Vehicle Incident Scene Awareness
January 2025: Advancing Safe, Quick Clearance for Commercial Vehicles, A Cloud-based Traffic Signal Preemption System for Safer, Quicker Emergency Response
February 2025: Jason Dicembre – Maryland Department of Transportation, Dr. Darcy M. Bullock – Purdue University
March 2025: Texas’ Statewide TIM Program, Minnesota’s Freeway Incident Response Safety Team (FIRST) Program
FHWA recently released its EDC-7 Summit Summary and Baseline Report that can be found here.
EDC-7 Summit Summary and Baseline Report includes information on each states plan to advance the innovations being promoted in Round 7.
The Report highlights the Every Day Counts innovations that FHWA is promoting in the program’s seventh round (EDC-7) and includes the baseline deployment status of the innovations at the beginning of 2023 and the goals for adoption set by each of the states over the two year, 2023-2024 period.
The report also shares highlights from the EDC-7 Virtual Summit held in February 2023, including remarks from transportation leaders given during the summit’s opening sessions on the three focus areas of EDC-7—improving safety for all users, building sustainable infrastructure, and growing an inclusive workforce.
The NJ STIC’s baseline assessment of its deployment status for the innovations being advanced by its Core Innovation Area (CIA) Teams during Round 7 can be found in the FHWA report. Click the “EDC-7” button on our NJ STIC Innovative Initiatives page to learn more about the priority innovations, goals for deployment and planned activities for Round 7.
Every Day Counts (EDC) is the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) program to advance a culture of innovation in the transportation community in partnership with public and private stakeholders. Through this State-based effort, FHWA coordinates rapid deployment of proven strategies and technologies to shorten the project delivery process, enhance roadway safety, reduce traffic congestion, and integrate automation.
NJDOT’s Division of Local Aid & Economic Development continues its efforts to make its project management processes more efficient by implementing electronic plan review. The Division is preparing to implement electronic plan review, a feature that was previously incorporated in the Project Management and Reporting System (PMRS), initially launched in 2021, to establish electronic document management, electronic plan review, and other 21st century project management innovations to make project management more efficient.
Training Sessions in an Innovation Context. The adoption of electronic plan review seeks to accomplish key goals aligned with the Department’s commitment to using technology to enable staff to perform routine tasks more efficiently. Ultimately, the transition to an electronic process will reduce paper consumption and centralize and standardize some project management activities. The shift will allow Local Aid project managers, NJDOT Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and designers to collaborate efficiently, to enable easy file sharing and to track and manage the comment resolution process.
Local Aid’s objectives to improve program delivery through electronic review is well-aligned with EDC-3’s e-Construction initiative. The online training sessions targeted to NJDOT and Local Public Agency and consultants are being funded, in part, through a State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) Incentive Funding Grant.
Each year the New Jersey STIC seeks to advance the deployment of innovations through the use of STIC Incentive Funding Grants. Click on NJ STIC Incentive Funding Grants to get more information on the purpose, eligibility and uses of NJ STIC Incentive Funding in recent years.
The FHWA EDC-7 Virtual Summit, held February 14-16, 2023, featured several New Jersey initiatives.
NJDOT’s Sal Cowan, Senior Director, Transportation Mobility, presented as a subject matter expert on Next Gen TIM: Technology for Saving Lives. He discussed NJDOT’s use of real-time notifications to commercial drivers, LED flares at incident scenes, and light towers on incident management response trucks for scene lighting. You can see his presentation here or the first video to the right.
As part of the National STIC Network Showcase, two New Jersey Metropolitan Planning Organizations, North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) and Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), presented on techniques for Virtual Public Involvement. The MPOs used innovative strategies to increase public participation, particularly among traditionally underserved populations, in the long-range planning process. Click to see the presentation or see the second video to the right.
Six New Jersey innovations were included as part of the National STIC Network Innovation Showcase. Please click on the images below to find out more about these innovations that were implemented in the Garden State.
The FHWA EDC-7 Virtual Summit introduced the next round of innovative initiatives that merit widespread adoption by transportation agencies and other stakeholders.
General information on the EDC-7 Virtual Summit can be found here along with a link to the agenda for the event.
FHWA EDC-7 Virtual Summit Breakout: Next Gen TIM: Technology for Saving Lives
FHWA EDC-7 Virtual Summit | National STIC Network Showcase: Growing an Inclusive
Strategic Workforce Development, an innovative initiative of the Every Day Counts Program, suggests the importance of fostering an environment and partnerships favorable to training programs, pre-apprenticeship programs, and support for women and minorities in the construction workforce, among other strategies. NJDOT’s Youth Corps Urban Gateway Enhancement Program promotes workforce development by supporting transportation-related community projects that engage youth and young adults in underserved communities. NJDOT partners with local government agencies, not-for-profits, community-based organizations and other entities with established youth programs to provide summer employment, as well as training and other supportive services, to the program participants working to improve gateway areas at state highways.
We interviewed Chrystal Section, Supervisor of the Non-Discrimination Programs Unit in the NJDOT’s Division of Civil Rights and Affirmative Action. The unit includes Title VI, Environmental Justice, Americans with Disabilities Act, Limited English Proficiency, and two special programs: the Youth Corps Urban Gateway Enhancement program and the National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI).
Q. The Youth Corps Urban Gateway Enhancement Program has been operating since 1998. What prompted the start of the program?
Members of the Division of Civil Rights attended an AASHTO subcommittee conference on the program. Our division became very interested seeing that it would be beneficial to our youth and young adults in underserved communities. At the time, Civil Rights worked with NJDOT’s Adopt a Highway program to develop the Urban Gateway Enhancement Program.
Q. Is the NJDOT program affiliated with the NJ Department of Labor’s Youth Corps Program in New Jersey?
No. We do not work directly with the NJ Department of Labor Urban Youth Corps program. NJDOT implements the Urban Gateway Enhancement Program with the support of federal funding.
Q. What is your role with the program?
I am the project manager, and I work with the supervisors at the various agencies that are participating. I am responsible for outreach, the website presence including grant cycle announcement and application availability statewide, review of applications, award announcement letters, the kick-off meeting with all the funded organizations, ensuring recipients provide close-out documents for reimbursement, and providing the final project report to FHWA.
Q. How much funding is available to each applicant?
Up to $32,000 is available to each applicant organization. At least 50 percent of the budget must be dedicated to the youth participants in earnings, training and supportive services. Teams are formed with approximately 6 to 10 youths. The funding also pays for the local supervisor, and equipment and supplies as needed.
Some of the applications request less than the grant cap, especially if the organization has participated previously and has purchased costly equipment already.
Q. What might be a typical hourly wage or stipend?
Participants are paid minimum wage, $15/hour, although some of the participating organizations have stipends, so they would pay them based on the stipend. The youths and young adults are not paid less than minimum wage. The participants work four to six hours per day for up to six to eight weeks during the summer.
Program participants may learn skills including the basics of landscaping, horticulture, and installation of streetscape and pedestrian enhancements.
Q. How do you get the word out about the program?
Our outreach includes sending letters to previous participants and mayors in underserved communities, and we send out a blast on all NJDOT social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, and post the notice on the NJDOT website on the Civil Rights and Clean Up NJ webpages.
Q. How are participating organizations chosen?
We accept applications from any entity that fits the criteria set forth in the application. When I first started with the program, I worked primarily with Urban Enterprise Zones but the program has spread through word of mouth. We continue to focus on underserved communities. The applicants must have established youth programs. The goal of NJDOT’s program is to benefit youth and young adults between the ages of 16 and 25 who are economically or socially disadvantaged and who have experienced barriers to employment (e.g., the lack of a high school diploma, homelessness, teen parenting, being physically or mentally challenged, or an ex-offender). These program participants receive training while receiving a paycheck. Depending on the project, they will have an opportunity to learn the basics of urban forestry, landscaping, fabrication and installation of streetscape and pedestrian enhancements, horticulture, construction inspection and materials testing.
Applicants have included cities, youth corps, churches, school districts, and other not-for-profit community-based organizations. Each community organization provides the program’s structure and supervision and also provides life skills, and safety and technical skills training. For examples of grantees and projects, please see Table 1.
As previously noted, some former funding recipients apply in subsequent years, often to continue maintenance on the original project site.
Q. Can you describe the process once you have received the applications?
We receive 14 applications on average each year, and we can usually fund up to 12. A team of 11 NJDOT subject matter experts (SMEs) serve on the application scoring team. These individuals are from several areas including Civil Rights, Local Aid & Economic Development, Community Outreach, Landscape, Project Management, Statewide Planning, Capital Planning and Management, and Operations. Representatives from these departments volunteer their time to review and individually score the applications and then we discuss the scoring and make the awardee selections.
In their applications, the organizations can list up to three site locations and specify the type of projects they will be working on at each location. The projects must be located at gateways to state roadways and be sited on land owned by the State, as NJDOT does not have jurisdiction over county and municipal roadways. Clean-up, maintenance, on-going maintenance from previous projects, anti-graffiti initiatives, planting flowers and trees, and other landscaping are typical projects.
Scoring of the applications takes into consideration whether the project is feasible and provides meaningful and productive work for the participants. Skills training, including work skills, life skills, and safety skills training should be included. Ensuring a safe environment, including providing COVID 19 personal protective equipment and protocols during the pandemic, is also a consideration. Scorers also look for local support for the projects.
Q. Once projects are awarded, what’s next? Does the program leverage the expertise or capabilities of NJDOT employees? How do NJDOT employees get involved in teaching or mentoring in the program?
When we have our kick-off meeting there are representatives from NJDOT Operations and Landscape present to answer any questions. As the project moves forward, we provide technical support as needed, either by meeting with the teams at the project site or answering questions by phone.
Members of the committee visit the project sites during the summer to provide feedback on the great work participants are doing, and to answer questions they may have
Q. What are the benefits of the program?
There are numerous benefits to both NJDOT and the program participants. NJDOT benefits from the opportunity to partner with non-profit agencies and community-based organizations and local governments. The program also provides a prospective employee pool for the Department. The participants benefit from learning about transportation and jobs that are available in the field, and in some cases from the mentorship by NJDOT employees. The participants also gain a sense of ownership of the sites, of pride in their accomplishments and their community. They learn new skills, including life skills, while earning a pay check. This work experience, and employment services offered through the organization, can help them when applying for jobs in the future. The community benefits from an improvement project that beautifies gateway areas so they are inviting to residents and visitors, and from having citizens who are engaged and better equipped to find a job.
Program participants may learn skills including the basics of landscaping, horticulture, and installation of streetscape and pedestrian enhancements.
Q. What are challenges of the program?
There are three main challenges: continued maintenance of the project sites, obtaining increased funding for the program, and closing out projects in a timely manner at the end of the year.
Ensuring that maintenance is continued for these projects depends on the participating community organizations, as maintenance is not a grant requirement although highly desired. Many recipients have strong relationships with the municipal Department of Public Works (DPW), which may accept responsibility for continued maintenance of the project sites. Others apply for additional funding to maintain the sites.
We would also welcome increased funding that would enable us to support more projects and open the program up to more organizations in the state.
Regarding program close-out requirements, this program is a reimbursement program. At the end of the project, the organizations have to submit payment vouchers and receipts. Delays in the process are common due to the other priorities of the organizations, but NJDOT’s ability to secure new funding from FHWA depends on the successful close-out of the year’s projects. Sometimes, we have to skip a year of the program due to late reporting. For example, we awarded grants in 2021 but skipped the 2022 cycle.
Q. Are there any program changes being discussed?
I have been managing the program independently for the past two years, but I now have two new staff members who are excited about the program. Now that they have joined me, I will have capacity to reach out and see what other states are doing with similar programs to gather lessons learned.
Q. Is there a workforce development component to the program? Are program participants encouraged to apply to NJDOT for employment in Operations or other divisions, bureaus or units?
Our goal is to not limit our investment in these individuals to only summer employment, but to also open the door to employment at NJDOT. In January 2022, we invited our partner organizations to a meeting to make them aware of the Highway Operations Technician (HOT) positions available in Operations. We worked with Human Resources and the Manager of Operations to discuss the way the HOT program works, and the application process at NJDOT. Although there were no promises made for hiring, the organizations could make their youth and young adult program participants aware of these existing job opportunities. NJDOT considers this outreach a continuing investment in the on-the-job training. We hope to hold other meetings in the future when these or similar positions are available – positions that require the skills these individuals have developed through the program. We are looking at this initiative as a component of our workforce development program.
Q. Do you have an example of what you would consider a successful project?
I will give you the example of a Trenton-based program operated by Isles, a non-profit organization, which has been a funding recipient for several years. Their work has focused on a variety of beautification and land management tasks, including installation of a TRENTON sign at Barlow Circle, and improvements at plaza gateways, at the Motor Vehicle Commission building, and at ARTWORKS.
Projects led by Isles, Inc. in Trenton serve as some of the examples of this successful program.
When our team of committee members went out to meet with the program participants who worked on this project, these young people were a little resistant to engage with us at first. But when we toured the project sites together and they had the opportunity to explain their contributions and what they learned, you could see a positive change. They were proud of their accomplishments and happy to share that with us. They were not only earning money but learning skills, including how to prepare a resume and other life skills. It is truly meaningful when we as NJDOT employees have the chance to go out and meet with these young people and have an exchange where they can ask questions about the work we are doing, and we can build relationships.
You can always give funding, but it becomes so meaningful when you have the chance to spend half the day with these young men and women and find out about their work, interests and goals. Overall, it is a wonderful experience to oversee this program for NJDOT, to help make communities beautiful, and see lives positively changing from our efforts.
Grantee Organization
Municipality
County
Project Locations
The Work Group
City of Camden
Camden
• Grassy triangle at Admiral Wilson Boulevard and Bank Street • Exit 3 off 676 North at Morgan Street
City of East Orange Mayor’s Office of Employment and Training (MOET)
City of East Orange
Essex
• Freeway Drive-East • Freeway Drive-West • North Oraton Parkway (Main Street overpass) • Ampere Plaza- 4th Avenue
Groundwork Elizabeth
City of Elizabeth
Union
• Kellogg Park • Mattano Park • McPherson Park
City of Long Branch
City of Long Branch
Monmouth
• Jackson Woods Park, Route 36
New Brunswick Board of Education/New Jersey Youth Corps of Middlesex County
City of New Brunswick
Middlesex
• War Memorial Park, New Brunswick- Route 27- Lincoln Highway (Northbound) and Route 91 a spur of Route 1- Jersey Avenue (Southbound) • Buccleuch Park, New Brunswick- County Road 527- Easton Avenue (Northbound) and New Jersey State Road Route 18 (Northbound) • Recreation Park, New Brunswick- Route 171 Jersey Avenue (Northbound)
City of Passaic
City of Passaic
Passaic
• Madison Street, NJ Route 21 Exit
New Jersey Youth Corps of Paterson
City of Paterson
Passaic
• Route 80 • Route 20 • Various entrances or gateways to the City of Paterson, NJ
City of Perth Amboy
City of Perth Amboy
Middlesex
• Route 35 (Convery Boulevard) and Route 184 (Pfeiffer Boulevard) • South-West Corner of Smith Street Convery Boulevard (Route 35) and Riverview Drive • Outer High Street and Route 440 Ramp • NJ-184 (Lincoln Drive)
New Jersey Youth Corps of Phillipsburg
Town of Phillipsburg
Warren
• NJ 122 (Alt 22) South Main Street 900 Block • South Main Street (Union Square to Walters Park) • US Rte. 22 and Roseberry Street (NW Corner)
New Jersey Youth Corps of Atlantic County
City of Pleasantville
Atlantic
• Delilah Road and Franklin Avenue
Isles, Inc.
City of Trenton
Mercer
• Route 1/Perry Street. Interchange & adjacent Roberto Clemente Park- on/off ramp, strip between on-ramp and park • Route 1/Market Street at Stockton/Mill Hill Park- on/off ramps, MVC building, planned Artwalk and “Trenton” landscaped sign • Market Street Plaza- gateways that connect Route 1 with Mill Hill and Market Street/Broad Street intersection and corridor
Table 1: NJDOT Youth Corps Urban Gateway Enhancement Program Grantees for 2021
UHPC for Bridge Preservation and Repair is a model innovation in the sixth round of the FHWA’s Every Day Counts Program (EDC-6). Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) is recognized as an innovative new material that can be used to extend the life of bridges.Its enhanced strength reduces the need for repairs, adding to the service life of a facility.
NJDOT recently installed UHPC Bridge Deck overlays on four bridges in New Jersey. NJDOT engineers, Jess Mendenhall and Samer Rabie, explained the rationale for UHPC’s installation and highlighted key lessons learned in bridge selection, existing conditions & testing, design, materials specifications, construction methods and evaluation during the NJ STIC 4th Quarter 2022 meeting.
Their recorded presentation, Design, Construction, and Evaluation of UHPC Bridge Deck Overlays for NJDOT, is viewable below. Their presentation can be downloaded here or from the NJ STIC 4th Quarter Meeting page.
NJ STIC’s UHPC Innovative Initiative page highlights the deployment progress and activities of the core team in seeking to advance UHPC for Bridge Preservation and Repair and contains other articles and resources.
New Jersey Department of Transportation has been recognized with a 2022 America’s Transportation Award in the category of best use of technology and innovation. The annual competition is sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. NJDOT’s project, Implementation of Drivewyze on 647 miles of NJ’s Highways, involves the use of crowdsourced data to get more information into the hands of drivers about changing roadway conditions to inform their decision making in an effort to reduce crashes. Commercial vehicle alerts inform truck drivers of hazards on the road, such as sudden slowdowns, disabled vehicles, debris, and adverse weather conditions, before the truck is affected by the incident. The driver can seek an alternate route or pull over until the slowdown is cleared. New Jersey’s project was highlighted in the November/December 2022 FHWA Innovator along with other State DOT winning innovations.
FHWA’s latest report tracks progress on advancing innovations by the state DOTs during Round 6 of the EDC program.
The Every Day Counts Round 6 Progress Report #3 is now available here.
Every Day Counts (EDC) is the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) program to advance a culture of innovation in the transportation community in partnership with public and private stakeholders. Through this State-based effort, FHWA coordinates rapid deployment of proven strategies and technologies to shorten the project delivery process, enhance roadway safety, reduce traffic congestion, and integrate automation.
The Progress Report summarizes the June 2022 status of deployment for the seven innovations in the sixth round of EDC. The report is intended to be a resource for transportation stakeholders as they develop their deployment plans and to encourage innovation in managing highway project delivery to better serve the Nation.
More information on the EDC-6 Round Innovations, including the initial Baseline Report and Progress Reports can be found here.
Commercial vehicle safety-related alerts can notify drivers of major slowdowns from incidents and weather to inform decision-making. Source: Sblover99, Wikimedia
The National Operations Center for Excellence held a webinar featuring New Jersey and Colorado DOT initiatives to establish private sector partnerships that use crowdsourced data to deliver real-time information to commercial vehicles to improve the safety of all road users. Transportation agencies can now deliver in-cab alerts about road conditions through connected truck service providers to help commercial vehicle drivers approach and react more quickly to roadway incidents, work zones, and adverse weather conditions.
For this event, the NJDOT’s Senior Director for Transportation Mobility, Sal Cowan, gave a presentation, “NJDOT Using Crowdsourced Data to Improve Road Safety: Real Time Communications with Truck Drivers”. He was joined in making this presentation by NJDOT’s private sector partners for this initiative, Amy Lopez, Director, Public Sector Services and Smart City Strategy for INRIX, and Marc Nichols, Director, Government & Industry Partnerships for Drivewyze.
As traffic deaths rise, NJDOT wants to get more information into the hands of drivers about changing roadway conditions – the earlier the better – to inform their decision making in an effort to reduce crashes. Summoning the key phrase, “Whatever It Takes”, Director Cowan framed the life-saving imperative behind NJDOT’s willingness to make greater use of crowdsourcing and real-time data tools to reduce the risk of crashes. He highlighted how commercial vehicle alerts can inform truck drivers of hazards on the road, such as sudden slowdowns, disabled vehicles, and debris before the truck is affected by the incident. The driver can seek an alternate route or pull over until the slowdown is cleared.
INRIX collects extensive traffic data for state transportation agencies. They provide two types of alerts: “curated” incidents are from multiple sources such as DOTs, Twitter feeds, Waze, police scanners and other sources that are managed by the INRIX incident team; and “calculated” incidents such as dangerous or sudden slowdowns that are mathematically calculated by INRIX and compare real time speeds with free flow speeds at specific segment locations to identify abnormal conditions. The INRIX system has the ability to deliver real-time data that detects and describes sudden slowdowns, closures, and queues by location for specific events. This data is passed on to Drivewyze to send out alerts.
Drivewyze, introduced as North America’s largest connected truck network, provides communication with some 2.8 million trucks via its Drivewyze application which is embedded in the electronic logging device (ELD) of the truck. Drivewyze takes data from INRIX and communicates it to commercial truck drivers. The system works with severity thresholds and trigger warnings so only events that exceed these thresholds are reported. Commercial drivers receive the messages through the ELD in their cab. The reported information can be customized to include notification of specific weather events, incidents, work zones, and bridge and road closures.
A “major winter storm alert” was distributed to several states in the Northeast and reached some 4,811 trucks at a critical time.
NJDOT plays a pivotal role in providing weather and detour related data. Through this partnership NJDOT can collect extensive data regarding issues and incidents that it otherwise could not directly obtain. This allows the state to identify areas along key highways that produce issues and NJDOT can then begin to identify ways to resolve them. In addition to analysis, NJDOT can work proactively with is partners to prevent crashes. During Winter Storm Kenan, NJDOT was able to send alerts out through Drivewyze to thousands of trucks across the Northeast to alert drivers to a major winter storm and hazardous road conditions and to take precautions.
The webinar, part of the FHWA’s Adventures in Crowdsourcing Webinar Series, had two featured presentations on initiatives to address commercial vehicle safety through crowdsourcing. The webinar explored lessons from New Jersey, Colorado and other states through presentations and information exchange with attendees from the FHWA, other state DOTs, and private sector partners. To learn more about the New Jersey initiative and the capabilities of its private sector partners, check out the full presentation here, starting at the 29th minute. The presentations given by the NJ team and other presenters can be downloaded here.
The sixth round of Every Day Counts (EDC-6) was kicked off with a Virtual Summit that introduced the innovations that FHWA would be promoting over the next 2 years. The summit also featured a National State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) Network Showcase that highlighted some 245 innovations developed and deployed by agencies throughout the United States. This article is one in a series that takes a closer look at “homegrown innovations” implemented by state and local agencies to save lives, time, and money.
SAPFIM has four core functions in recording, managing, mapping, and generating reports on pedestrian. Source Dr. Fabian Cevallos, National Center for Transit Research.
Highlighted by the Federal Highway Administration (FWHA)’s journal Innovator in its March/April 2018 issue, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) produced a systemic, digitized way for creating an inventory of pedestrian infrastructure (1). As a part of a State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) program, FDOT, in cooperation with the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization, Florida International University, and the FHWA created a Safe and Accessible Pedestrian Facility Inventory Model (SAPFIM) (1). SAPFIM has been described as “a web-based application designed to collect, manage and report on pedestrian facilities along public roadways” (2) through cost-effective, real-time means.
The project received STIC incentive funding ($100,000) in 2015 to develop and deploy this GIS-based software tool (3), establishing a model that could be adapted and scaled for other local projects and transportation agencies.
As part of the STIC project, several agencies had an opportunity to test SAPFIM and provide feedback that the project team used to modify the software and user’s guide.
The general design of SAPFIM was broken by researcher into the image above; this particular division of functions could provide a conceptual basis for digital collection software on different topics as well. Source Dr. Fabian Cevallos, National Center for Transit Research.
As an example, a fire hydrant obstructing the middle of a sidewalk might render a pathway inaccessible to wheelchair users. This obstruction in the sidewalk can be photographed and reported in SAPFIM resulting in its identification, labeling and geo-location. Such a tool allows local agencies to better track their pedestrian features while needing less time and resources. The technology also alerts planners and other officials to what pedestrian improvements, repairs, or even new constructions need priority in real-time. With updates being automatically incorporated in a wider database, information storage and retrieval is generally more complete yet simplified for users.
Obstructions to sidewalks and the location of critical pedestrian infrastructure, such as pushbuttons, away from pavement can signal spatial hostility to pedestrians. Right image courtesy of www.pedbikeimages.org; Dan Burden; left image courtesy of www.pedbikeimages.org, Laura Sandt.
As highlighted in a presentation from one of its research team members, SAPFIM collects over 80 standard attributes (2), such as geographic and photographic references, to describe pedestrian infrastructure across the Sunshine State. Authorized users can use wireless devices (smartphones, laptop, tablets, etc.) to enter information on a pedestrian feature or update an existing one. By answering preset criteria tailored to three categories of features (sidewalks, curb ramps, and crossings), compliance with American Disability Act (ADA) accessibility statutes or general safe, comfortable pedestrian design could then be assessed and improved upon (2).
Teams collecting data for SAPFIM still physically measure sites before inputting the information digitally. This physical component could help experientially familiarize participating stakeholders with the wider built environment of their communities. Courtesy of Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization.
A similar program from Seminole County, Florida revamped the transcription and tracking processes of their ADA pedestrian ramp inspections into a digital, mobile application that utilized GIS technology (4). Ultimately winning the FHWA’s 2021 Building a Better Mousetrap Smart Transformation Award, the Seminole County ADA ramp tracker reduced inspection times of individual ramps from 1.5 hours to 5 minutes (4). It streamlined the entire tracking process of a feature from taking 3-4 days with pen and paper to reportedly a single day (4) by also eliminating a multi-hour step of transferring physical records to digital ones.
It is unclear if the Seminole County’s trackers were built off of SAPFIM, but nonetheless the demonstrated utility of the County’s efforts validates the purpose of the FDOT project. Applying digital cataloging technology to the built-environment clearly suggests that the future of transportation maintenance will include enhanced digital record-keeping, including breaches to accessibility ordinances. Such technology continues to be re-tailored to maintenance of street lights, potholes, public bathroom accessibility, curb-cuts and other physical assets and their attributes. The equity and cost-saving gains of these homegrown innovations warrant further attention and deployment, particularly in ways that can respond creatively to rising pedestrian fatalities nationally and in New Jersey (5).
Cevallos, Fabian. (2020. June 1). Safe and Accessible Pedestrian Facility Inventory Model (SAPFIM): Development. National Center for Transit Research (NCTR), University of South Florida. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/323870213.pdf
