SSTI and Smart Growth America continue working with state DOTs and tracking innovative strategies for meeting 21st century transportation needs. These strategies are outlined in a newly updated edition of The Innovative DOT: A Handbook of Policy and Practice, released this week.
Transportation agencies maintain ambitious goals of improving safety, alleviating congestion, improving system reliability, accelerating project delivery, preserving valuable assets, enhancing economic opportunities, reducing environmental impacts, and helping to create healthier, more livable neighborhoods. Yet conventional funding sources are becoming less reliable. In response to these challenges, DOTs across the country are embracing innovative solutions and changing the way they do business.
The Innovative DOT offers 34 specific recommendations to help state transportation officials position their agencies for success in the coming era. In the two years since the handbook’s initial release, state agencies have considered a variety of new funding opportunities, bolstered planning efforts, made better use of existing infrastructure, implemented new design standards and project delivery procedures, and drastically changed the way they do business. The 2014 edition reflects these changes by adding three new strategies for reform, 20 new case studies, and numerous updates.
The new content includes:
- New ideas in system management and freight delivery
- Planning for climate change resilience
- Updating design policies and standards
- Improving agency organization and initiating cultural change
- New case studies in all eight focus areas
The handbook is available as a free download here. This handbook serves as a living document, updated periodically with new and improved policies and practices. Readers are invited to contact Eric Sundquist with comments and suggestions.