2018 Community of Practice Meeting

July 25-26, 2018
SSTI’s summer 2018 Community of Practice meeting was held July 25-26 in Boston. The meetings focus on peer-to-peer interaction between CEOs of state departments of transportation. These meetings allow attendees to share ideas and learn from one another’s experiences leading state DOTs. The meetings are open to state DOT CEOs and is by-invitation to others. 

TIGER is now BUILD. Other changes you need to know.

May 18, 2018
USDOT has released its Notice of Funding Opportunity for the next round of TIGER grants, or should we say BUILD grants. Among the unexpected changes to the program this year is the rebranding: Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD). Beth Osborne, who ran the first five rounds of TIGER at USDOT and is now the Vice President of technical assistance at Smart Growth America, joined us for this webinar.

Fitting the road to the context: Florida’s Context Classification and Complete Streets implementation

November 28, 2017
The Florida Department of Transportation is making major strides toward improving pedestrian and bicycle safety through its Complete Streets Implementation initiative. One of FDOT’s most innovative achievements has been the recent adoption of eight context classifications to guide road design decisions. Under this new system, planners and engineers will consider existing and future characteristics such as land uses, building configuration, and street connectivity to ensure that roads are designed for the right vehicle speeds, road users, and trip types. While the concept of context classification is not new, FDOT is one of the first states to operationalize it within formal decision-making processes. Join DeWayne Carver from FDOT to learn about the new context classification approach, why FDOT developed it, and how it will guide roadway design decisions moving forward.

2017 Community of Practice Meeting

October 17-18, 2018
SSTI’s fall 2017 Community of Practice meeting will be held Oct. 17-18, 2017 in Seattle. The meetings focus on peer-to-peer interaction between CEOs of state departments of transportation. These meetings allow attendees to share ideas and learn from one another’s experiences leading state DOTs. The meeting is open to state DOT CEOs and is by-invitation to others.

Advancements in measuring bicycle and pedestrian accessibility

September 12, 2017
Measures of destination accessibility by automobile and transit are growing in use. Virginia, for example, evaluates both in project prioritization. Yet measures of bicycle and pedestrian accessibility have taken longer to implement, largely because of added complexities and data deficiencies. People on bikes and on foot are much more sensitive to the types of facilities available, exposure to nearby traffic, and other factors for which there isn’t always good data. Join People For Bikes and SSTI to learn how these challenges are being overcome and how the measures are being put use.

Parking counts – Understanding demand in cities

July 12, 2017
Many cities and towns recognize that their parking requirements and regulations are outdated, but they struggle in taking the first step toward reform. This process often begins by auditing the existing supply and understanding how it’s being used, which can be a major undertaking. This webinar shares lessons from two recent parking demand studies and offers guidance on conducting similar studies more efficiently.

Operationalizing Accessibility: Tools and Practices

March 30, 2017
Planners and transportation professionals are moving toward measures of accessibility to describe how well a transportation system lets people meet a variety of daily needs — e.g. getting to work, shopping, and socializing. As useful as these measures can be, data and technology have just recently made them widely available and easy to use. That leaves many key questions about operationalizing them. SSTI, Renaissance Planning Group, and Citilabs are working throughout the U.S. to develop tools, standards, and practices needed to operationalize accessibility measures in different applications including planning, project evaluation, equity analysis, and design. This work has also led to the development of two distinct measures representing both work and non-work accessibility.

Solar energy in the highway right of way

November 2, 2016
DOTs have very limited resources available to explore projects falling outside of their core responsibility of providing safe and efficient transportation facilities. Learning from the experiences of those DOTs that have already worked through issues associated with renewable energy facilities in the ROW can enable agencies embarking on these projects to save time and money, and avoid potential pitfalls. In this webinar, you can hear from Allison Hamilton, the Oregon Solar Highway Program Manager; and Lily Oliver, Solar Photovoltaic Energy Program Manager at MassDOT about their states’ experiences with solar energy along highways. FHWA staff will also join us to answer questions about federal resources and support for these programs.

A guide for complete transportation: Arizona’s new HDM

September 20,2016
In May 2016, Arizona DOT issued their long-awaited Complete Transportation Guidebook, which they view as a conversation about sustainable transportation. It includes tools for local partners to work and plan with ADOT on flexibility in speed and other roadway design elements, interacting with other modes of transportation, and more emphasis on complete streets than had been previously present in their official publications. This guidebook recognizes that lane widths and other design standards should be different in dense urban settings than in rural areas with little development. But their “main lines” often become “main streets” when they come into cities and towns, so the same road be built differently to meet the community context.

Revolution in project selection: Virginia DOT SMART Scale

July 20, 2016
The first round of Virginia’s groundbreaking project-selection process, SmartScale, has just concluded. It was not only a technical success in ranking projects across modes and regions, but was also a political success, satisfying critical stakeholders including legislators. Even before any of the projects were awarded, the process resulted in creative thinking and right-sizing that saved millions of dollars. After a few improvements, including a platform for assessing accessibility that will be available to practitioners across the state, SmartScale’s second round is scheduled to begin later this year.