The following issues and opportunities were identified for the seven major groups involved in ITMS--the federal government, state governments, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), emergency services, transit agencies, and private sector groups.

Federal Government

· Federal agencies provide advice and guidance on how ITMS, ITS, the ISTEA management systems, and major investments studies all fit together. An overall vision is needed from the federal government to help promote coordination among these different elements.

· The role of the federal government in enforcing the provisions of the ISTEA and other legislation and in providing guidance and direction was discussed.

· Federal agencies support funding needs.

· Federal agencies support education and training needs.

· Federal agencies support documentation and communication of the benefits of ITMS.

· Federal agencies support ITMS research.

· A national goal, vision, and picture of ITMS is needed from the federal government.

· Federal agencies support the development of national standards.

State Government

· State agencies support and help fund local ITMS initiatives.

· State governments provide the legislative and policy support for ITMS.

· State agencies support statewide and regional ITMS needs and requirements.

· State agencies support education and training needs.

· State agencies support operations and maintenance needs.

· State agencies provide feedback to FHWA and FTA on ITMS issues, opportunities, and benefits.

· State agencies provide review authority of ITMS actions.

· State agencies provide a legal environment that supports ITMS procurements.

· State agencies support multi-agency coalitions and participate in cooperative efforts with local agencies.

· State agencies support private sector collaborations and partnerships.

· State agencies support the development of standards and databases.

· The impacts of internal state agency organizational structures on ITMS should be explored.

Local Government

· Local agencies help ensure that local needs are addressed in ITMS.

· Local agencies need to show a willingness to change to support ITMS.

· Consistency in local budgets and resources to support ITMS is needed.

· The level of control--shared versus mandated--needs to be examined as it relates to local agencies.

· Land use and transportation impacts needs to be explored, as these are critical factors at the local level.

· There is a need to explain the benefits of ITMS at the local level.

· There appears to be a lack of understanding about ITMS by many elected officials. Educational programs are needed to explain ITMS to local officials and the public.

· Social and cultural constraints related to ITMS need to be explored.

· Local governments need to take responsibility for local actions.

· Modeling capabilities for estimating the benefits of ITMS need to be developed.

· The impacts of local agency downsizing on ITMS need to be explored.

Metropolitan Planning Organization

· The authority of MPOs related to ITMS was discussed.

· Enhanced communications with MPOs is needed.

· The responsibility of MPOs in ITMS implementation was discussed, especially the fact that MPOs are non-operating agencies and that ITMS is an operational system.

· There is a need to clearly define the MPO role in ITMS.

· MPOs can play a key role to help facilitate the development and operation of ITMS.

· MPOs can assist in coordinating land use and transportation.

· MPOs have a key role to play in air quality conformity planning.

· There is a need for improved modeling tools.

· There is a need for MPOs to develop a vision of the future transportation system and how ITMS fits into this vision.

Police, Fire, and Emergency Services

· The degree of information control required by these groups needs to be explored.

· There is a need for all groups to agree on standard procedures to be used at the scene of an incident.

· There is a need to explore the privacy issues that emerge with the involvement of these groups.

· There is a need to examine authority and turf issues that may emerge with the involvement of these groups.

· The level of cooperation among these groups and between these groups and other agencies needs to be enhanced.

· The special mission of these groups to protect the public welfare and safety needs to be considered.

· The potential liability issues with the involvement of these groups in ITMS needs to be explored.

· The need for possible legislation to allow these groups to be involved in ITMS should be explored.

· Communication is key with these groups.

· Issues related to safety and efficiency versus enforcement need to be explored.

Transit

· Transit is not now a part of the ITMS process in many areas. Exploring ways to increase transit involvement in planning, designing, and operating ITMS is needed.

· The number of transit properties, which may have different priorities, may be a problem with ITMS in some areas.

· There is a need for flexibility among transit agencies and all groups in accepting integrated solutions.

· The benefits of ITMS for transit operators need to be explored.

· There is a need to involve transit agency representatives early in the ITMS planning process.

· Issues related to equity and social responsibilities versus mobility need to be explored.

· The impact of federal requirements, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), on ITMS need to be explored.

· Transit often feels left out of ITMS and ITS. Techniques for encouraging greater participation from transit representatives need to be explored.

· The potential impacts of heavy transit vehicles on streets and other infrastructure elements need to be explored.

· The separate sources of federal funding for different modes can be a problem in the development and operation of ITMS.

· Possible concerns over the level of operations and maintenance subsidies need to be explored.

Private Sector

· The potential for profits from private sector involvement in ITMS needs to be explored.

· The real expertise of different groups needs to be considered in the development and operation of ITMS.

· Private sector representatives can act as educators in advancing ITMS.

· Private businesses can play an important role in supporting ITMS partnerships and collaborations.

· There is a need to move toward more openness in the ITMS planning and design process.

· There is a need to better define the possible roles of industry and private sector groups involved in ITMS.

· There is a need to recognize long run versus short run profits with ITMS.

· Liability issues related to the development and operation of ITMS need to be examined.

· Private sector representatives can provide needed leadership in ITMS.

· Quantifying the benefits from ITMS to private industry groups is needed.

· Private sector groups can help support technology development in ITMS.

· Private businesses may also be involved through the trip reduction potentials of ITMS.

Following this discussion, a list of issues related to the roles and responsibilities of the different groups involved in ITMS was developed. Each member of the workshop identified their five top issues. The following five issues emerged as the most critical for helping advance ITMS.

· Defining the MPO role and authority in ITMS.

· Promoting transit as a full player in the ITMS process.

· Encouraging the development of federal guidance on ITMS and other ITS program elements.

· Enhancing funding support for ITMS.

· Communicate the benefits of ITMS at the local level.

Other issues such as operations and maintenance and public safety agency procedures during incidents were also rated highly. Specific actions that could be taken to address each issue were identified by the workshop participants. These are summarized next.

Issue--Defining the MPO role and authority in ITMS.

Actions

· Develop recommendations for the next federal transportation re-authorization bill.

· Encourage dialogue among federal, state, local governments, and MPOs.

· Discuss the role of MPOs in ITMS at other conferences.

· Disseminate summaries from certification reviews on MPO performance from a national perspective.

· Support research on regional modeling and technical tools.

Issue--Promote transit as a full player in the ITMS process.

Actions

· Work with the American Public Transit Association (APTA) to encourage greater transit involvement in ITMS.

· Support the development of information on the benefits of ITMS to transit industry and communicate this to transit agencies and operators.

· Communicate the benefits of transit involvement in ITMS to traffic engineers.

· Add a transit representative to the TRB ITMS Symposium Planning Committee.

· Add a transit representative to the TRB ITMS Subcommittee.

· Encourage greater transit involvement in the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) ITS Council.

· Encourage greater transit involvement in congestion pricing studies.

· Involve transit agency representatives in establishing ITS America state chapters.

Issue--Encourage the development of federal guidance on ITMS and other ITS programs.

· Clarify the relationship of ITMS, the ISTEA management systems, and MIS within the planning and operations framework.

· Encourage the development of information on the measurable benefits of ITMS, including case studies and best practice examples.

· Support the development of information on ITMS success stories, experiences on what works, and best practices.

Issue--Enhancing funding support for ITMS.

Action

· Support a study to determine if funding mechanisms at all levels support ITMS objectives.

Issue--Communicate the benefits of ITMS at the local level.

Actions

· Support a task force targeted to providing information on ITMS to local communities.

· Focus communication efforts on local groups, such as chambers of commerce, local officials, businesses, and other organizations.

· Communicate the benefits of integrating existing systems and developing ITMS to local organizations using focus groups and other market research and marketing techniques.

Legal and Procurement
Frank Dolan, Monroe County, New York

This workshop started with the identification of the legal and procurement issues associated with the design, development, and operation of ITMS. A total of 30 issues were identified during the initial discussion. The workshop participants then reviewed these issues for common themes. The five general areas of contract issues, legislative needs, operational and privacy concerns, innovative financing, and liability issues emerged from this discussion. The following issues and action statements were developed to help define the major concerns within each of these five areas.

Issue--Contracts

· Current methods of contract award are inappropriate for procuring advanced technology equipment and services. For example, pre-qualification requirements may preclude certain companies from being the prime contractor, and state and federal regulations often prohibit sole source contracts. Low-bid requirements are often not the best approach for high technology procurements.

· Burdensome requirements are often placed on contractors in ITMS. These may include financial disclosure requirements, which may preclude certain firms from participating in ITMS, and proprietary software issues.

· The multi-party contracts needed in ITMS introduce new complexities in the development and operations of systems.

Action

· Develop a package of effective contracting recommendations and actively promote their use by contracting agencies. The Legal Issues Committee of ITS America is appropriate take the lead on this effort with input from the different user groups.

Issue--Legislative

· There is a need for more flexible legislation to encourage greater opportunity and authority for partnering at both the state and the federal level.

Action

· Develop recommendations for operational policies addressing privacy issues associated with ITMS. ITS America, with input from AASHTO, ITE, and other groups are appropriate to undertake this effort.

Issue--Operational and Privacy

· Policy and legal guidance is needed on what information is in the public domain, what information can and should be collected, and what information can and should be released.

Action

· Develop model legislation and encourage its use by states. The states are appropriate to take the lead on this with assistance from ITS America, the American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), and other groups.

Issue--Innovative Financing

· Information and procedures are needed for determining the value of public resources and public infrastructure elements. Information and guidelines are also needed on how to use ITMS-generated revenues to operate, maintain, and expand the system.

Action

· Support the development of guidelines for determining the value of public resources and public infrastructure elements. This could include the development of recommendations for channeling revenues to support ITMS operation, maintenance, and expansion. AASHTO is the appropriate group to take the lead in this effort with input from the states.

Issue--Liability

· Clarification is needed on potential liability concerns and how that liability can be allocated among the groups involved in ITMS.

Action

· Support the identification of the potential liabilities associated with ITMS and recommend methods for fair allocation of potential liability among the groups involved. The states are the logical entity to take the lead in this effort with federal guidance and input from ITS America, AASHTO, and other groups.

System Integration
Donald Dey, City of Menlo Park, California

This workshop focused on a discussion of the system integration issues associated with ITMS. To help frame the discussion, a hypothetical multi-agency ITMS project was proposed with participants assuming the roles of staff from the different agencies involved. The project management team for the ITMS consisted of representatives from a state department of transportation, a transit agency, a city, an air quality control district, a police department, and the private sector. The following five key issues and recommended actions were identified through this process.

Issue--The term system integration needs to be defined for the team.

Action

· The team should identify the three levels of system integration. These are institutional integration, procedural integration, and technical integration. The process of defining each of these levels will provide a forum that allows all agencies to identify their needs and wants.

Issue--Identify the qualities that a system integrator should possess.

Action

· For the institutional issues, the team should establish an ongoing coordination committee. For the technical and procedural integration, a private or public agency should be sought that has the horizontal capabilities to understand every agency's needs and desires.

Issue--How does the team minimize the life-cycle costs associated with ITMS?

Action

· The team should develop a requirements identification process that highlights each agency's goals and needs. The team should select appropriate industry standards for hardware and software components to minimize life-cycle costs of implementation, operations, maintenance, and staffing.

Issue--How will the system guidelines and standards address rapidly evolving technologies?

Action

· The system design guidelines and standards should be developed to allow continuous response to the availability of new technologies, with a focus on common level system elements.

The workshop participants then discussed who should implement the five recommendations. There was agreement that the lead agency or system integrator agency should be the organization with the most appropriate resources. The lead agency may vary from area to area. In many cases, the state department of transportation will be the appropriate agency. This may not always be the case, however, and other agencies or a new organization may be the logical lead group in some areas.

Operations and Maintenance
Joe McDermott, Illinois Department of Transportation, and Ed Rowe, Gardner-Rowe Systems, Inc.

Implementation Issues

· Operations and maintenance staff from the different agencies need to be included early in the ITMS planning and design process.

· Life-cycle support should focus on the quality of the installation, not quantity. There is also a need to define the life-cycle length associated with ITMS components.

· Concerns were raised as to how much of an issue an ITMS manager should make about operations and maintenance funding in promoting a project. There was agreement that the estimates should be realistic and that they should be openly addressed early in the process so that they do not become a new issue later.

· There is a need to get private sector personnel and firms involved in the initial preliminary design phase of ITMS.

· Enhanced coordination among jurisdictions concerning ongoing operations and maintenance is needed to ensure that all groups are involved and committed and that any necessary agreements are in place.

· The issue of a possible partnership with the media and the role they should play was discussed. Concerns raised focused on including media representatives within the control centers, what agreements need to be in place with the media to provide and share information, and possible liability issues concerning video transmissions.

· The potential of partnerships with wrecker services for incident response was discussed. Different contracting procedures were identified and possible liability issues were outlined.

· Government/media/private partnerships must also include accountabilities to define how any partner may drop out without severe burden on others.

· The role and authority of the FHWA in requiring operation and implementation plans was discussed. The current regulations and standards for FHWA involvement in monitoring operational plan was also discussed. It was noted that FHWA requirements can be used by agencies to obtain support from decision makers for operations and maintenance funding.

Staffing and Training Issues

· A skill inventory of personnel needs should be conducted during the design phase, prior to implementation.

· ITMS may provide the impetus to make organizational changes and to add efficiencies within agencies. Head counting versus right-sizing was discussed. Participants noted the importance of remembering that the Interstate system has been built and that there is a shift from design and construction to systems management.

· Operations and maintenance often require staffing beyond the normal 40-hour work week. 24-hour operations are usually required. It takes five people to staff one position when 24 hour-a-day, 7 day-a-week operations are required.

· San Antonio is exploring the possibility of connecting personnel at home to respond remotely when the operations center is not staffed. The Atlanta system is being designed to allow the control center to take control of several sub-regional centers during off hours if necessary.

· Exploring possible opportunities to take advantage of emergency services technologies and organizations to build upon and to minimize operations staff were discussed.

· Problems with finding qualified staff were discussed, particularly since non-traditional disciplines may be needed for ITMS.

· The fact that technical skills, as well as personal skills, are needed in operations and maintenance was noted by participants.

· There was agreement that courtesy service patrols are the best public relations program of many state departments of transportation. Motorist assistance patrols may be counted as part of the operating staff, however, which can be a drawback.

· The point was made that agency staff resources are still needed for oversight even if work is contracted out.

· Currently, politicians are very conscious of reducing staff levels in many agencies. This often forces contracting out for operations and maintenance functions.

· Each ITMS is unique, so staff levels may vary. Liability issues may emerge if staffing is not adequate for an emergency situation, however. The suggestion was made to establish standards based on functions for staffing needs. These might include the hours of operation for the system or other functional standards.

· Exploring the use of standards and operating procedures to minimize increases in staff levels was also discussed.

· Many agencies are looking at the prospect of not being able to hire to fill vacancies due to agency downsizing and budget constraints. This forces contracting out for operations and maintenance activities.

Institutional Issues

· The mindset of more experienced personnel and the traditional way of doing things may be institutional issues that will need to be addressed in the deployment of ITMS.

· It was noted that institutional problems may emerge in maintenance as well as in operations.

· A team effort is needed to address institutional issues before building complexities into the systems.

· The culture of many state departments of transportation can be a problem with the deployment of ITMS. Most state departments of transportation still have a traditional highway orientation and a construction focus.

· Some cities and groups may be suspicious that ITMS is just a technology toy. New technologies have not been embraced by significant parts of these organizations in many cases.

· Educational and outreach activities are needed to communicate the benefits of ITMS.

· The issues of turf, trust, and threat were discussed.

· The organizational structure of traditional transportation agencies, which is fairly inflexible, can work against the most efficient operation.

· Another problem in some transportation agencies is that maintenance and operations personnel are not looked upon as equals. There is a need to promote a team approach within an agency as all functions are important.

Funding Issues

· It is often hard for transportation agencies to draw positive attention and funding to ITMS when competing for limited resources with police, fire, emergency services, and other groups.

· Funding constraints are often a major roadblock to the ongoing maintenance of ITMS.

· There is a need to establish a line-item budget amount for operations and maintenance based on life cycle costs in the early planning stage.

· The potential for establishing dedicated funding for traffic operations was discussed. Although there are some benefits from having a separate source of funding for traffic operations, there are also some drawbacks.

· It is not realistic to believe that local funding, as well as state funding, can come from primarily general revenues.

· In some areas, local jurisdictions are competing against the region for funding. If one community gets funding one year, they have less chance in the next few years. The suggestion was made to establish federal matching to maintain ITMS operations and that life-cycle support is needed.

· Funding of training is also needed. Needed training programs may not be available locally, and federal funds and programs should be examined.

Based on the initial discussion of these issues, the workshop participants identified the five major concerns related to ITMS operations and maintenance. Action items to address each of these issues were also identified. The following summarize the five items identified for priority consideration.

Issue--Performance guidelines are needed for ITMS operations and maintenance elements.

These guidelines should identify expectations for the delivery of services to public and private users. The guidelines should also reflect a range of site-specific conditions rather than absolute national standards.

Actions

· FHWA and AASHTO should consider expanding upon and updating the NCHRP Malfunction Management Report. This should include information on surveillance, control, driver expectations, and other common ITS elements.

· FHWA should consider coordinating the preparation of a report on staffing guidelines for ITMS maintenance and operations. The recent ITE report on operations and maintenance practices could be used to help in this effort.

· FHWA should consider establishing a national laboratory for testing and evaluating ITMS equipment and systems, and providing for the national distribution of results.

· FHWA should consider establishing an electronic bulletin board for the sharing the experiences with various ITMS technologies.

Issue--Consideration should be given to developing funding for operations and maintenance programs on a life-cycle basis.

The identification of realistic life-cycle lengths and costs should be included in this effort.

Actions

· FHWA should consider initiating a research study to compile and maintain ITMS life-cycle data.

· Federal, state, and local agencies should be encouraged to provide life-cycle support with dedicated funding, including replacement as needed, of ITMS elements.

Issue--Establish inter-jurisdictional ITMS teams.

Establish early involvement of all inter-jurisdictional ITMS team participants.

Actions

· The lead agencies in ITMS should be encouraged to establish agreements between all participants at the beginning of the planning process to support long-term system operations and maintenance.

· ITMS teams should be encouraged to establish and agree on detailed operations and maintenance plans prior to design completion.

Issue--Incorporate operations and maintenance considerations into the ITMS design process.

Maximize the inclusion of operations and maintenance issues within the ITMS design process.

Actions

· Inclusion of operations and maintenance staff within the ITMS design team should be encouraged.

· The development of national and regional clearinghouses for gathering and distributing best practices for servicing and maintaining principle system components should be encouraged.

· The utilization of existing hardware and software standards should be encouraged whenever possible.

Issue--Address future ITMS staffing needs.

This should include the recognition that long-term public agency downsizing will require greater utilization of contract personnel for operations and maintenance. It should also consider inter-agency resource pooling opportunities for optimal staffing of ITMS operations and maintenance requirements.

Actions

· Model private agreements for contracting and inter-agency agreements for pooling staff resources should be developed.

· The inclusion of technical disciplines, compensation, and career path requirements for operations and maintenance personnel should be encouraged.