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SHRP 2 R16 [Completed]
Railroad-DOT Institutional Mitigation Strategies
| Project Data |
| Funds: |
$400,000 |
| Research Agency: |
Gordon Proctor & Associates, Inc |
| Principal Investigator: |
Gordon Proctor |
| Effective Date: |
1/25/2008 |
| Completion Date: |
10/30/2009 |
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Project snapshot. More details below.
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Products
(Project Number)
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Impact on Practice
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Product Status
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STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING THE PROJECT AGREEMENT PROCESS BETWEEN PUBLIC AGENCIES AND RAILROADS (R16)
Model legal agreements, recommended practices, sample contracts, and training materials to resolve underlying sources of conflicts and streamline review and agreement processes.
A follow-on project, R16A, is developing a community of interest for the products of R16.
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Whenever railroad and highway projects intersect there is potential for delay and increased costs. Streamlining the process with standard agreements and practices will save money and time for both railroads and public agencies.
To establish a community of interest that will sustain and update the work of R16, pairs of champions, each pair representing a Class 1 railroad and a DOT, were recruited. The community is the mechanism for building broad support for continuing cooperation and advancing practice.
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Staff Responsibility: Monica Starnes
Currently, the presence of a highway across or alongside a railroad creates significant challenges to the rapid renewal of that highway facility. Moreover, freight analysis from the U.S. Department of Transportation predicts an 88% increase in rail freight from 2002 to 2035. Highway renewal projects will also increase dramatically in the upcoming years as the highway infrastructure continues to age and require reconstruction. The need to improve cooperation between railroads and public transportation agencies is more critical than ever.
The objectives of this project were to identify strategies and institutional arrangements that can facilitate beneficial relationships between railroads and public agencies; investigate and develop innovative partnering techniques whereby railroads and the highway community are working cooperatively; develop draft model agreements and streamlined permitting processes; and identify barriers that impact effectiveness and propose remedies, including alternate project delivery techniques (such as design-build).
To mitigate project-delivery setbacks for the transportation agencies and the railroads, the research team conducted a thorough review of the railroads’ and transportation agencies’ perspectives. In addition, the research team members themselves have state department of transportation and railroad backgrounds. This combination of backgrounds provides an insightful understanding of the motivations, needs, and processes of public highway agencies and railroad companies. Nonetheless, to further enhance this balance from the start, the research team established an advisory panel of volunteer experts. Three Class I railroads, six state departments of transportation, two federal agencies, and the Association of American Railroads were represented on the panel. Throughout this project, the experts reviewed and commented on the research products.
In the initial stages of the research, the team surveyed all state departments of transportation and interviewed key staff from 10 of them. Likewise, the team interviewed core personnel in all Class I railroads and several engineering firms that regularly review and design railroad and highway projects. All the interviews proved invaluable for discovering and identifying successful practices and legal agreements.
After completing the information gathering, the project team produced a collection of recommended practices, streamlined permitting processes, and, ultimately, model agreements for use by public agencies and railroads. The goal of these products is to enhance constructive cooperation between railroads and public highway agencies as they undertake renewal activities that affect them both.
Status: The project is complete. The final report has been published as SHRP 2 Report S2-R16-RR-1. This report provides a comprehensive collection of recommended practices that promote cooperation between railroads and transportation agencies on highway projects that cross or lie alongside railways. The report presents standard processes and successful practices that can help both sides reduce the time and cost of project reviews. The report also includes a series of model agreements that both parties can use and amend as needed.
Product Availability: SHRP 2 Report S2-R16-RR-1: Strategies for Improving the Project Agreement Process Between Highway Agencies and Railroads is available online as an Adobe PDF document, in hardcopy through the TRB bookstore, and as an e-pub through the Google bookstore. The model agreements (Appendix C of the report) are also available in Microsoft Word format.
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