BACKGROUND: NCHRP Project 20-83(03)A focused on the issues affecting preservation, maintenance, and renewal (PMR) of highway infrastructure. The study placed emphasis on preparing for plausible futures rather than on predicting various future scenarios, and developed a pathway to guide transportation agencies in advancing the implementation of emerging PMR practices through a process involving awareness, advocacy, assessment, adoption, and action planning. The project final report, published as NCHRP Report 750, Volume 7: Strategic Issues Facing Transportation: Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal of Highway Infrastructure, contains two guides, one for practitioners and another for leadership, to help with the understanding, identification, application, and implementation of emerging PMR practices. The report is supplemented with appendices, published as NCHRP Web-Only Document 272: Existing and Emerging Highway Infrastructure Preservation, Maintenance, and Renewal Definitions, Practices, and Scenarios.
The project identified 16 emerging practices and technologies that have the potential to enhance significantly the capabilities of state DOTs to preserve, maintain, and renew highway infrastructure. The report also includes guidance for agency leaders and subject matter experts (SMEs) on steps that can be taken to prepare for the implementation of the practices and technologies highlighted in the report. There is a need to facilitate deployment of the research findings and ensure state DOTs familiarity with the research recommendations in order to prepare for the future and enhance system PMR in response to anticipated challenges.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this project is to develop and hold a series of workshops for state DOT leaders, managers, and SMEs to share information on the emerging PMR practices/technologies and their impact on agency PMR efforts, and promote action planning to adopt these practices/technologies. Accomplishment of the project objective will require at least the following tasks.
PHASE I: (1) Based on the information contained in NCHRP Report 750, Volume 7 and NCHRP Web-Only Document 272, develop and conduct a series of four virtual workshops, designated Workshops V1, V2, V3, and V4, for management and staff from the state DOTs of Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming.
(a) Workshop V1 is intended for members of the three participating state DOTs’ senior leadership teams including agency CEOs, COOs, highways division administrators, and district engineers. The purpose of the workshop is to provide a high-level overview of the emerging PMR practices/technologies, discuss how the technologies could benefit DOTs, discuss technological and institutional risks and challenges, and describe the estimated time horizon for implementation. The workshop should be structured to allow interaction among participants. (b) Workshops V2, V3, and V4 are intended for mid-level managers and SMEs from the three participating transportation agencies staff from both headquarters and districts (e.g., section/unit managers, engineering staff, traffic and operations personnel, and information technology staff) and possibly representatives from the leadership teams to provide continuity and contribute to action planning efforts. The workshops should allow for enhanced understanding of the 16 Emerging Practices/Technologies by sharing information on their functionality, discussing their potential use to improve existing practices, recognizing potential risks and challenges to implementation, and understanding their level of readiness for adoption. (c) In addition, the workshops should allow sharing information on suggested approaches to prepare for future implementation of the emerging PMR practices/technologies and discuss action planning for implementation of a particular PMR practice/technology. The workshop should also allow participants to discuss strategies for (1) raising awareness of the practices/technologies within their agencies, (2) identifying agency champions for implementing emerging PMR practices/technologies and potentially collaborating partners, (3) periodically assessing readiness of the emerging PMR practices/technologies for implementation, and (4) strategies for change management and overcoming implementation risks and challenges.
(2) Prepare a summary of the findings of the four virtual workshops conducted in Task 1. (3) Prepare an updated, detailed work plan, to be executed in Phase II, to conduct four in-person workshops, designated Workshops P1, P2, P3, and P4, for staff from all state DOTs. These workshops are intended to replicate and enhance the experience from the virtual workshops conducted in Task 1, and use the materials developed for the virtual workshops, with modifications as necessary. (4) Prepare an interim report that documents the work performed in Tasks 1 through 3. Following review of the interim report by the NCHRP, the research team will be required to make a presentation to the NCHRP project panel. Work on Phase II of the project will not begin until the interim report is approved and the Phase II work plan is authorized by the NCHRP. The decision on proceeding with Phase II will be based on the contractor’s documented justification of the updated work plan.
PHASE II: (5) Develop and conduct the approved four in-person workshops, and prepare a summary of the findings of the workshops. (6) Prepare a final deliverable that documents the entire work effort. The deliverable shall describe the workshop events and their findings and include an evaluation of the workshops based on feedback from the participants. The information/materials developed for the workshops shall be supplied as a stand-alone deliverable in a format appropriate for use in future workshops or other dissemination forums. The deliverable should also include a brief article highlighting the workshops and their findings as well as recommendations for enhancing implementation activities in a format appropriate for publication in TR News.
STATUS: Research in progress.
