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THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1997 NOT THE END, BUT THE BEGINNING |
| 8:30am-9:00am | Local Technical Assistance Program—Joe Toole, Session Moderator Marketing PTP Technologies—Karen Haas Smith Strategic Plan Implementation—Anna Bennett New Products Showcased—Gary White |
| 9:00am–9:30am | International Innovations: Cooperation with Mexico—Irene Rico Border Technologies—Paul Heliker |
| 9:30am–10:00am | FHWA's Scanning Program: Focus on Implementation—Donald Symmes |
| 10:15am–10:45am | Central Artery Technology Program—Pete Markle |
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Session Title: Marketing PTP Technologies |
| Session Leader | Karen Haas Smith, Henderson Associates/Editor's Ink |
| Remarks | [Due to a machine problem, minutes taken following Dr.
Anna Bennett's presentation were lost. Parts of presentations by Karen
Haas Smith and Dr. Bennett were also damaged in places. I have been able
to restore the latter; summaries following them were recreated from notes
kindly supplied by speakers. My thanks to all who so generously provided
me with necessary materials.—Editor]
To demonstrate the development of a marketing plan, Ms. Smith offered a PTP case study, including:
Issues that must be considered in forming a marketing plan include the following:
Who are the primary customers?
Strategies for reaching primary customers include:
Ms. Haas Smith stressed the use of marketing plans instead of random acts of marketing. Crucial to a marketing plan is the development of product briefs for every product, for inclusion with press releases. These two items serve as a handout at presentations or product demonstrations. A product brief should:
Standard presentations should be developed for each product. This is the most efficient approach and encourages outreach. Brochures are good for reaching policy makers and the general public. Their main message, suggested Ms. Haas Smith, should be the ways highway agencies can use new technologies to improve service. One example of this was the Metropolitan Washington Region Technologies Brochure discussed in an earlier presentation by Ms. Carolyn Goodman, Virginia Transportation Research Council. Ms. Haas Smith further advised participants to pay attention to how advertising structures its messages in targeting the general public. She also discussed the planning of web pages and videos. All of the above listed resources should be instrumental in building sources of marketing support. For help in assembling these resources, she recommended working with contractors' and partners' public relations personnel; State DOT public affairs officers; State DOT photo libraries; and Henderson Associates or Editor's Ink, the FHWA contractors with which she has been associated. |
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Session Title: Strategic Plan Implementation |
| Session Leader | Dr. Anna Bennett, FHWA, Region 9 |
| Remarks | Dr. Bennett discussed the implementation of the national Local Technical
Assistance Program (LTAP) Strategic Plan by LTAP partners and T2
centers. The LTAP Strategic Plan, which does not cover individual centers,
encourages those centers to become involved on a voluntary basis. LTAP
T2 centers are asked to examine the national plan to see how
and where those centers might fit, with implementation where appropriate.
The national LTAP mission is to foster a safe, efficient, environmentally sound national transportation system by improving the skills and knowledge of local transportation providers through training, technical assistance, and technology transfer. The effort's four major goals are to:
The effort's nine cross-cutting strategies are to:
Sample actions that might be taken by LTAP T2 centers include:
Actions that might be taken by national associations include:
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Session Title: New Products Showcased |
| Session Leader | William R. Gary White, Assistant Division Administrator, Indiana Division, FHWA |
| Remarks | Using the accompanying table A, Mr. White
gave an update on LTAP products initiated during "the last couple
cycles." Many of the products were then being finished and distributed.
In some instances, a package might have multiple parts (i.e., video, student
manual, instructor's manual, workbook, etc.); these parts would be distributed
individually when completed. The OTA and LTAP Clearinghouses developed
a sheet listing the parts of each product to be distributed for inclusion
with each new part at its completion. In so doing, it should be apparent
to the recipient which product this part belongs to, which parts have already
been received, and which parts are yet to come.
Table B presents 11 new LTAP products being initiated in 1997. Mr. White noted that several of these products were directly related to current research subjects. Many LTAP centers no longer spend time merely bringing rural constituents up to yesterday's technology, but work, instead, with forward thinking customers to help them gain future technologies. Should funding be forthcoming from the legislative process, LTAP hoped to initiate several more projects early in fiscal year 1998. Mr. White welcomed questions about new products, as well as previous products, and encouraged participants to call him. [He has since move to the FHWA Indiana Division.] Additionally, LTAP hoped to distribute a list of proposed LTAP products for updates and possible additions before initiating technical committees to prioritize those proposals and develop statements of work. Those activities were anticipated for fall 1997, toward initiating another set of products in spring 1998. |
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Session Title: Cooperation with Mexico |
| Session Leader | Irene Rico, International Transportation Programs Engineer, FHWA, Region 6 |
| Remarks | As background, Ms. Rico stated that the 2,000-mile US-Mexican border
is shared by four US States and six Mexican States. The population of the
Region, currently 13 million, is expected to double over the next 20 years.
The North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has brought the following
results:
Counted among the latter items, the Joint Working Committee (JWC) was established in 1994 as a result of a memorandum of understanding signed by the US Secretary of Transportation and the Mexican Transportation Secretary as a mechanism for cooperation on border transportation planning. JWC comprises representatives from the US DOT and Mexico's SCT; each US and Mexican border State; and the US Department of State and the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Relations. JWC's task is the Binational Transportation Planning and Programming Study initiated in 1995 at a cost of $2.5 million, to be funded equally by both nations. The US portion was funded by four southwestern State DOTs through State Planning Research funds; the Mexican portion was funded through the World Bank. The scope of work for that study consists of 18 tasks, including:
Under the auspices of JWC, another program, the Border Technology Exchange Program (BTEP), was initiated in 1994, with funding from FHWA to the four southwestern US border States for the following objectives:
BTEP's activities, carried out on a binational, border-wide, and State to State basis, include:
Other border-wide activities include:
The benefits from the above efforts to States include:
The benefits from the above efforts to FHWA/US DOT include:
Future activities will include:
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| Summary/ Conclusions | Through coordination of planning and programming projects along the US-Mexican border, as well as transportation information and technology exchange, transportation officials of both nations will strengthen relationships and gain stronger understanding of each other and their transportation needs. Continuation of such consultation and cooperation will improve safety and efficiency of border transportation systems and enhance economic opportunities. |
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Session Title: FHWA's Scanning Program: Focus on Implementation |
| Session Leader | Donald Symmes, Technology Exchange Team Leader, Office of International Programs (OIP), FHWA |
| Remarks | OIP's Scanning Program is FHWA's means of benchmarking foreign technical
and managerial practices to benefit the US highway community's public and
private sector partners. Its aims are to:
An integral part of FHWA's technology program, this effort includes study tours/reviews by scanning teams, as well as US participation in international technical organizations, especially the OECD Road Transport Research Program and WRA/PIARC. The National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Panel 20-36 conducts a parallel and coordinated program, and cosponsors some scans with OIP. The United States is active in approximately 15 World Road Association technical committees, along with 6 OECD expert groups. Since 1990, FHWA has undertaken 23 scanning team study tours/reviews, ordinarily 4 per year in countries with advanced technologies. An average scan costs OIP approximately $90,000, including travel, facilitation, and implementation. Topics are selected by RTCGs and approved by RTEB. The following seven tours were under way or being planned:
Scanning teams typically comprise 2–20 managers and/or experts from Federal, State, and sometimes local government, as well as industry and academia, along with a report writer and a travel facilitator. By tapping into a large pool of sophisticated experience and innovation abroad and at home, the program should be highly cost effective. Paradoxically, the program's cost effectiveness may drop due to its successes. The benefits of scanning are directly proportional to the extent to which its findings are implemented. Implementation is a function of the following four steps:
OIP has focused on the first three of the above bullet items where that office has the relevant competence and resources. The fourth bullet item has been left to other FHWA headquarters, field offices, and State and local partners possessing the needed expertise and resources. Scanning tours have resulted in the finding of important innovative practices. Those results have been disseminated to key players through:
OIP's efforts have gained influential and knowledgeable champions for foreign innovations found during scanning tours. These champions serve in leadership roles in each scan, and with the use of FHWA resources, they bear the main responsibility for implementation. Some of the innovations and practices influenced or affected through observation of operations or demonstrations have included:
OIP's goal is to improve return on investment in scanning tours by doing at least as well or better in the future in its focus on the three bullet items listed on page eight. Participants in scanning teams and their offices will be expected to take ownership of important innovations found and to allocate appropriate resources to the task. For its future efforts, OIP has committed to the following specific changes:
Mr. Symmes encouraged his audience to offer questions and comments. |
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Session Title: Border Technologies |
| The originally scheduled speaker, Mr. Paul Heliker, Caltrans, was unable to appear. A substitute, Mr. Rico, presented the topic instead. Due to the unfortunate machine problem, Mr. Rico's presentation was lost, and no materials could be obtained to recreate a summary of his presentation. | |
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Session Title: Central Artery Technology Program |
| Session Leader | Pete Markle, Division Administrator, FHWA, Massachusetts Division |
| Remarks | Prior to being appointed Division Administrator, Mr. Markle served
as FHWA Project Administrator for the Boston Central Artery/Third Harbor
Tunnel (CAT). This extraordinarily large, complex, and expensive project
was undertaken to relieve congestion in downtown Boston, the oldest and
most compact Central Business District (CBD) in the United States. The
severity of congestion was exemplified in a slide showing 38 lanes of traffic
on the old, elevated Artery converging upon 6 lanes, with 27 ramps, all
serving 190,000 vehicles per day. The resulting 10+ hours of gridlock per
day, 7 days a week, was projected to increase to 14 hours per day by the
year 2000. The complexity of the task was demonstrated by the requirement
to maintain Interstate traffic throughout construction under conditions
that included densely situated 100-year-old and 40-story buildings, Civil
War era underground utilities, and the second oldest subway system in the
United States.
One important reason this effort is well under way has been the development of both hard and soft technologies suited to such a complex and difficult task. Through the use of slides and a video, Mr. Markle narrated CAT construction efforts, including the following aspects of the work:
Mr. Markle also addressed the soft technologies required, including:
Finally, he discussed transfers of technology that played a role, including the following observations:
Mr. Markle invited visitors to the CAT site and welcomed questions and comments. |