TRB 2023 Annual Meeting: Creating a Better Future, Together

This presentation is part of Lectern Session 2003, Prioritizing Investments in Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO). The panel session will examine how state and metropolitan planning organizations are prioritizing investments in TSMO programs to achieve a broad range of goals, including reliability, safety, equity, multimodal use, and climate resilience.

The session will look at aspects creating a TSMO project evaluation and analysis structure, as well as integrating TSMO into long-range planning and programming. Panelists will share their experiences on these and other related topics. This session will consist of presentations followed by discussion questions from the moderator and audience.

The committee looks at transportation-related noise and vibration and evaluates alternative strategies and control techniques for reducing noise and vibration levels and for evaluating their environmental impact.

In service for more than 80 years, the twin-bore, nearly mile-long Tuscarora Mountain Tunnel needed significant improvements to maintain its functionality as a key passageway for the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Gannett Fleming evaluated the Tuscarora Tunnel’s existing conditions, recommended fire and life safety systems improvements, identified opportunities to reduce future maintenance and energy costs, and provided preliminary engineering and final design services. The project will make traveling through the tunnel safer, smoother, and more comfortable for the estimated 24,000 motorists who use it daily.

Attendees will learn about recent research on transportation-related noise and vibration with presentations on pavement noise, rail vibration, and community impacts of transportation noise.

Workforce development and management is an integral part of building a resilient department of transportation (DOT). The methods to recruit and retain the next generation of employees are changing longstanding approaches. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts have spurred greater interest in the transportation space, which can be one facet of addressing the projected five-year retirement rate and higher rates of turnover that DOTs are experiencing.

This session brings together leaders who are meeting the workforce problem head-on through creative, cost-effective solutions that enable additional capabilities for DOTs. As part of this session, Gannett Fleming’s William Panos, former agency director, CEO, and board member of both the Wyoming and North Dakota Departments of Transportation, will present a Wyoming DOT perspective on agency administration.