Summary

The last decade of experience with implementing, or in some cases not implementing, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies has led to the identification of a broad range of institutional coordination problems. A critical review of these implementation projects and the identification of the associated institutional cooperation problems should provide a body of knowledge that, when interpreted in context of the projects and institutions at play, should lead toward the development of a "best practices" prescriptive policy guide. In theory. In practice, these institutional coordination problems often involve personnel problems, not on the personal level but on an institutional level. These problems are often the key stumbling blocks but are difficult to identify because they rarely are documented. This proposal's PIs have significant field experience with the evaluation of field operation tests which involved a variety of institutional constraints, including personnel constraints. One-on-one interviewing techniques have proved to be effective in documenting such effects and, as such, will be a critical component of the proposed research.

There are many other typical institutional constraints, including differences between participating agencies in defining objectives, dedicating local funds to the project, identifying ownership and defining maintenance responsibilities. Risk management, a critical factor in defining projects, has as such often been resolved early in projects and has thus served as less of a project hurdle.

Institutional problems can exist within single jurisdiction within administrative hierarchies and with project consultants. Institutional problems are more prevalent when multiple institutions are involved (often meaning regional, state, and national agency participation as well as a greater mix of consultants and other stakeholders). Inter-jurisdictional problems are perhaps most severe when they limit if not eliminate effective coordination across jurisdictional boundaries. For example, if a city will not cooperate with a freeway diversion, or if Caltrans will not cooperate with signal timing at freeway off-ramps, then any technological advances that rely on some level of inter-agency cooperation would be ineffective.

To ensure the broadest approach, the institutional policy guidelines developed will be fully compatible with national and California ITS Architecture. The most critical component is to define institutional policy, relative to overall standards but in the context of the application in question, prior to funding of said project. Formal agreements that clearly define the roles and responsibilities of public agencies, and that commit these agencies to maintaining these agreements for a reasonable period of time, must be part of project definition. In the field, technological advances and deployment simply must take a back seat to defining institutional relationships.

The tasks defined for this project will lead toward the development of "best practices" templates for institutional cooperation. The final product will be a prescriptive guide which will include sample projects which document institutional cooperation and present associated agreements.

A literature review will be conducted to evaluate previous research regarding institutional studies and inter-jurisdictional agreements within the state of California. Sample ITS project areas will be selected, such as traffic signal or ramp control, corridor traffic management, traffic monitoring, incident management, and transit operations. Selected projects will be identified for each selected area. A review of National ITS Architecture (NITSA) recommendations for institutional integration will be coordinated with California law to lay the foundation for possible alternative institutional arrangements. Current inter-jurisdictional agreements and previous projects will be reviewed. Many of the FOT projects developed inter-jurisdictional agreements. These existing agreements and other identified agreements will be reviewed to examine their approaches to critical institutional issues. These agreements will be critically analyzed with respect to their impact, if any, on the success or failure of the FOT or other project.

The second key stage will involve conducting interviews in agencies involved in past agreements and potential participants in future inter-jurisdictional projects involving ITS. These interviews will allow project participants to identify general priorities and motivations and will also be used to identify expected institutional constraints in future collaborations. To accomplish this, this project will interview key representatives from as appropriate agencies for the areas selected.

The results from this review of previous agreements and projects, research, and NITSA recommendations will be synthesized with the interview results. Through this comprehensive qualitative analysis and evaluation, previously experience and potential future institutional pitfalls and constraints will be identified. The research team will propose solutions to these institutional pitfalls and constraints and examine these solutions with respect to any significant legal concerns. The research team will design a flow chart and set of guidelines for use when coordinating jurisdictions. The flow chart will attempt to identify all potential pitfalls and constraints and identify the paths to successfully circumventing them. The research team also will write sample inter-jurisdictional agreements for inclusion in the California Guide for InterJurisdictional Coordination.

The flow chart and guidelines will be combined with the sample agreements to create a guide for inter-jurisdictional coordination amongst California agencies, especially with reference to ITS related projects and issues. Finally, a final report will be written that details the methodology, data collection and analysis, results and findings from the project.