Context Sensitive SolutionsContext Sensitive Solutions…A Better Way of Doing Business

Developed by:

John Eddy, Project Development Branch Yates Oppermann, Environmental Programs Branch

Hilary Hawthorne, Project Development Branch

Course Agenda

• Welcome / Introductions / Why CSS? / Course Objectives– Exercise No. I: “Beyond Our Pavement”, Pt. I

• The History of Context Sensitive Solutions– Exercise No. II: “Beyond Our Pavement”, Pt. II

• What is Context Sensitive Solutions?

*BREAK (10 minutes)*

• Apprehensions, Challenges and Benefits of CSS: An Agency Perspective

Course Agenda• The Project Stakeholder

– Exercise No. III: “In Their Shoes”

• Multi-Disciplinary Team– Exercise No. IV: “In Their Shoes” – Part II - PRESENTATIONS

*BREAK (10 minutes)*

• Successes of CSS

• What is My Role?

• Conclusion: Survey Review, Acknowledgement of Commitment and Questions

Welcome / Introductions

• CSS Survey

• Introductions– Name / Position / Work Location– CSS experience– What do you wish to obtain from this training?

Why CSS?• Public Expectations

• FHWA “Vital Few Goals”

• Chief Engineer Policy Memo 26 – Context Sensitive Solutions

• “CSS Program” Development– Training– Resources / Support– Policies (Environmental Stewardship Guide)– Implementation

• Public Expectations

Course Objectives• Identify and discuss Context Sensitive Solution (CSS)

principles and practices.

• Establish a better understanding of how CSS can be implemented in business activities.– Management / Administration– Design / Construction / Maintenance– Environmental

• Establish a shift in CSS culture within CDOT.– Widen our “field of vision”– Encourage CSS practices to become more commonplace

• Certification / Acknowledgement of Commitment.

Exercise No. 1

“Beyond Our Pavement”- Part I

• What features can you readily identify about the project area?

• What does the picture say about the landscape which a transportation project on this road might impact?

• What impacts are likely to result from a project in this area?

GO TO PROJECT PHOTO

History of CSS

• Campaign Era (pre-1960’s)– Characterized by public information efforts that focused on

improving driver behavior in order to improve safety:• “Stop, Look, & Listen”• “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”• “Speed Kills”

– Design began to adopt “standards”– Prevailing attitude: “Drivers who left the roadway …

• Action Era (early/mid-1960’s)– 1966 National Highway Safety Act passed by Congress

• Adopted 16 highway safety standards– Money was allocated for standards adoption, implementation,

enforcement, education and research

History of CSS (cont.)• Priority Era (mid-1960’s)

– Revenue shortfalls frequent– Required transportation officials to target money to areas with the

highest return on safety dollars spent.

• Public Involvement Era (late 1960’s)– Designs had significant impacts on social, environmental and

historical sites.– Public demands for participation in decision-making process.– Laws developed to ensure opportunities for public involvement.

• Environmental Era (late 1960’s / early 1970’s)– National Environmental Policy Act established (1969)– Trade-offs between competing needs becoming more apparent

History of CSS (cont.)

• Modal Era (post-1980’s)– Focus on increasing vehicle occupancy and integration of different

modes of transportation– Changes to access considerations for the disabled

• Context Sensitive Solution Era (1990’s-present)– Combination of preceding eras– Benefits of safety design elements must be weighed against

alternative solutions which optimize the benefits of competing factors.

– Fear of lawsuits and tort liability has restrained our ability to make trade-offs that allow for full optimization of a project’s components.

– Designs must be increasingly flexible and allow for more judgment in consideration of issues beyond that of safety.

History of CSS (cont.)• Context Sensitive Design (CSD) evolved during these

transportation eras in an effort to adopt the viewpoint that highway projects, in many respects, extends beyond the highway itself.

• Many agencies, in recent years, have become equally concerned with outcomes rather than just “processes”, ie. the construction, maintenance and operation of a highway system.

• The result has been the adoption of “Context Sensitive Solutions” (CSS) to better represent the integration of all key functions of transportation agencies.

• References to CSD and CSS should be considered interchangeable.

Exercise No. 2

“Beyond Our Pavement”- Part II

• What additional features can you readily identify about the project area which were not easily know in the prior exercise?

• Can you identify an issue of concern not related to your field of expertise?

• What impacts are likely to result from a project in this area?

GO TO SLIDESHOW

What is CSS?• CSS characterizes every project with a context, as defined by

the:– Terrain / Topography– Immediate/Surrounding community features and values– Facility Users– Other

• CSS promotes a broader look at our project areas, as well as a better understanding of impacts a project may have beyond that of attaining our transportation goals.

• CSS allows us to equally address safety and mobility, as well as preserve scenic, aesthetic, historic, environmental, and other community values.

What is CSS? (cont.)• CSS promotes a collaborative use of multi-disciplinary teams

to find transportation solutions for a given project.

• CSS is about using the information within a project to best understand and define a project’s purpose and need.

• CSS promotes the sharing of information, concerns and ideas with and amongst project stakeholders.

• In summary, CSS is a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that involves all stakeholders to develop transportation facility that fits its physical setting and preserves scenic, aesthetic, historic and environmental resources, while maintaining safety and mobility. - FHWA

CSS is … A Delicate Balance!

Apprehensions:An Agency Perspective

It sounds so simple and so practical…what’s stopping us?• Costs?

– Does CSS really cost more money?• The up front investment saves considerably more money that might

otherwise be realized– Modifying designs

– Litigation

• Time?– Does CSS really add time to the project delivery schedule?

• Any additional time allocated up front is typically far less then the time required of:

– Design changes

– Project financing

– Litigation

Apprehensions:An Agency Perspective (cont.)

• Resources and Know-how?– Do we have the experience necessary to ensure CSS is properly

implemented on our projects?• At CDOT, there are a large number of folks with experience

implementing CSS who can assist you on your project– Environmental Branch– Engineering/Maintenance peers– Project Development Branch

• Advanced training will be developed and offered in the coming years to further the CSS capabilities of CDOT employees

• Support from Management?– Do we have the support of management to implement CSS on our

projects?• Chief Engineer Policy Memo 26 has been embraced and

endorsed by CDOT Branch Managers and RTD’s

Challenges of CSSSo now that we have overcome our apprehensions, what are some

of the challenges that we can expect (a few examples):

• Certain project items may be cost-prohibitive and may require applying a less then desirable solution

• Development of aesthetic treatment guidelines

• Establishing local maintenance agreements, i.e. railroad crossings, roadside landscaping, etc.

• Public Cooperation and satisfaction with ROW processes

• Establishing local agency and utility agreements

• Encounters with misinformed stakeholders

Benefits of CSSa few examples:

• Improves project quality

• Improves relationships with resource agencies, environmental organizations and communities

• Promotes creativity in problem-solving

• Results in higher level of customer-satisfaction with highway projects

• Leads to cost-effective environmental benefits

The Project Stakeholder• What is a stakeholder?

– A project stakeholder is anyone or anything directly or indirectly affected by a project’s development and outcome

• Who are the project stakeholders?– Internal

• Engineering, Environmental, Maintenance• Public Relations• Consultant business partners

– External• Community leaders and residents• Business owners• Federal, state and local agencies• Commuters

– Others?

The Project Stakeholder(cont.)

• What do stakeholders have to offer?– Concerns

– Ideas

– Local knowledge

– Expertise

– Others?

• Why do we need to involve stakeholders?– Federal policy

– More to gain than lose

– Leads to consensus on project decisions

– Others?

Exercise No. 3

“In Their Shoes” – Part I

Refer to map of Mount Morgan in your handouts

The Multi-Disciplinary Team

• What:– A project management / development team authorized to identify

and assess issues, as well as provide guidance in the decisions related to a project’s development

• Who:– Representatives should be chosen based upon the specific needs

of the project– Prospective Candidates:

• Engineering• Environmental• Maintenance (often overlooked)• Federal / local agency representatives• Public*

The Multi-Disciplinary Team(cont.)

• Purpose:

– Bridge differing points of view to successfully implement projects

– Implement an effective decision-making process for the project

– Ensure specialty issues are represented and addressed with the appropriate level of expertise

– Enables multiple disciplines to effectively accommodate competing interests

The Multi-Disciplinary Team(cont.)

The MDT is utilized to implement effective decision-making on a project by providing:

– Management Structure

• Identifying decision points and appointing decision-making responsibility

– Problem/Purpose and Need Definition

• Developing a list of transportation problems to be addressed and transforming into a project “purpose & needs” statement

– Project Development and Evaluation Framework

• Developing a framework for evaluating design alternatives, including evaluation criteria

The Multi-Disciplinary Team(cont.)

The MDT is utilized to implement effective decision-making on a project by providing (cont.):

– Alternative Development

• Ensures stakeholder values are represented in alternative solutions developed for the project

– Alternative Screening, Evaluation and Selection

• Provides for an “apple to apple” comparison of proposed alternatives and the selection of a preferred alternative

– Implementation

• Developing a project funding plan and monitoring changes in design and mitigation

Exercise No. 4

“In Their Shoes” – Part II

Successes with CSS

• Large projects are the most visible:– Glenwood Canyon

– Berthoud Pass

– I-25/Pueblo

• Medium and small projects can reap equal rewards without the visibility:– Region 5 turnout

– Vail / Avon round-a-bouts

– Overlays

Successes with CSS• Photos:

– CO 135 North of Almont– Skipper island Maintenance Project, Grand Junction– Castlewood Canyon: Historic and Aesthetic Considerations– CDOT Beaver Baffles, Frisco– Luber By-pass– Hanging Lake in Glenwood Canyon– Berthoud Pass– Pine Mountain Kentucky– Big 5 Mine and Colorado Blvd– Absarokee, Montana– Urban Deck, Virginia Maryland– Keosauqua, Iowa Bridge Project– Culvert, South East Colorado

What’s My Role?

• Embrace the principles of CSS– Try to put yourselves in the shoes of others.

– Recognize that there are a large number of “customers” out there.

– Do not think a project is too small or insignificant for CSS.

– Encourage others to apply CSS principles.

• Identify relevant CSS practices– Assess what your project role is.

– What changes can you make in your everyday tasks?

– Become more involved in your own communities transportation concerns

– Do I have the expertise to address stakeholder concerns?

– Who are my contacts when I don’t know what to do?

What’s My Role? (cont.)• Senior Transportation Administrators

– Support the cultural shift– Support investments in training and skill development– Ensure projects are adequately financed, scheduled and delivered

on-time within budget

• Project Managers– Appreciate the duties and challenges of each discipline, as well as

the contributions each discipline makes to a project– Balance wide range of budgetary and resource prioritization issues– Avoid miscommunication by disorganization

• Transportation Design Professionals– Proper identification and implementation of critical design criteria– Develop creative and affordable design solutions which are

consistent with good engineering practice and principles

What’s My Role? (cont.)• Environmental Managers

– Assess impacts of project alternatives– Interact effectively with engineering professionals and public– Support inexperienced engineering staff with CSS efforts

• Construction Staff– Avoid changes to project plans which may impact decisions made as

a result of CSS processes– Maintain good “customer” relations during construction– Participate in appropriate steps of design process

• Maintenance– CDOT Management recognizes your responsibilities as equally

significant in the CSS effort– Recognize visibility and impacts of work activities– Build relationships with area stakeholders– Participate in appropriate steps of design process

What’s Next

• Project Development Branch to administer this training to over 2000 employees within CDOT

• Advanced training to be developed as funding and scheduling opportunities permit

• Ultimately, CDOT will administer and support fully-sufficient CSS Program

• References available for your use:– NCHRP Report 480 (www.css.org)– Regional and Staff Environmental, Maintenance and

Engineering staff (Become a resource for your peers)

Conclusion

• Survey review

• Questions