Tsmo website update

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) received a $124,000 Project Grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) under the Highway Research and Development Program (CFDA 20.200) on September 2, 2021. The grant funding will support WSDOT's efforts to update its Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) website (TSMOwa.org) and develop additional briefing materials showcasing the benefits of TSMO strategies. Specifically, WSDOT will evaluate needs to expand existing website content, clean up current content, and add new material on emerging mobility, freight, active transportation, and other topics to ensure the site provides implementers with accurate and timely TSMO information. Briefing materials developed through this grant are intended to demonstrate standalone and package TSMO solutions for regional and subject matter experts. The FHWA grant award aligns with the program's objective to conduct research maintaining and improving transportation infrastructure through authorized highway research and development activities.

Project description

WSDOT has a history of producing workforce development materials that are used both internal to our agency and as a training tool at the national level, such as the operational academy. As WSDOT moves in the direction of prioritizing tsmo strategies before capital expansion, we must continue to develop educational materials to inform our regional and subject matter expert implementers on what tsmo is, how to implement tsmo strategies and the benefits of tsmo. The desire for these types of materials were apparent in regional capability maturity models (CMMS) workshops in 3 of our 6 regional offices this last year where we heard overwhelmingly the need for more training materials, specifically as a tool to support implementers in identifying and pursing tsmo strategies. The fhwa funding comes at opportune time to support updating the tsmo website (tsmowa.ORG), which was developed in 2018-19, to provide implementers with current, up to date information about tsmo. WSDOT proposes to evaluate the needs for expanding content on the website, clean up the existing content and add new content to ensure IT contains accurate and timely information (e.g., emerging mobility, freight, active transportation, etc). In addition, we propose to develop more briefing materials that showcase the benefits of implementing tsmo strategies both as standalone solutions and as part of package of solutions.