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Every Day Counts Update

by Matt Cate, P.E.

Here is an update regarding items of interest from the Federal Highway Administration’s Every Day Counts (EDC) program.

EDC 3 Initiatives in Tennessee
At the group’s most recent meeting in June, members of Tennessee’s State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) received an update on the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s efforts to evaluate and/or implement initiatives from the third round of EDC innovations.

  • TDOT and FHWA have formed a Smarter Work Zones team to explore this EDC initiative. Representatives from TDOT’s Traffic Operations Division attended a regional Smarter Work Zones peer exchange in Raleigh, NC. TDOT and the Memphis Metropolitan Planning Organization are partnering on a $250,000 SHRP2 project to implement the Work Zone Impact Strategy Estimator (WISE) software tool. Finally, a work zone intelligent transportation systems (ITS) workshop is planned for the fall of this year.
  • TDOT is also pursuing the Data-Driven Safety Analysis initiative. Tennessee hosted a DDSA peer exchange in September 2015. TDOT and the FHWA Tennessee Division also participated in the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) Pooled Funds Study peer exchange in the same month. TDOT has established an HSM implementation committee with representatives from TDOT Design, Project Safety, all four TDOT regions, and the FHWA Tennessee Division. The committee is working to develop Tennessee-specific safety performance functions for specific countermeasures. The group has also worked with the Washington DOT to learn more about that state’s HSM implementation experiences. The FHWA Tennessee Division coordinated a pilot Safety Analysis of Freeways and Interchanges workshop in January of this year. Finally, TDOT and FHWA participated in the HSM Implementation Plan and Safety Analysis in Project Development peer exchange in May.
  • TDOT has completed road diets in Region 1 (Kingsport), Region 2 (Chattanooga), and Region 4 (Memphis). The agency has developed a draft flowchart to help determine when road diets may be appropriate on Tennessee roadways. Ultimately TDOT will develop a Road Diet guide to identify best practices and to standardize the evaluation and implementation of road diet projects across the state. TDOT, the FHWA Tennessee Division, and five in-state local agencies participated in the EDC Road Diets peer exchange in April 2015. Finally, the FHWA Tennessee Division and TDOT will host a road diets peer exchange in August.
  • TDOT is also pursuing the Implementing Quality Environmental Documentation (IQED) initiative. TDOT is updating current National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) document templates to make them more efficient, produce higher-quality documents, and meet current regulations from MAP-21. A two-week general NEPA training course was held in late 2015 to familiarize new TDOT Environmental Division employees with NEPA documentation. A one-day Purpose and Need course was offered to TDOT personnel in March of this year.

EDC 4 Initiatives Announced
In June, FHWA released the list of innovations that will make up the fourth round of the Every Day Counts initiative. These innovations will be rolled out in greater detail over the remainder of 2016 as state DOTs, LTAP centers, industry associations, and other transportation stakeholders participate in regional EDC Summits during the fall.

  • Accelerating Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Data Collection
  • Advanced Hydraulic Modeling Tools
  • Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures (ATSPMs)
  • Community Connections
  • Data-Driven Safety Analysis (DDSA)
  • e-Construction and Partnering
  • Integrating NEPA and Permitting
  • Pavement Preservation (When, Where, and How)
  • Road Weather Management - Weather - Savvy
  • Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian (STEP)
  • Ultra-High Performance Concrete Connections for Prefabricated Bridge Elements (PBEs)

TDOT will select a subset of these innovations for exploration and implementation as a part of the EDC summits. Some of these innovations will be featured in future EDC Exchanges. Watch future issues of RoadTalk for additional information. To learn more about the EDC 4 innovations, visit the EDC website at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_4/.


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