State departments of transportation around the country are exploring ways to quantify benefits of transportation research, especially in light of a trend toward performance-based outcomes, as seen in the MAP-21 federal transportation legislation. MnDOT initiated this project to conduct the following tasks: review and document practices in place at State DOTs from around the country; determine best practices that have the most potential for implementation by MnDOT; and recommend key milestones/steps for MnDOT to quantify the benefits of its research results.
This Transportation Research Synthesis (TRS) project surveyed representatives from 52 transportation‐related agencies about their internal communications practices. Twenty‐five (25) states provided input to help document the current practices state DOTs are using to manage internal employee communications. The survey gathered information about practices such as whether internal communication is centralized, the existence and format of an employee newsletter, other forms of communication used with internal audiences, what content is gathered, successes, and lessons learned.
This State of Practice Transportation Research Synthesis (TRS) examines software programs and processes used by State DOTs to track capital program funding. It also summarizes relevant practices of selected non-DOT entities. This research included surveying State DOTs and compiling results, documenting software programs used by non-DOT agencies, and summarizing four featured State DOT examples as selected by MnDOT.
This Transportation Research Synthesis examines how transportation agencies define, demonstrate, and document efficiencies. The research resulted in a compilation of State DOT survey results, interview summaries for eight featured State DOTs selected by the Minnesota DOT, one international transportation agency example, and several appendices that show detailed examples of cost savings achieved from efficiencies in transportation.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is in the process of updating its cost participation policy and was interested in learning about other states' cost sharing policies and cooperative programs for consideration in implementing applicable findings into this policy update. This Transportation Research Synthesis includes a review of relevant state laws and policies, as submitted by state transportation agencies. It also identifies elements of effective policies and lessons learned from the development and implementation of these policies. The review resulted in a compilation of survey results and in-depth summaries of five case studies of effective policies.
