What’s New At NOCoE
IN THIS REPORT YOU WILL LEARN:
NOCoE's plans to advance the TSMO workforce.
How NOCoE peer exchanges, webinars, and case studies are accelerating the deployment of TSMO practic
About four TSMO projects chosen as 2022 award winners.
Recent Events
Emergency Response Day returned to ITS World Congress this year on Tuesday, September 20. On a crucial mission to increase the personal safety of responders and motorists while restoring mobility for an emergency, commercial, and personal traffic, this year’s Emergency Response Day focused on emerging technology-based problems and solutions responders will face in evolving smart city infrastructure environment.
Educational programming on Emergency Response Day 2022 included:
• Session I - ER Day Welcome
• Session II – The Critical Role of Technology in Managing Traffic Incidents
• Session III - Traffic Incident Management Workshop “Development and Implementation of a Comprehensive National Traffic Incident Management Training Program – a United States Success Story”
Demonstrations during Emergency Response Day 2022 included:
• Axon Demonstration: Tethered Drone Scene Monitoring
• City of Los Angeles Fire Department: Electric Fire Engine
• Ten West Towing, Inc.: Heavy Wrecker
• HAAS Alert: Connected Vehicle Alerts
• CalTrans District 2: Responder System
• J-Tech LaneBlade®: Debris Clearance System
• LA Metropolitan Transportation Authority: Freeway Service Patrol Vehicle
• pi-lit®: Sequential Electronic Flares
• 360ns Network Solutions: 360 Remote CCTV
• GEWI: Data harmonization of device and incident data
Learn more in our recent newsletter post.
2nd TSMO Workforce Summit
In June 2016, National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) convened a two-day, in-person TSMO Workforce Development Summit to discuss a variety of issues. The discussion identified a range of gaps in practice to necessitate further investigation through the NCHRP. As a result, NCHRP Project 20-07/Task 408, “TSMO Workforce: Skills, Positions, Recruitment, Retention, and Career Development” was requested by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and completed in March 2019. Many other workforce activities were spun out of the 1st summit (summarized later in report).
Actions for the Industry
1. Provide ongoing awareness of TSMO workforce issues and resources.
2. Develop resources highlighting TSMO as career of choice.
3. Develop business case for academia to focus more on TSMO
4. Leverage existing programs with additional funding and promotion.
5. Develop best practices guide for TSMO technical training
6. Strengthen pipelines (military, tech. colleges, 1st responders, HBCU, etc.
Next Steps
1. Follow up with partners and FHWA to align actions with ongoing programs and assist in seeking to non-transportation specific partnerships.
2. Plan and conduct the Spring 2022 Workforce Peer Exchange, with a focus on practitioner activities and to more narrowly identify gaps between needs identified during the summit and ongoing activities within the industry.
3. Develop strategic implementation plan using the input gathered at the summit to inform NOCoE activities.
Since five years have passed since the initial summit, leaders of NOCoE and AASHTO decided to conduct a 2nd TSMO Workforce Development Summit. With the pandemic still constraining travel for many agencies, the 2nd summit was designed to be held in a virtual environment and include many interactive exercises to maximize group participation. To that end, the summit was convened over the course of two days to allow for synthesis of initial results from the first day.
7. Perform research on non-traditional workers.
8. Increase TSMO apprenticeship and co-op opportunities.
9. Develop guidance on succession planning, retention, and young workers.
10. Create a new university program for TSMO.
11. Leverage existing technical education programs to include TSMO.
Impact on Our Industry
The 2nd TSMO Workforce summit reveled the importance of focusing on strengthening pipelines, focusing on the paraprofessional workforce, and highlighting TSMO as a career of choice. NOCoE will work with its partners around solutions for each of these areas as well as continuing to develop and share resources to benefit practitioners.
The 2022 Transportation Technology Tournament
The National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) and the U.S. DOT ITS JPO's Professional Capacity Building (PCB) Program are hosting a competition for students to work directly with public agencies to solve real-world transportation problems utilizing ITS and TSMO solutions.
This will be the competition's fifth year. The 2018 - 2021 tournaments featured extremely competitive teams with innovative solutions.
Student teams will assemble to work with a State or local DOT, MPO, or transit agency to define a transportation problem. After submitting an initial contest application identifying the team and the problem, students will work with academic advisors to learn about potential ITS and TSMO solutions via online training programs outlined below. Teams will then utilize their experience, education, and new coursework to develop a solution or suite of solutions to directly address the originally defined problem. Students will submit their solutions via a proposal. Finalist teams will develop a presentation and then participate in a live event at the ITE Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA from July 31-August 3, 2022. Teams will give a presentation in front of a panel of judges made up of leaders in the ITS and TSMO community. One team will then be selected as the 2022 Transportation Technology Tournament Winner.
2022 TTT Finalists
Using Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) Strategy to Mitigate Congestion Along I-95 (with Florida DOT)
Corktown Last-mile Transit Challenge (Michigan DOT)
Impact on Our Industry
The Transportation Technology Tournament introduces future TSMO leaders to the challenges of solving real-world transportation problems by teaching them teamwork, collaboration, and communication skills. But also, the solutions these teams develop influence agencies in how they think about applying TSMO strategies to solve their transportation system needs.
TSMO Workforce Development
This series of webpages captures the growing number of resources available across the industry, from U.S. DOT and the National Network for the Transportation Workforce to formalized training programs. Additionally, there are number of resources to help TSMO agencies take a broader approach in organizing and developing their TSMO personnel. Lastly, ongoing industry research and activities will continue to define the knowledge, skills, and abilities for the TSMO workforce and better define the needs for a successful TSMO workforce. We've outlined a few of these activities and will continue to capture those resources as they are developed.
Assessing Pipeline Trends for Target Groups - Military
As the transportation workforce continues to face challenges, in particular with respect to recruitment of TSMO professionals, it is important to examine a diverse range of sources with potential to strengthen the TSMO workforce pipeline. This white paper examines characteristics of military service members, occupational groups, and recruitment and retention practices that provide the greatest opportunity to strengthen the TSMO pipeline.
Attracting Non-Traditional Workers Into the TSMO Workforce
During the 2nd TSMO Workforce Summit, there was interest in exploring how to tap into non-traditional workers to broaden the pool of potential employees. Non-traditional workers are people who may not meet traditional education and experience job requirements education and experience. This White Paper highlights the range of potential non-traditional workers that can be targeted to support TSMO as a short-term job, or even a long-term career.
Workforce Trends and Practices Applicable to TSMO
This memo provides a deeper look at current trends in the workforce and the industries discussed in the workshop white paper that show potential as good models for addressing TSMO workforce needs. Current trends in worker availability, knowledge, skills, and abilities, and shifting employee expectations are changing the way employers need to think about how they structure work, and how they recruit and retain employees.
Defining the TSMO Pipeline
A key challenge in building a robust TSMO workforce is the lack of clearly defined pipeline for recruiting workers. To address limited candidate pools, a more comprehensive approach to raising awareness of TSMO opportunities and recruiting qualified workers that creates new rather than just draws from existing pipelines is needed. This case study addresses best practices for developing the TSMO workforce pipeline.
Developing the Paraprofessional TSMO Workforce
With new technology and data strategies being implemented, new skills across the entire employments spectrum are required. This case study reaffirms the definition of paraprofessionals, highlights ongoing TSMO-related work by other organizations, draws a comparison between the public and private sector TSMO paraprofessional workforce, and attempts to define the current size and forecast future demand.
Best Practices in Workforce Development from Similar Industries
Workforce recruitment and retention challenges exist in TSMO, as they do in many other industries. This case study looks at what can be learned from similar industries to inform practices within TSMO. It also looks at opportunities to enhance inclusivity and diversity in the workforce through recruitment and retention practices.
Webinars on Emerging TSMO Practices
In 2021, NOCoE averaged four webinars a month, increasing its webinar schedule to accommodate the increased demand for online training and knowledge transfer needs. NOCoE webinars are often developed by key partners, such as the Federal Highway Administration, and are conducted by industry leaders and NOCoE staff. Webinar series, such as Talking TIM and Adventures in Crowdsourcing, have delivered high quality TSMO knowledge every month.
All NOCoE webinars are free, and recordings are available on the NOCoE website and NOCoE YouTube Channel.
Road Weather Spotlight: Winter Maintenance Training Programs
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Road Weather Management Program (RWMP) is pleased to present the Road Weather Spotlight, a monthly webinar series discussing the challenges of various road weather events, lessons learned, and practical solutions.
Analytics Tools to Improve Operational Planning
This webinar featured two agencies and their use of analytics tools to process vehicle probe data for operational use and to better plan for operations.
Crowdsourced Data for Commercial Vehicles
This webinar demonstrates how New Jersey and the Colorado Departments of Transportation are improving roadway safety through in-cab alerts and broader truck information (e.g., parking or inspection).
Talking TIM Webinar Series: May 2022
The Talking TIM webinar series, brought to you by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Operations provides a forum where TIM champions with any level of experience can exchange information about current practices, programs, and technologies.
Using Operations Data to Support Mainstreaming TSMO - Raj Ponnaluri, Florida DOT
This webinar is part of an FHWA Office of Operations project to support mainstreaming Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) in transportation agencies.
2024 Solar Eclipse: Planning early with NASA, Emergency Managers, and TSMO - NASA
This webinar will provide an overview of the solar eclipse from NASA, an overview of early special event planning from a State Emergency Management Agency, and upcoming activities and knowledge transfer opportunities from TSMO partners.
NOCoE Now Offers PDH Credits
NOCoE’s free webinars are now also available for professional development hour credits (PDHs). Each month, NOCoE provides a PDH tracking sheet to assist webinar attendees with keeping track of their professional development activities. The PDH credits are available for those attendees who register and attend the live webinar.
Impact on Our Industry
NOCoE webinars continue to reach 1000s of TSMO practitioners each year and are a primary force for transferring knowledge around emerging TSMO practices to accelerate deployment.
Workforce Peer Exchange
On May 24 and 26, NOCoE held a virtual Peer Exchange on Workforce Development. The Peer Exchange followed the Center’s second Workforce Development Summit that took place in September 2021. The Summit engaged TSMO thought leaders to identify the workforce challenges and needs of the future and to consider how best the Center continue to focus on workforce matters given its importance as one of three NOCoE Strategic Goals.
The Summit incorporated a series of presentations and, through breakouts, priority setting to help map the Center’s future work in this area. The Peer Exchange took a different approach and created multiple opportunities for interaction among its attendees to identify and share emerging and best practices on a range of workforce matters.
Over seventy participants involved in one or both days provided a rich array of practices on recruitment, retention, training, and diversity. These contributions are being captured, codified, and expanded on to share with the entire TSMO community through NOCoE’s website and future services such as its webinar and case study series.
Impact on Our Industry
NOCoE continued with virtual peer exchanges in 2021, allow an increase in attendees who could both share and receive knowledge. The three day format of virtual engagement meant multiple people from agencies could participate, including participants from every level of the career cycle. NOCoE peer exchange reports will continue to inform NOCoE and its partners on potential areas of resource development going forward.
Crash Responder Safety Week
Crash Responder Safety Week (CRSW), formerly known as NTIRAW, is a chance for all traffic incident response communities to make a difference individually and jointly. Teach your community and the motoring public about our shared responsibility for safe roadway incident clearance – whether a crash, stalled vehicle, debris on road, or something else.
Collaborate with your leadership, public information officers, and fellow responders to amplify the visibility and message of this important week. Use the CRSW calendar and tools to align messaging with others across our nation: bitly.com/CRSW2021
Whether or not your organization participates, you can be a CRSW champion. Take the free National Traffic Incident Management Responder Training, and encourage your fellow responders to do the same. It may save your life. Visit: bitly.com/TIMtrain
