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Leadership in Transportation

~ John L. Craig Consulting, LLC

Leadership in Transportation

Category Archives: Risks

The Mobility Ecosystem: the changing landscape and the need for fresh, new ideas (Part 10: Social, Economic, and Environmental Issues)

12 Monday Apr 2021

Posted by John L. Craig in Biological Diversity, Biomimicry, Business Transformation, Clean Energy, Climate, Cloud Services, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV), COVID-19, Design, Economics, Economy, Electric Vehicles, Environment, Funding, Future, Government & Policy, Infrastructure, Intelligent Infrastructure, Intelligent Transportation Systems or ITS, Internet of Things or IoT, Interstate, Investing, Leadership, Mobility, Mobility Ecosystem, Multimodal, Pandemic, Planning, Resilience, Risks, Smart Cities, Social Justice and Equity, Society, Strategic Planning, Sustainability, Technology, Transportation, Urban, Utilities, Vehicle Miles Traveled Tax (VMT)

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We live in a global economy, driven by multimodal transportation across the earths surface—land, air, and water.

This writer has tried to separate into shorter sections the social, economic, and environmental issues but found separating them was artificial and not real, losing or subordinating the inter-connectivity in the process. While disciplines are important and reasonable to separate out for “deeper dives,” separating them into categories defeats the purpose of a holistic or systems view. Thus, these issues are addressed as they appear—one ecosystem, or mobility ecosystem in this case, with related parts—in at least an attempt to reflect a systems view. Segueing from Part 9, it is also worth noting that without a functioning democracy we have nothing, including meaningful progress in the transportation and mobility space and all of the issues tied to it.

While the current Covid-19 Pandemic was not caused by our global transportation system that drives our global economy, there is no question that the pandemic’s rapid spread was a result. Similarly, the “cure” will be more rapid because of this same transportation system.

The pandemic has lost some of its acceleration as counter measures and vaccinations have taken place although there is concern over variants and a race for booster vaccinations occurs, similar to annual flu vaccinations. Still, more than 30 million Americans, or one in every 12, have been diagnosed positive for COVID-19 with over 550,000 deaths in the U. S. and nearly 3 million deaths globally, as of this writing. The expectation is that the total U. S. deaths will exceed 600,000 deaths by the end of 2021, before the pandemic is “under control” in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, estimates the actual number of Covid-19 infections may exceed 83 million in the U. S alone (CDC, 2021). Worldwide there are currently nearly 140 million recorded cases. (Wu and Chiwaya, 2020; Worldometer, 2021; Baker, 2021).

The year 2020 was the worst year for economic growth since World War II (Siegel, et al, 2021). Moreover, there was no “playbook” of how to respond economically as we continue to try and understand and plan for the future (White, 2021; Ross, 2021; Achenbach et al, 2021).  It has changed everything in our lives—how we work, how we shop, how we socialize, how we commute, how we travel, education, business, entertainment, the environment, the economy (Vasel, 2021; Reese, 2021; Lobosco, 2021; Stern, et al, 2021; Watson, 2021;  Dickler, 2021; Hughes, 2021; Wikipedia, 2021; Wikipedia, 2021; Parker, 2020; Spear et al, 2020; Pesek, 2021; Burns and John, 2020; Reuters, 2021; Bauer, et al, 2020; Patton, 2020; McKinsey & Company, 2021; Craven, et al, 2021; Entrepreneur, 2021; Davidson, 2021). The Pandemic persists even as vaccinations progress; new variants emerge; some states set aside recommended CDC measures, and a potential 4th surge emerges (Khemlani, 2021; Dearman, 2021; Rodriguez, 2021; Guenot, 2021; Dilven, 2021; Diedrich, et al, 2021; Murray, 2021). This is also changing how we think about cities, remodeling them in ways that could make urban life, and rural life, more attractive and sustainable (Goldsmith, 2021). More specifically, state department of transportation leaders recently discussed the impacts of Covid-19 on transportation (AASHTO, 2021). The “15-minute city” concept is emerging around the world—dwellers should have everything they need (work, grocery stores, bars, restaurants, shops, schools, healthcare, leisure) within a 15-minute trip, on foot or bike, from home (The 15-Minute City Project, 2020; Moreno, n.d.; Sisson, 2020; Harley, 2021). To be fair, there are also concerns about the 15-minute city with potential to increase inequality (O’Sullivan, 2021). Lockdowns gave working from home proof of concept, challenging the notion that cities need to be divided into separate areas for working and living. Many city dwellers experienced life with fewer cars and more bikes on streets and those cities will have to decide whether to make these “healthy streets” permanent (Whittle, 2020). A new smart city work philosophy concept is emerging for companies—smaller workspaces to meet all over the city, closer to people’s homes. The traditional idea of a city, one where smaller communities form around one central hub, is changing. Future cities may become vast urban areas made up of several smaller communities, each with their own center.

There is also the issue of communities holding onto some of the good things that have occurred during the pandemic (Descant, 2021). Besides the Herculean effort to develop and deploy vaccines, there are many other efforts that have been generated in these dark times. In another Herculean effort, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers led the conversion of  hotels and other buildings into needed COVID-19 hospitals. They also created an intelligent HVAC system that will likely find many uses in indoor spaces, and perhaps the transportation space as well (Carter, 2021).

None of this discounts the attractiveness of living and working in rural communities because there is much to like in these wide-open, needed spaces, that produce much of the food and other products we consume. Access is through mobility in all its forms. While agriculture is main stem in rural areas, the beauty of wild spaces has an important part in the United States, the world, our psyche, mental health, health of our planet and the life that it supports (Williams, 2017; Louv, 2011).

Even as we deal with this pandemic and its impacts to our lives and economy, there is need to learn lessons and prepare for the next pandemic, including in the transportation/mobility space (Wall, 2021).

The pandemic has caused us to rethink the ways we work. Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, predicts companies will much more begin to question taking a trip “just to discuss things,” reducing business trips by more than 50 percent. Home offices have grown exponentially, turning business meetings into video calls. This way of work is likely here to stay, reducing “office life” by more than 30 percent. (Entrepreneur, 2020).

As mobility emerges as a human right, equity, social and racial justice, equality, environmental justice, and mobility for the under served, disabled, minorities, communities of color, and poor are part of the core mission for transportation agencies. Moreover, as technology evolves and holds promise for improving lives, the digital divide must be closed and made accessible and affordable to all. This is an opportunity and will require strong strategic partnerships with private sector partners such as IBM, Apple, Google, Verizon, GE, and others. These necessary public-private partnerships might include joint committees, agreements versus contracts, and collaboration with other partners and stakeholders. Transportation agencies also would be well served by having offices or positions for experts in these areas and are well integrated into planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance activities and collaborate with other partners, interests, and departments as appropriate. Updating the American Disability Act and related laws and rules must also occur.

The February 2020 ITE Journal is dedicated to exploring equity, what it means for transportation, strategies, how to put equity at the center of our work, micromobility to reach the under served, and how to make transportation systems better for all. This is a valuable resource for transportation professionals (ITE, 2020). There is evidence that transportation and mobility can help defeat poverty (Korman, 2021). There are also emerging tools and experience for measuring and advancing equity and social values (Fujiwara and Dass, 2020; Alexander et al, 2020; Citizens Utility Board, 2018).

Dorval R. Carter, Jr., President of the Chicago Transit Authority, received the 2021 Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lectureship from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Transportation Research Board (TRB). Mr. Carter was recognized for his leadership in the transit industry and legal community, and for spearheading significant advances in public transportation. His presentation, “Our Work is Never Done: Examining Equity Impacts in Public Transportation”, provides an excellent narrative for where equity has been and where it is going. His presentation, given as part of the TRB’s 2021 Annual Meeting on January 25, 2021, can be viewed via YouTube at: https://youtu.be/IBMgn5Ivm3c.

Environmental justice, similar to mobility, is emerging as a human right as it should. Its premise is essentially that all people deserve to live in a clean and safe environment free from industrial waste and pollution that can adversely affect their well-being. Those involved in creating and maintaining the mobility space must take responsibility for insuring this space is accessible, affordable, and with a clean and safe environment for all, including the under -served, minorities, communities of color,  poor, and dispossessed. In addition to strong environmental offices and positions, environmental laws and rules must be updated. The impacts of greenhouse gases can have impacts far from their source (TRB, 2021).

In 2020 during the pandemic, the U. S. saw a 10.3 percent reduction in greenhouse gases, the lowest drop in annual emissions since World War II. See Figure 11. (Larsen, et al, 2021). This was a result of an estimated reduction of 15 percent vehicle miles traveled (VMT) compared to 2019 and a 13-40 percent reduction in demand for primarily passenger vehicles and as much as 18 percent reduction in diesel in April and May. This also resulted in delays of many projects as transportation department revenues from fuel taxes cratered.

FIGURE 11. US Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by emitting sector in million metric tons CO2. Source ClimateDeck, Rhodium.

While this allows the U. S. to exceed the 2020 Copenhagen Accord target reduction of a 17 percent below 2005 levels, this should not be considered a permanent change in meeting the 2025 Paris Agreement target of 26-28 percent reduction from 2005 levels. In addition, the 2020 reduction has come at an enormous price to the economy and human suffering. Serious work to make meaningful structural changes must continue to improve environmental health and limit global warming.

Over the past year, the world has been fixated on the pandemic and its effects on our lives, and for good reason. But an even bigger threat could change the way we live in a less rapid but more permanent way—the climate crisis—an existential and intergenerational quality of life threat. The threats range from the profound to the more subtle (Guterres, 2018; Xu, et al, 2020; Roston and Wade, 2021; Deutsche Welle, 2021; Cassella, 2021). Transportation agencies are some of the largest land owners in the world with responsibility for the land, air, and water. As such, they play a significant role in fighting climate change.

Global warming has already forced an estimated 20 million people to flee their homes every year (Oxfam, 2019; Ropeik, 2021; Newburger, 2021; NOAA, 2021). Rising temperatures combined with population growth means three billion people — one third of the projected global population — could be living in “unlivable” conditions by 2070 (Fleming, 2020). The inevitable result will be mass migration to “climate havens,” or cities sheltered from extreme weather with the capacity to grow (McDonnell and Shendruk, 2020). Preparing for this future can no longer be put off, and heads of state, members of the scientific community, the private sector, NGOs and youth groups will meet to discuss the issue at the world’s first Climate Adaptation Summit in January 2021. As cities around the globe develop climate action plans (C40 Climate Leadership Group, 2020), expect to see more zero-carbon housing projects (C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Nordic Sustainability, 2019) and green belts replacing asphalt (Totaro, 2020). “The questions we should be asking is how to protect the most vulnerable residents,” says Greg Lindsay, Director of Applied Research at the nonprofit NewCities Foundation. “How to develop new carrot-and-stick approaches to steer people away from the highest-risk areas.” (Lindsay, 2020).

Florida is ground zero for sea level rise and the costs are rapidly escalating into the multiple billions of dollars. Miami is raising their roads two feet and others are preparing to abandon, roads, bridges, and homes (Mitchelides, 2016; Harris, 2019; The Weekly Staff, 2020; Carroll, 2021; Sea Level Rise.org, n.d.). Rising sea levels are threatening Route 1 through the Florida Keys. The costs of raising the roads will amount to $500,000 per resident according to an a narrative without reference (Latanision, 2020). Regardless, published reports state some roads would cost $25 million per mile to adjust for sea level rise (Brackett, 2019). Using that cost and that US1 is 113 miles long over the Florida Keys with an estimated population of 73,000, the cost would be about $40,000 per person. Regardless of which is more reliable, these costs will likely continue to grow and ignore other impacts such as abandoned homes and businesses, property being flooded and below sea level, and ultimately a cost the State of Florida cannot afford.

Florida is not the only location at risk due to the rise in sea level. New Orleans is a case in point where it has been below sea level for many years—protected by sea walls and gigantic U. S. Army Corps of Engineers pumps (Twillie, 2018; Prior, 2019; Dunn, 2020; Laskow, 2017). Add to this that by 2050 70 percent of the world’s population is estimated to live in large cities, and these cities are sinking, literally, under their own weight (Parsons, 2021; Koop, 2021; Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2018). The cumulative effects of storms, land subsidence, and urban cities subsidence could have dramatic impacts on life and the way we live, including transportation and mobility since they are never mutually exclusive from the built-natural environment. Soils have elastic and plastic properties. There is a propensity for cities to expand development through building new land with fill material, on wet soils, or adjacent to water bodies. Thus, it is relatively easy for these saturated soils to be prone to liquefaction, especially in seismically active areas. This is made worse by infrastructure, including roads and bridges, not being seismically designed or retrofitted (Chalmers, 2018; Oregon.gov, 2013). This writer is reminded of the many studies on the risks and catastrophes of building on permafrost, helping to better understand the built-natural environments, including before construction of the Alaskan Oil Pipeline  (Péwé, 1979). Engineering has limitations and we frequently learn as we go, or hopefully.

Climate change has resulted in billions of dollars in flood damage (National Centers for Environmental Information, Feb 2021; National Centers for Environmental Information, Jul 2021; Kann, 2021). There is also the threat of land subsidence that may affect 19 percent of the world population by 2040 (Herrera-García, et al, 2021).

There are yet other issues that are likely to have negatives impacts. As many as 572 airports are also threatened by global warming and associated sea level rise by 2021 (Yesudian and Dawson, 2020). A record number of hurricanes, wildfires and floods cost the world $210 billion in damage in last year, much of it due to global warming. There were a record number of disasters during 2020 which occurred in the U.S. (NOAA, 2021).

This does not even mention the many negative impacts to a healthy environment (some of which were mentioned in earlier blogs of this series) that we depend on and continue to emerge (World Wildlife Fund, 2021; Rosane, 2021; World Wildlife Fund, Feb 2021). There are also many negative impacts to our environment, including from global warming, but some may not be attributed directly to climate change (Burt, et al, 2018; University of California – Santa Cruz, 2021; PEW, 2020; McPherson, et al, 2021). .

The recent winter infrastructure crisis in Texas is indicative of the importance and cost of infrastructure upon which society depends. In many cases, the repair, replacement, updating, contingency planning and preparation has been deferred, delayed, and perhaps overtly ignored for decades. This has been made worse by the impacts of climate change (e.g. changing weather patterns, warming/acidic oceans, etc.). Millions of people have gone without power, electricity, heat, water, waste water services, transportation and mobility for days, in some cases weeks. Fish and wildlife have also suffered. This is largely avoidable, if not substantially mitigated, by relying on science and proactive planning. This catastrophe has also impacted other states and communities. This human catastrophe is a failure of leadership. It is a virtual certainty that we will see more of these built-natural environment catastrophes in the United States and around the world. And, it is the most vulnerable, poorest and least able to cope that will suffer the most. (Gonzalez, 2021; Giusti, 2021; Meier, 2021; Fowler, 2021).

Defining carbon zero by 2050 targets, as well as roles and responsibilities, is yet another area that must be clarified and is critical to addressing the challenges of climate change in the United States and around the world (Buddoo, 2021; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, 2021; Global Carbon Project, 2015-2020).

The Internet of Things, or IoT, holds promise to mitigate and improve other climate changes in other ways such as biodiversity and habitat loss (McClellan, 2020). Ecological bridges, essentially bridges over roads or other man-made structures, serve to connect wildlife habitat, connect and sustain gene pools necessary for healthy ecosystems (Hui Min and Pazos, 2015; Machemer, 2020). Otherwise gene pools become fragmented, exacerbating the challenges of habitat and species loss due to climate change.

While this author was a researcher at the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station, the Corps adapted a Wetlands Evaluation Technique developed by Paul Adamus for the Federal Highways Administration (Adamus, 1983). The valuing of nature has continued to evolve to the present. More recently, Dow Chemical Company and The Nature Conservancy developed a technique called the Ecosystem Service Identification and Inventory Tool that is available publicly (www.esiitool.com). This technique quantifies ecosystem services using a nature screen and a nature scoreboard to develop the business case for using nature in lieu of or in conjunction with other man-made systems. Dow has committed to generating $2 billion of value to nature, having achieved $500 million thus far. This system continues to evolve as do the efforts of private and public organizations in creating a sustainable world. On the horizon are what have been termed “stacked benefits.” That is, bringing together many partners, from up stream and downstream, so to speak, to pool resources and funding toward a greater benefit to the natural and built environments. This is part of Dow’s commitment to identify $1 billion in net present value through their Valuing Nature Goal, and work processes developed to support the goal, as well as challenges and successes in driving culture change (Polzin and Molnar, n.d.; Engineering with Nature, 2021). 

Recently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) intends to funnel up to $10 billion into preventing climate disasters, the most ever, preemptively protect against damages by building sea walls, elevating and moving flood-prone homes and businesses, and other steps as climate change intensifies storms and other natural disasters—“Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities or BRIC”. While this is an important step, it is doubtful this will be enough given the costs that climate change will exact. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers National Nonstructural Committee (NNC) has had a relocation  program from flood plains and other areas prone to natural flooding and that has met with some success but resistance as well (National Nonstructural Committee). There is a continuing discussion of resilience (Campbell, 2021). There is the idea of “seasteading”, houses and other buildings built on floating platforms that would rise and fall with the tides and changing sea levels (Cusick, 2020). Although this can seem a bit far-fetched, the Dutch have been doing this for 400-500 years. As with many things in our society including transportation and mobility, lower income families and the dispossessed are disproportionally impacted (Cusick, 2020).

There are also landscape designs emerging to protect cities and property as flood plains of rivers are shrinking, much of it led by the Netherlands, and have relevance to transportation infrastructure (Mossop, 2021; Rijkswaterstaat, 2019). Research also indicates promise for measuring risks and optimal rerouting of traffic during flash floods, minimizing exposure to motorists (Corns, et al, 2021). A lot can be learned from biomimicry as well (Fairs, 2021).

During the devastating 1993 Mississippi River floods the St. Louis District Engineer stated that “you cannot control Mother Nature.” That was true then and is true now. We can, however, work with Mother Nature, perhaps more as native and indigenous peoples did as they had little choice but to live in harmony.

The climate crisis is an existential threat. Roadway traffic alone accounts for about one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. As such, there are many opportunities for transportation professionals to have a positive impact in reducing and mitigating the climate crisis and associated impacts to our transportation and mobility system (Gates, 2021; Adler, 2021). Some examples (Plummer, 2021):

  • Rethink transportation grants
  • Make states measure emissions
  • Mandate cleaner vehicles (go electric)
  • Lend a hand to public transit
  • Push congress for new laws

Still other areas hold promise (Schapker, 2021):

  • Surface transportation authorization
  • Highway Trust Fund solvency
  • Project delivery reforms
  • Innovative financing

Most recently, Buttigieg and his modal administrators spoke to the AASHT0 Board of Directors on February 25, 2021 and spoke to the pillars that will drive federal transportation policy:

  • Safety
  • Equity
  • Economic Development
  • Climate Change
  • Breaking down barriers within the U. S. Department of Transportation, between other federal departments, and with state and local agencies

He and his modal administrators also discussed a variety of initiatives and potential initiatives such as environmental justice, jobs, a partnership with auto manufacturers to alert drivers of on coming trains, user-friendliness/less bureaucracy with smaller communities, a dedicated rail trust fund, increasing bus lanes, sustainable funding, a coordinated government setup on climate change, and others. (Cho, 2021).

These are all critical issues for the transportation and mobility space. These and other critical issues have also been reported elsewhere (see most recent TRB critical issues in transportation report).

Still, our society operates in largely economic terms so we must speak in those terms (Milberg, 2021; Wachs, 2011; Cramer, 2018). One recent example is from Florida, of which the state legislature requires a report on the economic impact of transportation investments (Florida Department of Transportation, 2020). Similarly, the Oregon Transportation Investment Act III first priority required by the state legislature was economic stimulus. That was measured in various methodologies including jobs created or sustained (HDR, n.d.).

Tribal Nations as native Americans have a unique status in our country as dependent sovereignties and they have unique challenges. As such, the USDOT and BIA programs at the federal level are important and must be reviewed for reasons similar to reviewing and updating the funding and allocation that is needed for states and communities, urban and rural, and in a partnering framework. Similarly, this is true for territories as they are American citizens as well.

Eventually, transportation and mobility should be addressed holistically in social, economic, and environmental terms on a routine basis, whether in planning, needs assessments, establishing priorities, or other processes. It is the only way to achieve a sustainable and healthy built-natural environment.

Engaging people is critical to success and all means must be exhausted in the effort, virtual as well as physical. Sometimes the process of making a decision together as a community is more important than the decision made (Couros, 2021). This will require significant outreach, public meetings, education, listening, and a sense of humor yet sober seriousness. The United States and world are filled with good people who want to live good, happy, and safe lives. It is only by engaging and educating people and working together that we will achieve the future we all desire. One recent example by industry was announced December 10, 2020, a coalition of 37 leading company CEOs (www.OneTen.org) has formed One Ten to hire and promote one million Black Americans over the next ten years into family-sustaining jobs with opportunities for advancement. As a meritocracy, we must find ways to yoke the intellectual talent and diversity of all Americans regardless of race, color, creed, sexual orientation or other differences.

There are many, many examples where effectively engaging people has been critical to success, as it is a part of virtually any successful venture. One example, the Nebraska Department of Transportation led a statewide safety summit that over a period of a few years reduced roadway fatalities by 50 percent. More recently, the Kansas City area is engaging people for ideas to reduce roadway fatalities and injuries (Mid-America Regional Council, n.d.).

We have a generational opportunity to transform and improve America’s infrastructure (Buttigieg, 2021), and in a post-pandemic world (Cisneros and Fulton, 2021).

There is much to do and there are many ideas. We need them. Still we need a strategy to guide and align these efforts. Transportation agencies have much in common around the world and state departments of transportation have had a dominant presence in the United States—safety, traffic control, infrastructure planning, project development, design, construction, and maintenance. Because of the rapid move to digital technology, one of the more promising services is cloud technologies or computing and its inherent flexibility, agility, scalability. It offers economies of scale through large, centralized server banks and services that provide hardware, software, and applications through the Internet vice the expense of having them on site. The risks must be weighed, but there appears to be considerable upside, to include improved customer facing outcomes vice “back room” or organizational business processes.

Some of the leaders adopting these technologies include toll agencies who are continually seeking ways to improve customer outcomes which include not only the physical infrastructure and traffic speed but paying tolls as easily as possible. As the move toward a mileage-based system continues, especially given Tesla, VW, etc., and increasing pledges of 100% manufacture-only of electric vehicles by 2035 by Ford, GM, and others, transportation agencies may be operating a lot more like a utility in the near future. As such, the experience of toll agencies may allow them to take the lead. Certainly other transportation agencies can learn a lot as this future evolves. The potential for people and freight to move seamlessly, easily, and without cash, through one multimodal mobility ecosystem is possible, if not highly probable or a virtual certainty. (Wehrmann, 2021).

As the mobility ecosystem continues to change, it is in a unique position to be a substantial help in improving society, the economy, environment, and people’s lives.

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White, M. C. (2021, March 16). Black Monday: a year after historic market rout, Wall Street reflects on what it got right — and wrong. ABC News. Retrieved March 21, 2021, from https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/black-monday-year-after-historic-market-rout-wall-street-reflects-n1261201

Whittle, N. (2020, July 16). Welcome to the 15-minute city. Financial Times. Retrieved March 21, 2021, from https://www.ft.com/content/c1a53744-90d5-4560-9e3f-17ce06aba69a

Wikipedia. (2021, March 9). Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 21, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic

Wikipedia. (2021, March 21). Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 21, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_United_States

Williams, F. (2018). The nature fix: why nature makes us happier, healthier, and more creative. W.W. Norton & Company.

World Wildlife Fund. (2021). The world’s forgotten fishes. World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved April 11, 2021, from https://wwfint.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/world_s_forgotten_fishes__report_final__1.pdf

World Wildlife Fund. (2021, February 23). One-third of freshwater fish face extinction and other freshwater fish facts. World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved April 11, 2021, from https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/one-third-of-freshwater-fish-face-extinction-and-other-freshwater-fish-facts

Worldometer. (2021, April 12). Coronavirus. Worldometer.com. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Wu, J. and N. Chiwaya. (2020, March 23). Coronavirus deaths: U.S. map shows number of fatalities compared to confirmed cases. NBC News. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-deaths-u-s-map-shows-number-fatalities-compared-confirmed-n1166966

Xu, C., T. A. Kohler, T. M. Lenton, J. C. Svenning, M. Scheffer. (2020, May 26). Future of the human climate niche. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117(21) 11350-11355. Retrieved March 21, 2021, from https://www.pnas.org/content/117/21/11350

Yesudian, A. N. and R. J. Dawson. (2020). Global analysis of sea level rise risk to airports. Climate Risk Management 31(2021):100266. Retrieved March 21, 2021, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212096320300565

The Mobility Ecosystem: the changing landscape and the need for fresh, new ideas (Part 8: Black Swans and Other Risks)

27 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by John L. Craig in Black Swans, Climate, Construction, COVID-19, Economy, Environment, Funding, Infrastructure, Leadership, Mobility, Mobility Ecosystem, Pandemic, Planning, Resilience, Risks, Scope, Schedule, Budget, Social Justice and Equity, Society, Transportation, Utilities

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While the future can be exciting and an adventure, there are unanticipated events that occur that can disrupt normal flows and operations (Maritz, 2019). On the extreme, there have been catastrophes that seemed “acts of god”, events that are not contemplated in this series of blogs yet provide some context (Maritz, 2019; Gibbons, 2018). More predictable and relevant to our lifetimes, the Cascadia Fault off the coasts of Oregon and Washington is predicted to rupture in the next 50 years and could be the worst North American human disaster on record with significant costs in lives lost and property damage. The damage to roads, bridges, airports, transit, railroads, and navigable waterways will significantly reduce the ability to respond and recover. This event is being studied and planned for (Bauer, et al, 2018; Roth and Thompson, 2018; Sounds, 2019; Steele, 2020).

Risk management is the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of risks followed by methodologies to minimize, monitor, and control the probability or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities. The U. S. transportation industry has enormous risk exposure and among the most risk-prone industries in the world. As such, the federal transportation act—Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act or MAP-21 and signed into law in 2012—established the requirement for states to develop a risk-based asset management plan. Risk management is a dynamic process and used routinely within the public and private sectors. Without such plans, organizations can be surprised by events that have negative financial impacts or missed positive opportunities with improved outcomes. The literature on risk management is rich and evolving. A Black Swan is an unpredictable event that is beyond what is normally expected and has the potential for severe consequences. Risks must be identified at the beginning of a project or program, discussed, and updated regularly. Some typical risks might include scope, schedule, and budget issues; safety issues; liability issues; site condition issues; dispute issues; quality issues; workforce turnover or other staffing issues; weather or other delays; contract interpretation disputes; rework; prompt payment; opportunities for additional work; priorities; owner readiness; and so on. Regardless, it is critical to identify risks, actions to prevent or mitigate new risks, probability of occurrence, and a champion/responsible party to take the lead. Various means of identifying the probability of risks are also important such as Monte Carlo simulation.

The Covid-19 Pandemic is a glaring and recent example of positive and negative impacts and could be categorized as a Black Swan. It could not have been anticipated although pandemics are a certainty. As risks do, it is also having positive and negative impacts. For example, remote work and quarantining are reducing CO2 emissions (IEA, 2020;  Figure 9), online shopping continues to increase versus brick and mortar stores (Ali, 2021), costs associated with commuting and office space (Boland, et al, 2020; Ambrose, 2020), and reducing traffic congestion (Ronan, 2021). Some reports are that certain categories of online shopping and delivery increased 50-125 percent in 2020 compared to 2019.  However, already disadvantaged populations are disproportionately negatively affected and transit faces an existential threat in 2021 and beyond due to the reduction of ridership and associated revenues.

As many as 572 airports are also threatened by global warming and associated sea level rise by 2021 (Yesudian and Dawson, 2021). A record number of hurricanes, wildfires and floods cost the world $210 billion in damage in last year, much of it due to global warming. The six most expensive disasters of 2020 occurred in the U.S. (NOAA, 2021; Kann, 2021). There is also the threat of land subsidence that may affect 19 percent of the world population by 2040 (Herrera-Garcia, et al, 2021).

As of this writing, over 30 million U. S. citizens have tested positive for COVID-19 and over 500,000 deaths. That is more than 1 in 9 that have been diagnosed with the disease. Under more normal conditions before the pandemic, there was not a public transit system that was not subsidized. Even with vaccines being fielded, the future of transit ridership and revenues is far from certain. The course for the foreseeable future, without federal help, is to reduce services. Black Swans and other events may be giving us a “pause” to rethink transportation/mobility.

FIGURE 9. Estimated world CO2 reductions during pandemic in 2020. Reductions were 17 percent during the first peak in spring but have declined to 7 percent, the biggest drop ever, over the course of the year, with negligible long-term climate improvements (Sourced from: München, 2020).

As weather patterns change, commodities and other flows are interrupted and delayed. The recent Texas utility debacle from unusual winter weather is yet another risk that could have been precluded and mitigated. People and companies lost heat, potable water and waste water services, and have and are experiencing injuries, death, and economic hardships—a series of cascading failures (Northey, 2021). During the crisis, unregulated utilities charged a market cap price of $9,000 per mega-watt hour  (McGinty and Patterson, 2021). The lack of preparation was made worse by delaying commodities including food and Covid-19 vaccinations. Moreover, Texas utilities were warned 10 years earlier of the preparation needed but they ignored the risks (Blunt and Gold, 2021). This is a failure of leadership.

In addition to individual risks typically identified in risk assessments, there can also be risk correlations between work breakdown structure (WBS) elements, events, risks of projects, across projects, and programs. Some of these might include (modified from Prieto, 2020):

  • “Money Allocated Is Money Spent”
  • Parkinson’s Law – work expands to fill the time allotted
  •  Overconfidence in assessing uncertainties
  • Complexity with hidden coupling – risk events are likely to affect multiple cost elements with the potential for cascading impacts
  • State of technology – common new technologies/materials
  • Common management, staff and work processes
  • Optimism bias and other biases consistently applied
  • Overly simplistic probabilistic cost analysis (PCA)
  • Wages, benefits, payroll taxes Productivity
  • Raw material costs
  • Design development
  • Means & methods
  • Uncertainty factors/known unknowns
  • Budgeting and contingency management strategy and approach
  • Packaging and contracting strategy
  • Schedule precedences
  • Shared/common assumptions
  • Failures/delays at interfaces
  • Location factors
  • Trade actions
  • Regulatory changes/actions
  • Low frequency high impact events of scale
  • Archaeology finds

So risks, associations of risks, and Black Swans can be complicated and reflect the nature of the mobility ecosystem, systems, and systems of systems, in general. Megaprograms and projects (over $1 billion) are particularly prone (Denicol, et al, 2020; Vartabedian, 2021; Garmo, et al, 2015; Irimia-Diéguez, et al, 2014; Zidane, et al, 2013; Flyvbjerg and Bruzelius, 2014).

Dr. “Kevin” Bao also provides an interesting perspective on how leaders should respond to crises and opportunities (Steele, 2021).

Citations

Ali, F. (2021, January 29). US ecommerce grows 44.0% in 2020. Digital Commerce 360. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/article/us-ecommerce-sales/

Ambrose, J. (2020, August 12). BP mulls radical reduction of office space in move to flexible working. The Guardian. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/aug/12/bp-mulls-radical-reduction-of-office-space-in-move-to-flexible-working

Bauer, J. M., W. U. Burns, I. P. Madin. (2018). Earthquake regional impact analysis for Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties, Oregon. Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.oregongeology.org/pubs/ofr/O-18-02/O-18-02_report.pdf

Blunt, K. and R. Gold. (2021, February 19). The Texas freeze: why the power grid failed. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-freeze-power-grid-failure-electricity-market-incentives-11613777856

Boland, B., A. D. Smet, R. Palter, A. Sanghvi. (2020, June 8). Reimagining the office and work life after COVID-19. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/reimagining-the-office-and-work-life-after-covid-19

Denicol, J., A. Davies, I. Krystallis. (2020, February 13). What are the causes and cures of poor megaproject performance? A systematic literature review and research agenda. Project Management Journal. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/8756972819896113

Flyvbjerg, B., N. Bruzelius, W. Rothengatter. (2014, July). Megaprojects and risk: an anatomy of ambition. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/megaprojects-and-risk/78B4E0A8FDBEC72919B832D33BECF083

Garemo, N., S Matzinger, R. Palter. (2015, July 1). Megaprojects: the good, the bad, and the better. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/megaprojects-the-good-the-bad-and-the-better

Gibbons, A. (2018, November 15). Why 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive.’ Science. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/why-536-was-worst-year-be-alive

Herrera-Garcia, G., P. Ezquerro, R. Tomás, M. Béjar-Pizarro, J. López-Vinielles, M. Rossi, R. M. Mateos, D. Carreón-Freyre, J. Lambert, P. Teatini, E. Cabral-Cano, G. Erkens, D. Galloway, W. Hung, N. Kakar, M. Sneed, L. Tosi, H. Wang, S. Ye. (2021, January 1). Mapping the global threat of land subsidence. Science. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6524/34

IEA. (2020, April). Global energy review 2020: the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on global energy demand and CO2 emissions. Institute of Economic Affairs. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2020/global-energy-and-co2-emissions-in-2020

Irimia-Diéguez, A. I., A. Sanchez-Cazorla, R. Alfall-Luque. (2014, March 19). Risk management in megaprojects. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. 119:407-416. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814021375#!

Kann, D. (2021, February 22). Flood risk is growing for US homeowners due to climate change. Current insurance rates greatly underestimate the threat, a new report finds. CNN Business. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/22/business/flood-insurance-climate-change-risk-first-street-foundation/index.html

Maritz, W. (2019, July 22). Critical risk areas for public infrastructure projects – Part 1. Oracle Construction and Engineering Blog. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://blogs.oracle.com/construction-engineering/critical-risk-areas-for-public-infrastructure-projects?source=:ad:ba:::RC_BUMK200210P00079:SmartBrief_FY20Q4&pcode=BUMK200210P00079&SC=ADV

McGinty, T. and S. Patterson. (2021, February 24). Texas electric bills were $28 billion higher under deregulation. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-electric-bills-were-28-billion-higher-under-deregulation-11614162780

München, L. (2020, November 12). Pandemic leads to decrease in global CO2 emissions. ETH Zürich. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://usys.ethz.ch/en/news-events/news/archive/2020/12/rekord-rueckgang-der-globalen-CO2-Emissionen-wegen-Corona.html

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. (2021). Billion-dollar weather and climate disasters: overview. NOAA. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/

Northey, H. (2021, February 24). ‘Cascading failures’ fueled Texas water disaster. E&E News. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063725903

Prieto, B. (2020, December 3). The impact of correlation on risks in programs and projects. PM World Journal. Vol. IX(XII)):1-11. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://pmworldjournal.com/article/the-impact-of-correlation-on-risks-in-programs-and-projects

Ronan, D. (2021, February 24). Top bottlenecks less congested last year, but infrastructure needs persist, ATRI finds. Transport Topics. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.ttnews.com/articles/top-bottlenecks-less-congested-last-year-infrastructure-needs-persist-atri-finds

Roth, S. and J. Thompson. (2018, March 15). Study projects damage from rare Portland Hills quake, Cascadia earthquake. KGW8. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.kgw.com/article/weather/earthquakes/study-projects-damage-from-rare-portland-hills-quake-cascadia-earthquake/283-528827359

Sounds, S. (2019, September 8). The mega Cascadia earthquake is overdue and could strike the US West coast at any moment, creating huge 30 meter-high tsunami waves within seconds – please prepare for this apocalyptic event. Strange Sounds. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://strangesounds.org/2019/09/the-mega-cascadia-earthquake-is-overdue-and-could-strike-the-west-coast-of-the-us-at-any-moment-creating-huge-30-metre-high-tsunami-waves-within-seconds-prepare-for-this-apocalyptic-event.html

Steele, B. (2020, January 27). Getting ready for the next Great Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. Pacific Northwest Seismic Network. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://pnsn.org/blog/2020/01/27/getting-ready-for-the-next-great-cascadia-subduction-zone-earthquake

Steele, J. (2021, February 22). CEOs should develop an ambivalent mindset in crises, says UAH professor’s research. University of Alabama in Huntsville. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.uah.edu/news/items/ceos-should-develop-an-ambivalent-mindset-in-crises-says-uah-professor-s-research

Vartabedian, R. (2021, February 22). A ‘low-cost’ plan for California bullet train brings $800 million in overruns, big delays. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-22/california-bullet-train-dragados-design-changes

Yesudian, A. N. and R. J. Dawson (2021). Global analysis of sea level rise risk to airports. Climate Risk Management 31, 2021, 100266:1-12. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212096320300565

Zidane, Y. J. T., A. Johansen, A. Ekambaram. (2013, March). Megaprojects-challenges and lessons learned. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. 74:349-357. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257718827_Megaprojects-Challenges_and_Lessons_Learned

The Mobility Ecosystem: the changing landscape and the need for fresh, new ideas (Part 7: Maximizing Results with Limited Funding)

20 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by John L. Craig in Alternative Delivery, Asset & Life Cycle Management, Benefit-Cost or BC, Construction, Design, Funding, Intelligent Transportation Systems or ITS, Internet of Things or IoT, Maintenance, Materials, Multimodal Needs Assessment, Needs Assessments, Operations, Partnerships and Collaboration, Performance Measurement and Management, Planning, Program Management, Program or Project Controls, Project Management, Recycling, Relationships, Return on Investment or ROI, Risks, Safety, Scope, Schedule, Budget, Transportation

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There is never enough funding in any organization to meet the needs, much less the wants. The debates to determine funding and how to allocate it are endless and continue to this day at all levels of government (Ryan, 2021). Typically, the effective use of available funding falls to public sector transportation professionals, unless private-sector owners, in conjunction with private sector partners. Thus, it is important to review some analytic tools, methodologies, and aspects for maximizing results with limited funding. These could loosely be considered part of asset management. A more thorough review of asset management, setting a basis, criteria, and priorities, is on the March 6, 2016, article on this website entitled Transportation Asset Management. This discussion merely augments that discussion and is by no means an exhaustive list. In no particular order, these are some of the more important tools, methodologies, and aspects that can help establish priorities and maximize results with limited funding.

  • Asset Management: Every public and private body is under increasing pressure to justify investment and that it is making the best use of its resources. The essence of asset management is to better prioritize resources to optimize outcomes, basically institutionalizing a business-like approach to managing infrastructure—asset management. The ability to retain, retrieve, and analyze increasing amounts of data in recent decades has enabled evidence-based decision-making on a network scale. Made possible by computers and digital technology, other “big picture” analyses are increasingly emerging to include the discipline of sustainability that facilitates decision-making among economic, social, and environmental realms. Performance metrics also began to evolve at the same time as asset management. The result is a fundamental framework for managing resources or assets:
    • Performance measures: what target is desired and achievable
    • Asset:
      • Inventory
      • Condition
      • Utilization
      • Value in dollars
    • Life-cycle cost prediction: estimate remaining useful life
    • Agency or organization cost
    • User cost
    • Trade-off analysis and investment strategies (by combining the above to produce an optimized budget)—criteria to develop needs priorities
    • Develop an emergency fund for unexpected events
    • Develop program including asset needs priorities with available funding

      Asset management is quite literally the best of continuous improvement. That process never ends. More discussion can be found on this website under transportation asset management.
  • Scope, Schedule, Budget: This is closely related to Planning, design, below. Regardless, as a program or project is contemplated, a preliminary and final scope, schedule, and budget must be developed. Tied to the next bullet point, it is common for scope to creep or an ill-defined scope to create problems later on. As such, that can lead to schedule and budget problems later. This is especially prevalent in mega and giga programs and projects. The takeaway: spend the time necessary up front to conduct thorough due diligence, planning, risk assessment, and scoping. It is a lot better and a lot less expensive in time, money, and resources to do it right the first time vice the second or more times. Effective and efficient program or project controls are essential to track changes against the baseline contract of scope, schedule, and budget.
  • Planning, Design: There is no substitute for good, solid planning and design. This in no way discounts good construction, maintenance, operations, materials, and other practices. These can all save or optimize dollars when done right. However, many times problems and opportunities missed can be traced back to the beginning of planning and design. It can be a challenge and take time to get input and reviews from construction, maintenance, operations, stakeholders, and partners. It is worth the effort to do things right or as well as possible at the beginning. Otherwise, time and money will be expended later and opportunities will likely be lost. More broadly, open-source engineering can be more valuable economically and in terms of building on standard design specifications. Thus providing more cost-effective projects, more innovation, improved quality, and scalability. (Shepherd-Smith, 2021).
  • Needs Assessments, Criteria, and Priorities: This may appear obvious, and as stated above it is discussed in more detail in other blogs. Regardless, this process is essential in setting priorities for what to do first, second, third, and so on in spending on the highest priorities. While many governments do this, all do not. The larger, more capable governments tend to do this a lot more than smaller governmental, typically more rural, cities and counties. This typically manifests itself in state departments of transportation doing thorough needs assessments while smaller, less populated cities and counties have neither the staff or funding to do this. This can be a problem. This can be similar in non-highway modes. One solution is to generate one multimodal needs assessment for states, cities, and counties. To gain consensus on such a mechanism would be Herculean but not impossible. As it is, each entity has its own way of identifying needs and setting priorities and the challenge increases as governments establish “formulas” in an attempt to equitably distribute funding to the highest needs. This manifests itself in several ways such as donor and donee states relative to the federal Highway Trust Fund, earmarks depending on the power of elected officials, competitive grants which typically leave out smaller, more rural communities, and others. These are all an attempt to do the best we can but they also fall short. The net result—the inability to fund the highest needs. While it is true that federal and state highways carry the vast majority of traffic, the needs of rural communities are of equal importance. So, the idea of a multimodal and multigovernmental needs assessment should be aspired to if not accomplished. There are some rare examples of similar efforts in other areas that have been successful such as the State of Iowa developing one common state-city-county design manual. Also, the State of Nebraska requires an annual needs assessment (with inventory, standard criteria, inspections, estimated scope and cost, etc) for their state highway system so that the state legislature has a target to determine funding. Uniquely, Nebraska law has a variable fuel tax that adjusts the state fuel tax to meet that funding, regardless of impacts such as decreased fuel consumption due to pandemics or other unforeseen events. A system that effectively prioritizes limited funding to address the needs of one seamless transportation/mobility system would be invaluable to our society vice each governmental entity struggling on its own. While this may never be achieved, it is worth aspiring to.
  • Design Exceptions, Practical Design, and Least-cost Planning: Until perhaps the last two decades, the standards for planning and design were fairly rigidly followed, partly due to liability risks of not doing so. That is understandable because of the importance of standards. However, as funding continues to be tight as needs grow, exceptions have increasingly been made. This evolution began as design exceptions to established standards, to somewhat broader exceptions termed practical design, and that has evolved into more recently termed least-cost planning. The core purpose of all is to maximize results with limited funding where a high proportion of benefits can be gained while accepting little or no additional risk. These are of course highly scrutinized for approval but can save considerable dollars. One mega program in Oregon had 275 design exceptions which saved $683 million.
  • Alternative Delivery Methodologies: Alternative delivery methodologies have been around for decades in the form of contracts of which the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has been one of the more innovative. In 1993 the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) agreed upon the term design-build and its use among transportation agencies began to accelerate. Originally established to save time, not money, design-build projects have evolved to save time and money (Figure 8). Other integrated delivery methodologies have also begun to emerge such as design-build-operate, design-build-operate-maintain, construction management-general contractor, public-private-partnerships, and others, each designed for a specific purpose in saving the owner time, money, level of oversight, or all three. The key is that integrated delivery teams can work together, resulting in time and money savings for the owner. Embedded is risk and who has it, but that’s another subject that warrants a paper on its own.
FIGURE 8. Design-build compared to other project delivery methods. Source: DBIA, n.d.
  • Materials: This may seem out of place but it is not. High-strength steel is a good example of allowing wider gaps to be spanned with fewer vertical supports and girders. Superpave asphalt mixes compete effectively with concrete depending on the costs of oil, cement, and other commodities. Likewise, steel can compete against concrete and accrue savings. Fiberglass reinforced-polymer girders and other corrosion-resistant features have also been employed to extend the design life of bridges to at least 100 years (Knapschaefer, 2021). 3D printed bridges and other structures can save on time and labor (U.S. Bridge, 2021).
  • Recycling: Recycling is about saving resources and money. Asphalt, concrete, and steel are regularly recycled by owners and construction contractors, through both on-site and off-site processes. Depending on the strength, bridge girders are utilized on other bridges as appropriate. Old rail cars have been recycled as low cost-culverts where appropriate. One of the more innovative recycling methods being studied is to use old wind turbine blades in bridges as well as buildings, etc., rather than placing them in landfills (Stone, 2021).
  • Engineering Economics: This tool has been around for over 100 years but continues to be relevant although other tools now supplement it and can lead to other conclusions.
  • Life Cycle Costs: This tool has been around for over 100 years although it has been refined during that time. As our perspectives have increasingly become long-term versus short-term or a human lifetime, the life cycle of infrastructure, vehicles, and other assets have taken on additional meaning relative to least-cost decision-making. Therefore, the life cycle cost of any asset is critical to know.
  • Return on Investment (ROI): Commonly known as ROI, this is another analytical tool that can have myriad perspectives. That is the ROI in economic terms, jobs created or sustained, environmental values, social values, and so forth. Regardless, knowing the return on dollars expended is a critical part of decision-making.
  • Benefit-Cost (BC): Benefit-Cost is commonly assessed as a ratio, normally calculated in dollars. Frequently shown as an equation such as a BC ratio of 3:1 or B/C and if the numerator or B is greater than the denominator, then it is concluded to be a benefit. If the numerator or B is less than 1 it is considered a net cost and not a benefit. Nonetheless, this is another important tool in determining investments.
  • Economies of Scale: This is a methodology that can provide a return on scale. For example, “bundling” projects within a region can reduce mobilization and material delivery costs. Conversely, breaking projects up has the potential to increase competition and reduce costs. While this is not a new concept, it is valuable. The term “bundle” is a relatively new term and is now commonly used. Previously, other terms such as “tied projects” were used to describe the same methodology. Buying materials, equipment, and other assets at scale can also provide economies of scale and reduce costs.
  • Multimodal Needs Assessments: Typically, needs assessments have been done by asset or mode with critically important and useful outcomes. As mobility has become increasingly multimodal, the question has become how to conduct needs assessments across all modes. Multimodal planning is common but multimodal needs assessments are largely qualitative, not standardized, and not widely accepted. One of the outcomes in the absence of good, repeatable, and reliable multimodal needs assessments is that funding (federal and state) is distributed based on modal assessments, dominated by highways and bridges, and then a somewhat subjective assessment of how to distribute dollars to each mode. Until we achieve a truly standardized multimodal needs assessment with specific criteria, allocating funds to other modes (such as transit and pedestrians) will be a challenge. Generally, transportation is not a particularly partisan topic at governmental levels, partly because it provides objective information to help determine what funds can or will be appropriated and what the long-term implications may be. This is critical for the built environment in which we live.
  • Operations and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS): ITS was one outcome of advancing digital technology. What this allowed was the transportation system to be instrumented with sensors that provide data and information, especially on volume and speed, to a central office that can more quickly and effectively assess and respond to congestion and issues stemming from traffic congestion, crashes, and other incidences. Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) is used for traffic management and control and accounts for the most revenue in the overall ITS market. Although the benefit-costs of ITS vary widely from 2-9:1, others exceed 100:1. One ratio used for comparing ITS to more infrastructure is 8:1, a methodology to get more capacity from the existing roadway. The prudent use of ITS technologies can achieve greater benefit at less cost than more concrete, asphalt, and steel. Related, vehicle pricing systems such as electronic toll collection, congestion pricing, vehicle miles traveled, and other road user charging systems can be cost-effective. In addition, transport and supply chain service providers are seeking cost-effective solutions that ITS can provide to boost their productivity, performance, and profits. On e example developed early in Nebraska was a statewide oversize-overweight permitting system that allowed truckers to efficiently route their trucks and cargo and became an effective decision-making tool.
  • Internet of Things or IoT: There are benefits to be gained throughout society by leveraging IoT, including in government, and new opportunities are continually being uncovered to improve services and efficiencies (Center for Digital Government, 2019; AT&T, n.d.; ServiceNow, n.d.; Descant, 2019).
  • Partnerships and Collaboration: It is virtually impossible for any organization to have all the talent, tools, and resources to optimize returns for society, the economy, and our environment. As such, partnerships and collaboration are keys to leveraging the unique strengths of an organization. This is not a new concept, but like the exponential growth of our 4th Industrial or Digital Age, the need is greater than ever before. These strategies continue to grow (Salesforce, n.d.).
  • Program and Project Management: Good program and project management begins and ends with good leadership. The team is all-important since they are the ones that get work done. As such, good leadership can make a team better while bad leadership can destroy a team. This easily translates to improved or decreased performance, costs, and profits. This topic is also discussed in other blogs on leadership, program, and project management on this website. There are many articles and books on program and project management, one of the most prolific and best is Robert Prieto who publishes regularly in PM World. He also authored one of the most comprehensive books on the subject, “Theory of management of large complex projects” (Prieto, 2015). Also, review PMWorld Journal, https://pmworldjournal.com/welcome, and the Project Management Institute (https://www.pmi.org).
  • Risk Management: This is the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of risks followed by methodologies to minimize, monitor, and control the probability or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities. The U. S. transportation industry has enormous risk exposure and among the most risk-prone industries in the world. As such, the federal transportation law—Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, or MAP-21, and signed into law in 2012 (FMCSA, n.d.)—established the requirement for states to develop a risk-based asset management plan. Risk management is a dynamic process and used routinely within the public and private sectors. Without such plans, organizations can be surprised by events with negative financial impact or miss positive opportunities with improved outcomes. The literature on risk management is rich and continues to evolve.
  • Strong Relationships: This is another topic that might seem odd within a discussion of maximizing results with limited funding. However, the adage “a good relationship can make a bad contract better while a bad relationship can make a good contract worse” reflects the importance of strong relationships. It is common to have disputes but resolving them in a fair and amicable way while preserving the all-important relationships is critical. No one really wins when disputes move to litigation. This topic is further discussed in other blogs on this website, including the importance of trust.
  • Safety: This may seem an odd topic within the topic of maximizing results with limited funding but the cost in lives, injuries, and property damage is staggering. As has been stated, virtually every transportation organization has the safety of their employees and traveling public as their highest priority. One of these efforts to improve safety, although for NASCAR racing, has important implications for the traveling public (Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, n.d.; Wikipedia, 2021). The work towards a safer built environment will likely never end.

This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list and is only intended as a sample. The search to reduce costs is part of continuous improvement and that never ends. There are some very simple changes that cumulatively can have huge impacts including the use of LED bulbs in traffic signals and buildings, the use of highly reflective tape rather than electric lit signs, shutting off computers during overnight hours, and so on. This, again, is in no way a substitute for sound and skilled planning, project development, design, construction, maintenance, and operations, all of which continue to evolve and improve within their own discipline.

The Biden Administration recently announced through their Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grants or INFRA some of the above tools and methods as part of their criteria in addition to other related criteria such as climate change, environmental justice, and racial equity (Ichniowski, 2021). Still, other technologies are being advanced with their own inherent efficiencies (New Hampshire Union Leader, 2021; VIA, n.d.; LeBeau, 2021; Danko, 2021; Ewoldsen, 2021). Other technologies that may seem a bit far-fetched continue to advance and may be part of a transportation future and at less cost (Levy, 2021; Subin, 2021; Halvorson, 2021). Still, other areas are advancing, including space, and may well have cost-effective impacts on our futures on earth (Adams, 2021; Hughes, 2020).

Citations

Adams, R. D. (2021, January 21). AI spacefarers and cosmic testbeds: robust robotic systems forge path for human space exploration. TechRepublic. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.techrepublic.com/article/ai-spacefarers-and-cosmic-testbeds-robust-robotic-systems-forge-path-for-human-space-exploration

AT&T (n.d.) Creating Better Communities. Government Technology. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://media.erepublic.com/document/GT18_HANDBOOK_ATT_Slides_V.pdf

Center for Digital Government. (2019). IoT innovation: how government is uncovering new opportunities. Center for Digital Government sponsored by Cisco. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://media.erepublic.com/document/CDG18_WHITE_PAPER_Cisco-IoT-NewOps_V.pdf

Danko, P. (2021, February 3). Arcimoto’s latest stock surge gives it $1B market cap. Portland Business Journal. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www-bizjournals-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2021/02/03/arcimotos-market-cap-1b.amp.html

DBIA. (n.d.). Why choose design-build? Design-Build Institute of America. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://dbia.org/what-is-design-build/

Descant, S. (2019, October 29). Chicago collaboration looks to redefine modern transportation. Government Technology. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.govtech.com/transportation/Chicago-Collaboration-Looks-to-Redefine-Modern-Transportation.html

Ewoldsen, B. (2021, January 21). New mobility services combined with transit show potential to further accessibility, efficiency, equity, safety, and sustainability. Transportation Research Board. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from http://www.trb.org/main/blurbs/181729.aspx

FMCSA. (n.d.). MAP-21 – moving ahead for progress in the 21st century act. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/mission/policy/map-21-moving-ahead-progress-21st-century-act

Halvorson, B. (2021, February 15). Toyota claims the 2021 Mirai fuel-cell car cleans the air, calls it “minus emissions.” Green Car Reports. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1131268_toyota-claims-the-2021-mirai-fuel-cell-car-cleans-the-air-calls-it-minus-emissions

Hughes, O. (2020, November 25). To the moon and beyond: the robots that are blazing a trail for human space exploration. TechRepublic. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.techrepublic.com/article/to-the-moon-and-beyond-the-robots-that-are-blazing-a-trail-for-human-space-exploration

Ichniowski, T. (2021, February 17). Biden administration adds new climate objective for INFRA grants. Engineering News-Record. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.enr.com/articles/51239-biden-administration-adds-new-climate-objective-for-infra-grants

Knapschaefer, J. (2021, January 25). Novel fiberglass birders extend life of Maine bridge. Engineering News-Record. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.enr.com/articles/51086-novel-fiberglass-girders-extend-life-of-maine-bridge

LeBeau, P. (2021, February 10). United Airlines orders electric vertical aircraft, invests in urban air mobility SPAC. CNBC Evolve. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/10/united-airlines-orders-electric-vertical-aircraft-invests-in-urban-air-mobility-spac.html

Levy, M.G. (2021, February 12). Researchers levitated a small tray using nothing but light. Wired. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.wired.com/story/researchers-levitated-a-small-tray-using-nothing-but-light/

Midwest Roadside Safety Facility. (n.d.). The safer barrier. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://mwrsf.unl.edu/saferBarrier.php

New Hampshire Union Leader. (2021, February 15). State-of-the-art traffic signals installed at 17 Dover intersections. New Hampshire Union Leader. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/state-of-the-art-traffic-signals-installed-at-17-dover-intersections/article_672c26f7-cfcb-5ea2-bd9f-befb1a46d840.html

Prieto, R. (2015). Theory of management of large complex projects. Construction Management Association of America. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299980338_Theory_of_Management_of_Large_Complex_Projects

Salesforce. (n.d.). Accelerating government innovation through collaboration. Salesforce. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://media.erepublic.com/document/GOV19_BRIEF_Salesforce_01_V.pdf

ServiceNow. (n.d.). Redefining service delivery for citizens: best practices and a checklist for success. ServiceNow. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://media.erepublic.com/document/ebook-government-modernizing-csm.pdf

Shepherd-Smith, P. (2021, February 10). Open source engineering has a role to play in digital transformation. New Civil Engineer. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.newcivilengineer.com/opinion/open-source-engineering-has-a-role-to-play-in-digital-transformation-10-02-2021/

Stone, M. (2021, January 8). Today’s wind turbine blades could become tomorrow’s bridges. Grist. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://grist.org/energy/todays-wind-turbine-blades-could-become-tomorrows-bridges/

Subin, S. (2021, February 14). Why one big Wall Street banker is betting flying taxis will replace helicopters. CNBC Evolve. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/14/why-wall-street-banker-thinks-flying-taxis-will-replace-helicopters.html

Thomas, R. (2021, January 29). Lawmakers offer competing priorities for infrastructure plans. The Hill. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/infrastructure/536595-lawmakers-offer-competing-priorities-for-infrastructure

U.S. Bridge. (2020, March 24). The future of 3D printed bridges and construction. U.S. Bridge. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://usbridge.com/the-future-of-3d-printed-bridges-and-construction/

VIA. (n.d.). Reimagining how the world moves. VIA. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://ridewithvia.com/?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_february_2021

Wikipedia. (2021, January 24). Safer barrier. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 20, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAFER_barrier

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