Completed

Transportation agencies that utilize fiber optic infrastructure for telecommunications, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), and other applications may be in a position to leverage existing in-place infrastructure owned by other entities and/or share new agency-deployed infrastructure with other entities. In these cases, it is important for agencies to understand laws that govern the use and sharing of fiber-optics infrastructure or exchanging resources to gain access to fiber owned by other entities, and to develop internal policies that provide procedural guidance. Agencies may not have the staff, experience, processes, and/or agreements they need to enable sharing fiber infrastructure with another entity.

Some state and provincial transportation agencies have established policies that govern the use of fiber and that guide sharing arrangements. Resource availability and practices would be useful for ENTERPRISE agencies to learn from and model. 

The objective of this ENTERPRISE project “Policies, Laws, and Agreements for the Use of Fiber Communications” was to prepare a summary of resources (policies, laws, agreements) on the use of fiber communications of transportation agencies and to highlight practices for sharing fiber infrastructure.

To accomplish the project objective, policies on fiber communications, state and federal laws and/or FHWA rules that govern the use of fiber, and any agreements or partnership strategies used for sharing fiber optic infrastructure were collected and summarized. In addition, the project summarized practices for the use of these policies, laws, and agreements, especially for facilitating resource sharing. A survey was also distributed to transportation agencies to enhance the online search by collecting additional information on current sharing practices including existing policies and agreements.  The online research and survey were then used to select four agencies to contact to provide additional details on fiber sharing practices to document in the final report.

Sample fiber sharing agreements made available to the project are included in the table below.

Agreement Entities	Agreement	Description
Iowa DOT and City	Cooperative Agreement	Iowa DOT granted city access to the DOT ITS network in exchange for  electrical service to cameras, sensors, and ITS equipment and the ability for the city to install cameras and ITS devices on the DOT ITS network.
Iowa DOT and Iowa Communications Network (ICN)	ICN DOT Master Agreement for ITS Amendment 4 Amendment 8	Agreement relating to the installation, use, and maintenance of fiber optic cable and communications services. Amendment 4 provided the ICN with installation design and project oversight for ITS project along interstate corridor and established maintenance responsibilities. Amendment 8 enabled the DOT to utilize ICN’s Fiber Management Software System to design, plan, and manage fiber optic network and related infrastructure.
Iowa DOT and FiberComm	Agreement	Allowed Iowa DOT to install a fiber optic cable network for an ITS project while FiberComm maintains existing fiber optic network and provides technical support and public internet bandwidth to the Iowa DOT.
Virginia DOT and Telecom Provider or City	Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Template	MOU template to govern the terms and conditions of sharing arrangements. Each agreement is negotiated for specific requirements, terms, and conditions.
Wisconsin DOT and Other Wisconsin State Department	MOU Amendment Permit	In-state fiber resource sharing between WisDOT and the Wisconsin Department of Administration.
Wisconsin DOT and University	Lease Agreement Amendment	The University of Wisconsin – Madison leased WisDOT fiber that WisDOT obtained from a Telecom Provider.
Wisconsin DOT and Local Police Department	Permit and MOU	Local police department installed a CCTV camera and shared the video feed with the WisDOT State Traffic Operation Center.
Wisconsin DOT and Illinois Tollway	MOU	The Illinois tollway used existing private fiber for a camera and dynamic message board in Wisconsin and granted video feed access from the camera to the WisDOT State Traffic Operation Center.
Wisconsin DOT and Telecom Provider	MOU	Allowed WisDOT to swap fibers between a telecom provider facility and state-owned facility.
Wisconsin DOT and Telecom Provider	Controlled Access Highway Right-of-Way Occupancy: Template	Telecom provider agreement template.
Wisconsin DOT and Telecom Provider	Right-of-Way Occupancy Agreement	Enabled carrier to construct, operate, and maintain fiber optic communication facilities longitudinally within interstate right-of-way in exchange for dark fibers, conduit, handholes, and cash.
Wisconsin DOT and University and Telecom Provider	Controlled Access Highway ROW Occupancy Agreement	ROW agreement covering 15 counties that provided WisDOT with access to 12-strands of dark fiber on approximately 300 miles of the state highways.

Transportation agencies at the state, provincial, and local levels receive many requests to display non-urgent messages on Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) regarding advertising, safety messages, and special events, for example. Agencies must decide how to respond to these requests. In addition to state, provincial, and local level policies and preferences about the use of DMS, federal design standards such as the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) must also be considered when deciding which requests to approve.

This project conducted an online search to gather state, provincial, local, and federal policies and guidelines for DMS messaging. The search also included documenting related DMS studies or efforts. Transportation agencies were also contacted to provide additional details on information gathered through the online search. In addition, ENTERPRISE members provided input throughout the duration of the project to enhance the search for DMS messaging related documents and guidelines. A survey was distributed to state, local, and provincial transportation agencies to gather additional details on the DMS message requests received by transportation agencies as well as the policy or process for handling DMS message requests. The project also researched the potential for public-private partnerships for DMS deployment and operations and documented a few potential future scenarios for connected and automated vehicle implications on DMS.

Several ENTERPRISE member agencies have transportation networks within their jurisdictions that intersect with international borders: Michigan DOT, Minnesota DOT, Texas DOT, and Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO).

Management and coordination of traffic operations at borders often requires agency resources. In addition, it is important to provide accurate and timely traveler information, such as border wait times, alerts, and construction notices, to the traveling public.

ITS technologies and systems used at borders often serve a critical purpose in assisting agencies with traffic management and traveler information. Enhanced knowledge of available technologies, uses, and benefits will equip ENTERPRISE members with potential solutions to improve agency coordination and management.

The project documented issues, challenges, practices, coordination approaches, and technologies for managing traffic at highway border crossings.

Project Webinars

As one component of this project, two project webinars were held to share information on a variety of topics.

• Webinar 1 – Data Collection and Uses at International Border Crossings
  July 26, 2016 
  This webinar featured a panel of experts that shared information about data collection and uses at international border crossings.
  • Webinar Recording
  • Webinar Presentations
    • Welcome and Project Overview – Bill Legg, Washington State DOT
    • Traffic Data Collection Technologies to Estimate Wait Times
      • Technology Options – Juan Villa, Texas A&M Transportation Institute
      • Arizona DOT Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi Penetration Rate Study – Yung Koprowski, Lee Engineering
    • Data Uses, Tools and Trends
      • Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition (NITTEC) – Athena Hutchins, NITTEC
      • Texas DOT – Juan Villa, Texas A&M Transportation Institute
• Webinar 2 – Agency Coordination Practices at International Borders
  September 26, 2016 
  This webinar featured a panel of experts on agency coordination at international border crossings.
  • Webinar Recording
  • Webinar Presentations
    • Welcome and Project Overview – Bill Legg, Washington State DOT
    • Whatcom Council of Governments Border Coordination – Hugh Conroy, Whatcom Council of Governments
    • Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition (NITTEC) – Athena Hutchins, NITTEC
    • Buffalo-Niagara Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) Project – Keir Opie, Cambridge Systematics, Inc.

This project began with a focus on ITS and was revised to explore ITS as enabling technology for the broader applications of Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) in planning and operations. This reflects a more comprehensive view of ITS which allows agencies to collaborate in active management of the transportation system according to regional operations objectives.

New TSMO strategies are continually being developed and technology continues to rapidly evolve. This makes it challenging for transportation planning and operations staff to stay abreast of the latest information and factor it into their processes. ENTERPRISE recognized that planning and operations staff may not have adequate tools to support their decision making regarding which TSMO strategies may be appropriate to address certain transportation challenges. For example, a planner in a regional office may be reviewing a growing freeway congestion issue and may not know how best to determine if the most appropriate TSMO strategy is managed lanes or ramp metering.

This project identified resources that are currently available to support the consideration of TSMO operations objectives and strategies. With input from the USDOT Planning for Operations Program, it was determined that a decision support tool  based on Advancing Metropolitan Planning for Operations: The Building Blocks of a Model Transportation Plan Incorporating Operations – A Desk Reference would further support the consideration of TSMO strategies to solve transportation challenges. Additional selection criteria, strategies and reference resources were incorporated into the tool along with existing material from the Desk Reference. The decision support tool developed for one TSMO area – Traveler Information – to allow for evaluation before developing other TSMO areas. The final report presents feedback on the preliminary tool and recommendations for consideration if a decision support tool is further developed.

The ENTERPRISE Pooled Fund Program conducted this project to help increase members’ understanding of current practices for wrong-way driving countermeasures on freeways, including those that utilize Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies. The goal of this project was to create a repository for wrong-way countermeasure deployments to help ENTERPRISE agencies increase their understanding of countermeasure types, evaluation efforts and results as available, agency coordination efforts, feedback on the deployments from local motorists, and lessons learned.

A webinar was held on November 21, 2016 to share the results of this project documented in the Project Summary Report, including key findings and details on selected DOT deployments from agency representatives. Presentations provided as well as the webinar recording are included below.

• Webinar Recording
• Webinar Presentations
  • Project Approach and Key Findings – Linda Preisen, Athey Creek Consultants
  • Agency Deployments
    • Iowa DOT: Wrong-Way Driving Testbed – Willy Sorenson, Iowa DOT
    • Florida DOT: Statewide Efforts and Countermeasures – Raj Ponnaluri, Florida DOT
    • Arizona DOT: Pilot Deployment of an Integrated Detection and Warning System – Jim Windsor, Arizona DOT

Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), enacted in July 2012, has created a surface transportation program with additional emphasis on performance-based measures. MAP-21 calls for U.S. states to establish performance goals and then report to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on progress towards meeting these performance measures. The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) has issued several notices of proposed rulemaking that will eventually lead to specific requirements for agencies to measure and report on their performance in the national goals areas of safety, infrastructure condition, congestion reduction, system reliability, freight movement and economic vitality, environmental sustainability, and project delivery.

Although notices of proposed rulemaking have not yet been issued as of April 2016 for system performance and freight movement, these national goal areas may have implications for performance at international border crossings. In addition to security and safety interests, border crossing wait times are a strong focal point for commercial, passenger, and pedestrian traffic. 

There are several international borders shared among the ENTERPRISE members (Washington State Department of Transportation, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Michigan Department of Transportation, Ministry of Transportation Ontario, and Texas Department of Transportation).  These agencies had a shared interest in learning the roles, practices, and technologies for managing traffic in relation to performance measures at international border crossings.

The objectives of this project were to:

• Identify the current aspects of the transportation performance that are monitored at border crossings;
• Determine what and how wait time measurement technologies are used to support performance management at border crossings; and
• Investigate opportunities for ENTERPRISE to share information about this project’s findings with other entities to enhance future interactions.