Footer Text July 20, 2021

TxDOTResearch & Technology Implementation DivisionTechnical Working Group (TWG) 8/5/21Shelley Pridgen, Research Project Manager

TxDOT - RTI

Goals & Objectives – Research and Technology Implementation Division

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Provide a first-class transportation research program by collaborating with state-supported research institutions.

• Focus on identifying the best problems that can be solved with responsive and timely research. (Problems to solve)

• Provide successful management of research teams, project deliverables and implementation of innovative solutions. (Help to solve these problems)

• Deliver effective administrative and financial management of the research program.

• Ensure adequate resources are available to support the creation of effective solutions. (Provide funding and resources)

Provide technical oversight by participating in the national research and implementation program.

• Participate in and/or lead national peer exchanges and Transportation Pooled Fund (TPF) program.

• Participate on a TRB technical committee, NCHRP panel, AASHTO Research Advisory Committee (RAC) and other national transportation research opportunities.

Foster and strengthen partnerships with all stakeholders.

• Promote innovation, resilience and sustainability to districts and divisions. (Work Together: Districts & Divisions)

• Educate and support our state-supported research institutions to ensure successful execution and implementation of forward-thinking transportation research.

• Transfer knowledge to local and regional governments to promote innovative transportation safety and maintenance techniques to ensure a seamless roadway system throughout Texas. (Share with LGs/ RGs)

Strengthen the transportation system with FHWA through collaborative research and innovation.

• Work closely with FHWA to facilitate their oversight of the goals and outputs of the Federal research program.

• Enhance the safety and efficiency of the Texas transportation system by promoting Federal Highway innovations through the State Transportation Innovation Council. (Share Solutions)

TxDOT - RTI

Program Overview – What does RTI do?

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Research Projects

Implementation Projects

Product Evaluation

TxDOT - RTI

Research Goals

Seek ideas to improve TxDOT, whether operations, safety, connectivity, etc.

Select the most innovative ideas for the annual program Execute research to create a useful tool/process/solution to

improve TxDOT Successfully integrate ideas back into TxDOT operations. Our research program supports TxDOT goals and these goals

"drive" the research we do to deliver the right projects

» Preserve our Assets» Focus on the Customer» Optimize System Performance» Promote Safety

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TxDOT - RTI

Project Selection Committees – Determine Projects

Functional Area Committees (FAC) consists of district and division subject matter experts from across the state. The committee evaluates problem statements and recommends a prioritized list for funding consideration. There are five committees:

» Construction, Maintenance and Materials (CMM)» Safety and Operations (S&O)» Structures and Hydraulics (S&H)» Planning and Environmental (P&E)» Strategy and Innovation (S&I)

Research Oversight Committee (ROC) consists of district engineers and division directors. Further prioritize recommended projects from FAC for funding consideration.

Executive Committee consists of the Director of Strategy and Innovation, and the Chief Engineer. The Executive Committee approves recommended project selections from the ROC based on funding available from RTI.

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TxDOT - RTI

Average Breakdown of Projects by Functional Area

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TxDOT - RTI

Air Quality Research Problem Statements – FY 21

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Project ID Project Name Champion Sponsor Rating

21-085 BUY AMERICA ECONOMIC IMPACTS (EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS) Jackie Ploch NCTCOG 3.50

21-091 EVALUATING THE NOX AND ENERGY REDUCTION BENEFITS OF ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSES OPERATING IN AN URBAN NON-ATTAINMENT AREA Jackie Ploch TTI 2.88

21-099 POLLUTION MONITORING AROUND WORK ZONES, BORDER CROSSINGS, AND OTHER LOCALIZED REGIONS Arturo Perez CTR 1.25

21-107 UNDERSTANDING VEHICLE TYPE AND USE PATTERNS WITH DEMOGRAPHICS AND TRANSPORTATION

COSTS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS ON SYSTEM PERFORMANCE, AIR CONFORMITY, ENERGY DEPENDENCE, AND GREENHOUSE GAS

Bill Knowles CTR 2.00

21-108 UNDERSTANDING WEEKEND, SPECIAL EVENT, AND NON-PEAK TRAVEL PATTERNS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR SYSTEM RELIABILITY, AIR QUALITY CONFORMITY, AND GREENHOUSE GASES Bill Knowles CTR 1.50

21-239 BENEFITS IN SHIFTING TEXAS BUS FLEETS TO ELECTRIC AND SELF DRIVING BUSES Not Listed CTR 2.75

21-240 LAND USE PATTERNS, TRAVEL, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, POPULATION TRENDS, AND TECHNOLOGY CHANGE IMPACTS ON TEXAS’ ENERGY USE AND CARBON EMISSIONS Jack Foster CTR 3.25

1 Air Quality Project or related made it through the FAC and none made it through ROC for FY21 Possible Reasons for lack of success - limited support at both the FAC and ROC Meetings; No TxDOT

Champion invited to argue for project due to poor scheduling and other factors.

TxDOT - RTI

Problem Statements (sent last year) – FY 22 Research Projects (9/1 start)

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Problem Statement No. Project No. Project Name Champion Sponsor Rating

22-173 0-7124 A New Tool for Evaluating Infrastructure and Planning Impacts from Changes in Truck Traffic and Truck Technologies

Loretta Brown (TPP)RTI PM - Martin Dassi TTI 3.83

22-236 0-7132 Quantify the Real Impact of Transportation Activity on Regional Ozone and Near-Road PM Concentrations

Tim Wood (ENV)RTI PM – Shelley Pridgen TTI 3.83

22-256 0-7134 Improve Traffic Analysis and Mobility Modeling Using Information and Communication Technologies

Jeremy Rogers (TPP)RTI PM – Wade Odell TxState 3.58

22-246 N/A Incorporation of Micromobility in Transportation Planning Process Bonnie Sherman (PTN) UTSA 3.25

22-186 N/A Incorporating Outputs from Transportation Models into TRZ Value Capture Potential Estimation Julie DeHoyos (PFD) TTI 2.50

22-254 N/AAssessment of individual transportation projects contribution to greenhouse

gases and temperature profile changes- which in turn impacts ozone formation

Tim Wood (ENV) NCTCOG 2.83

6 Air Quality Problem Statements made it through the FAC (up from 1 last year!!!)3 Air Quality Problem Statements made it through the ROC to become Research Projects for FY22

Reasons for Success – Over 20 AQ or closely related topics submitted as Problem Statements,Well written Problem Statements and excellent support from the TxDOT ENV & TPP Divisions, and participation of Regional,

State and National Qir Quality experts.

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JUL - SEP OCT - DEC JAN - MAR APR-MAY JUN - SEP

Request Problem Statements: Deadline 9/3!

Short List – Project Selection Process

Request for Proposals

Evaluate Proposals

Award Projects

Sign Agreements

Program Begins -September 1.

Yearly Program Schedule

FY’23 Schedule

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2021

Sept. 3 Problem Statements due

Oct./ Nov. Functional Area Committee Meetings

Dec. Research Oversight Committee Meetings

2022

Jan. RTI posts Request For Proposals (RFP)

Feb. Questions Deadline

March University proposals are due to RTI

May RTI notifies universities of project awards

May Universities submit project agreements

Sept. 1 FY2023 projects begin work

TxDOT - RTI

Call for Problem Statements

Fill out a Problem Statement Form

To have a Problem turn into a solution: We need a Champion!

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TxDOT - RTI

On TxDOT Crossroads…

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Problem Statement – Idea To Research

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Title of Idea

Which TxDOT goals would it benefit

Suggested Area(s) being impacted

Brief description of the problem

Brief description of the idea to test.

Brief description of deliverables i.e. reports and

products

Expect benefits and usage

Implications if not selected

Rough order of magnitude – high level estimates

- cost, duration, identification of other

similar research

Submitter(s) and TxDOT Champion are required.

TxDOT - RTI

What is a Champion?

A primary Project Advisor (PA) and Subject Matter Expert (SME) on the Problem being researched

Pivotal to forming the TxDOT Project Team, helping find appropriate Project Advisors/Experts from stakeholder groups within and external to TxDOT (District, Division, State Agencies or Local/Regional entities) – plus the occasional newer TxDOT employees

Advocate for the Project, inside and out. Understands all aspects of the Project. Ensures the Project stays on track from a technical perspective – is

the research headed toward the vision (goals) we outlined? Are those still the goals TxDOT needs?

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In an ideal world, the Champion fills these roles:

TxDOT - RTI

Current Air Quality Projects

0-7024 - Assessing Ozone Impacts on Electric Vehicle (EV) Adoption in Texas

– Scheduled from FY20 through FY23

– TxDOT Project Advisors – Tim Wood, ENV (Champion) and Michael Chamberlin, TPP

– TTI Research Supervisor – Reza Farzaneh

– External Project Advisors –Lori Clark (NCTCOG) and Graciela Lubertino (Houston-Galveston Area Council), Jamie Zech, Chris Kite and Cara Scalpone (TCEQ), and Jeff Riley (EPA)

– This project was recently extended due to COVID-19 staffing challenges and to incorporate new information after corroboration of the Project Advisory Panel.

0-9907-20 - Electric School Bus Literature Review and Industry Scan –Completed 8/31/2020

– TxDOT Champion – Jackie Ploch, TTI Research Supervisors - John Overman and Brittney N. Gick

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TxDOT - RTI

Completed this year: Literature Review and Industry Scan of Electric School Buses (0-9907-20)Research Team: TTI

Reports Briefing Paper PresentationScope: Proactively assist school districts with efforts in researching and making decisions on electric school bus programs

Project Manager: Shelley Pridgen

Results: The research team identified suggested considerations intended to help school districts throughout the process of researching and making informed decisions on electric school bus use.TRL - Start: 1 End: 2Value to TxDOT: This project provided support for Environmental Justice mitigation related to the North Houston Highway Improvement Project.

Next Steps / Implementation:• Environmental Division will share the information from this review with HISD and a statewide coalition. • Information provided may generate additional research problem statements.• Information obtained has potential to inform legislative inquiry.

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TxDOT - RTI

Next Steps

Continue to seek Expert Involvement, ENV Division/TPP Division/District participation and RTI Division support early on in the process.– Allow plenty of time to prepare the problem statement and make it ready to withstand

criticism.– Aim for sound science that will produce results that can be implemented or contribute to

additional valuable studies.

Send well-spoken Champions to FAC and ROC Meetings.

– FAC Meeting – make sure you have topic level support for each project “sponsored” by ENV/TPP. The ENV Division is diverse and all have different priorities. TPP also could speak to the value of these projects.

– ROC – ENV/Planning topics are up against all other Categories. Need to make a strong case for how these projects support Agency/State, (i.e. Big Picture).

I gave this advice last year and the efforts this research cycle delivered beyond what I would have thought possible in such a short time. Thank you for your support in Transportation Research!!!

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Thank YouQ&A

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