TransportationPoint: Decision-Making During Uncertainty

Managing for today, tomorrow and the future

How the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s resiliency efforts today are addressing tomorrow’s challenges

By John Keller, PE, PMP — Executive Director, New Jersey Turnpike Authority

On a system as large and busy as the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, there are bound to be emergencies. We have more than 4,500 lane miles of roadway, and our customers log more than 13 billion miles annually. Yet, we believe we can lessen the occurrence of crises and subsequently reduce the amount of time we spend responding to future roadway impacts by investing time today in risk management and resiliency planning. The key is to start adapting new policies and designs now for the inevitable demands of the future.

Managing for today

Crisis management happens in the now when a toll authority finds itself knee-deep in an event that is, or could, negatively impact its customers. For example, in 2021 Hurricane Ida unexpectedly stalled over New Jersey depositing more than 9 inches of rain on our system in 6 hours, resulting in a nearly 500-year storm event that severely impacted specific sections of our roadway. Portions of our system flooded that had never flooded before, and we shifted into crisis mode to clear and reopen the inundated areas of our roadways as quickly as possible.

Managing for tomorrow

After the flood waters receded, we reviewed the event and identified measures that might help us avoid a repeat in the future. The practice of applying what you’ve learned from past experiences to help you anticipate and mitigate similar future events is the essence of risk management. To prevent future floods, for example, we identified areas along our system that become impassable during intense downpours and made significant efforts through our Asset

Management Program to ensure the drainage systems function as designed.

Risk management also has proven effective in designing and constructing projects. From my years as a project manager, I know issues concerning utilities, right of way and permitting have historically derailed projects, causing significant delays and cost overruns. When we launched the $2.3 billion New Jersey Turnpike Interchange 6 to 9 in 2008, we invested heavily in mitigating those three risk categories. At the peak of construction, the Widening Program was the largest ongoing roadway project in the Western Hemisphere. Yet, we delivered 170 new turnpike lane miles on schedule and $300 million under budget, largely as a result of mitigating those three areas of concern from day one. The Widening Program model of addressing risk areas early in the design process serves as a guide for how we approach projects today.

Managing for the future

Unlike the short-term perspective of risk management, resiliency planning attempts to anticipate and mitigate long-term risks that could occur 20, 50 or 100 years from now. For example, the Authority has begun investing in our facilities to make our system more resilient to address the inevitable impacts of climate changes, including sea level rise and more frequent and larger rain events. The process of being more resilient tomorrow must begin today. If we wait, the scope and costs of remediation will only grow larger. It is far more cost effective to build resilient measures into today’s projects compared to reconstructing them in the future.

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However, efforts to make our system safer and more resilient are pointless unless neighboring systems also fortify their systems against the same threats. In other words, resiliency is a shared effort. If we implement proactive measures to ensure an evacuation route remains open under extreme weather conditions, but the owners of the surrounding roadway networks don’t implement the same type of improvements, our efforts may fall short. Collaboration and coordination with surrounding jurisdictions are imperative for the regional transportation network to function effectively. A toll authority may not have complete control over the resiliency of its roadways. The extent to which it can fortify its system may depend on the cooperation of others.

The silver lining to this reality, however, is prioritization. Improving a system’s resiliency can be an overwhelming task. Worse, there is no panacea project or point in the future when we will be able to declare our system resilient. Below are a few of the other steps the Authority is taking to increase the resiliency of its network:

• Identify critical infrastructure and mobility links. We have identified the critical infrastructure and mobility links in our system that cannot be out of service, no matter what. They include evacuation routes, bridges that connect communities to basic necessities, the traffic management center, maintenance districts, service areas and toll facilities.

• Conduct an exposure analysis. We also are conducting an exposure analysis of our entire system, modeling future increased precipitation and sea level rise over multiple time horizons to identify and assess our system’s most vulnerable areas. We will then use this knowledge to develop and construct mitigation strategies to prepare for, withstand and recover quicker from future events. This approach is an essential component of our roadmap to greater resiliency.

Update procedures. We are updating our procedures manual and our design manual to utilize a prospective lens toward future hazards. For example, the revised design criteria will look at storm events in the year 2100. This may require design manual changes to disallow the use of spread footings on bridges over waterways, which could be undermined by a large

storm event, call for more robust riprap designs or necessitate increasing drainage pipe sizes in critical areas of our roadways on all future construction contracts. These examples are relatively inexpensive if built into today’s contracts, whereas reconstructing or retrofitting facilities in the future will certainly be at a significant cost. If toll agencies aren’t certain of where to begin their resiliency efforts, their design manual is a great place to start.

• Prioritize and make decisions. Creating greater resiliency may not always be so straightforward and economical. From time to time, agencies will be forced to make difficult decisions to advance resiliency plans. For example, it might be in everyone’s best interest to build a new bridge at a higher elevation in anticipation of sea level rise to avoid future flooding. However, the higher cost of the new elevation may require the agency to defer other projects purely for budgetary reasons. Resiliency requires prioritization of long-term projects over short-term ones.

• Share best practices. As an active member of the International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association, I appreciate the opportunity to exchange best practices and learn how other agencies are addressing risk management and resiliency. We often solicit the expertise of our trusted advisers and industry consultants who are eager to share their insights.

While we may not be able to eliminate crises altogether, we can minimize their frequency or severity, thus reducing the impacts to our facilities. Identifying critical links and vulnerabilities, resolving recurring issues, prioritizing long-term projects over short-term ones, updating design manuals and networking are steps toll agencies can take now for greater resiliency tomorrow.

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“If toll agencies aren’t certain of where to begin their resiliency efforts, their design manual is a great place to start.”

In place, paved and striped in 60 hours

How MaineDOT successfully replaced the I-295 bridge in its largest, fastest accelerated bridge construction project to date

In one weekend, MaineDOT replaced a 60-year-old structurally deficient bridge, carrying I-295 over Veranda Street in Portland, Maine. Work began to remove the existing structure on Friday, April 22, at 7 p.m., and by Monday, April 25, at 7 a.m., the bridge was in place, paved, striped and open to traffic.

We instituted several best practices to support MaineDOT’s commitment to deliver projects safely under strong fiscal stewardship and with minimal disruption.

• Evaluate impact vs. cost.When executed correctly, accelerated bridge construction can be well received by the public, as it was with this project. But ABC is not always the best approach. The appropriateness of it depends heavily on the benefits realized by the traveling public and the cost of its application.

Had we elected to use conventional construction methods, approximately 53,000 motorists would have been subjected to years of daily congestion. With ABC, we dramatically compressed the traditional timeline. Because of its expedient nature, ABC requires considerably more resources than conventional construction, but those costs were offset by eliminating the construction of a

substantial temporary bridge and by significantly minimizing travel delays end users would have otherwise experienced.

• Great partners make a project go smoothly. A project of significant scale and complexity presents significant challenges and risk without the additional burden and learning curve of teaming with a new, unfamiliar designer or contractor. We’ve found that a proven risk mitigation strategy is contracting with partners who have significant ABC experience and a history of delivering success for our department.

• The construction method should inform the design. When designing for ABC, the project team should focus on eliminating unnecessary complexity and designing for simplicity. Recognizing this, the Veranda Street Bridge project called for replacing the existing threespan bridge with a shorter and simpler jointless, single-span structure. The area beneath the remainder of the existing bridge was converted into embankments prior to the roadway closure. This simplified design saved precious time during the roadway closure and will reduce long-term maintenance costs.

• Early engagement of the construction community can reduce risk and increase competition. After we advertised the bridge replacement project, we received contractor feedback regarding the contract language and concerns regarding the risks they perceived in this first-of-its-kind project for MaineDOT. Bidders asked for contract language that was less restrictive and would provide them more flexibility in how they progressed the work during the roadway closure. Based on this input, and given that project success was critical, MaineDOT decided to reissue the bid documents. Before doing so, MaineDOT sent a letter asking local contractors to help modify the contract language through a series of group and confidential one-on-one meetings between MaineDOT, HNTB and the contractor. In exchange for their time and insights, participants would be the only ones prequalified to bid on the project. Three contractors accepted the invitation. We met with them as a group and then individually, allowing each firm to share concerns, concepts and approaches they might not want competitors to hear.

After the intake sessions, we updated the contract documents to allow for the contractors’ ideas and recommendations where appropriate without disclosing any one firm’s idea. The revisions were reviewed with contractors and subsequent iterations were developed to arrive at terms that balanced the needs of MaineDOT and the contractors. For example, we learned some contractors preferred the flexibility of being able to choose how the bridge was moved into place, either through sliding the bridge laterally, lifting it into place or rolling it into place. The specifications were subsequently revised to provide performance requirements that allowed for this flexibility. Through these adjustments, the winning contractor proposed the use of self-propelled modular transporters.

• A protected work zone is the safest option. The project called for building the upper portion of the new bridge on temporary supports. These supports were able to be built away from the existing highway after coordination with the contractor. At the same time, the new bridge foundations were constructed beneath the existing bridge safely separated from traffic. The new bridge was then lifted and “driven” into place using a SPMT. Because safety is of the utmost importance to MaineDOT, we chose to fully close I-295 and Veranda Street while the existing bridge was demolished and the new bridge moved into place. Ultimately, creating the preparatory work out of traffic, and moving the structure into place with closures created a much safer work zone.

Devan Eaton, PE — Project Manager, Maine Department of Transportation Ben Walz, PE — Resident Engineer, Maine Department of Transportation

The Veranda Street Project

The I-295 bridge replacement was part of a large initiative to not only replace the bridge, but also reconfigure Veranda Street, a two-lane divided roadway with interstate on- and off-ramps that promoted high-speed travel, an environment unfriendly to pedestrians and bicycles, and one that was prone to frequent crashes. Work included the simplification of the local roadway configuration and construction of modern signalized intersections at the end of each ramp to improve safety for all users.

The newly reconfigured Veranda Street consists of two 11-foot-wide vehicle travel lanes, two 5-foot-wide bicycle lanes, a 5-foot-wide sidewalk on the north side of the roadway and a multi-use pathway along the south side of the roadway. Additionally, through the roadway changes, nearly 1.5 acres of paved surface was reclaimed and will be converted to a community green space.

Scan to see the project come to life

• Virtual public outreach enabled the successful closure. MaineDOT strives to openly communicate with everyone involved in or affected by our infrastructure projects. We had many in-person meetings and workshops with constituents about the bridge replacement project before the pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the project went out to bid and then into construction, we relied upon virtual public involvement to maintain our pledge of transparency and open communication. Ultimately, we found virtual public involvement to be more effective, efficient and far reaching than communicating through traditional channels. In fact, we’re convinced our virtual communication efforts made full closure of the interstate, and our aggressive campaign to influence motorist behavior during the closure possible.

Leading up to this project, our virtual public involvement process consisted of pre-recorded presentations played on-demand with public comments collected and responded to as they were received. For this project, we implemented MaineDOT’s first virtual podium meeting. Through this process we provided a live presentation online. Following the live presentation, the meeting attendees were invited to type questions or comments in a chat box that were then answered in real time by project team members. The benefits offered by this process were significant:

• We were able to engage a larger, broader audience.

• We could correct misconceptions instantly.

• We saved hours of project time and resources associated with conducting a live meeting.

• We engaged in more meaningful dialogue.

• Meeting was recorded and made available ondemand for those who could not attend the live meeting.

• The success we experienced with virtual public involvement on the I-295 bridge replacement reaffirms MaineDOT’s intentions to move forward with virtual public engagement as a standard practice in the future.

Successful projects build support for future work. The Veranda Street project resulted in a new, lower maintenance bridge delivered in record time and with broad public support. The successful delivery of this project allowed MaineDOT to build public trust, a critical measure for any public agency.

Increasing Colorado’s resiliency

Elizabeth Kemp Herrera — Resiliency Program Manager (retired)

Contact: William Johnson — Performance and Asset Management Branch Manager

Colorado Department of Transportation

Resiliency is the cornerstone of a transportation agency’s work. After a 2013 flood along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains severely damaged approximately 500 miles of roads and bridges and required more than $700 million in emergency repairs, the Colorado Department of Transportation examined its approach to resiliency. The Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief Program typically provides funding to rebuild damaged assets only to their pre-disaster states. However, the administration will consider providing additional funding to build stronger, more resilient assets if a DOT can economically justify the expense.

In hopes of securing a greater level of funding, CDOT developed a data-driven benefit-cost analysis that assessed each mitigation strategy’s risk-reduction effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, or annualized risk reduction. The purpose of the methodology wasn’t to identify a solution by process of elimination but to help CDOT justify its requests based on hard data.

After reviewing the data-driven analysis, FHWA granted CDOT’s build-back-better funding request and asked the department to incorporate the model into its day-to-day decision-making as a proactive strategy for better understanding risks, being proactive, improving infrastructure and reducing Colorado’s dependency on emergency relief.

Building on lessons learned from the 2013 floods and other events, CDOT went beyond the FHWA’s

request and developed a formal resiliency program to identify threats and implement mitigation measures proactively. To be clear, CDOT is not looking to harden its system at all costs but to invest in hardening the system where it makes sense from a long-term benefit-cost perspective. Spending a dollar now to reduce an annualized risk of $15 is a prudent investment. With that in mind, the department established four overarching program goals:

• Reduce future risks to our system

• Minimize the resources needed to rebuild and restore service

• Reduce disruptions to lives and businesses

• Lower the costs to CDOT and the traveling public in the long run

Establishing CDOT’s resiliency program and incorporating it into daily operations has been a slow process, but the department is now on the cusp of making substantial improvements. The department is updating its design standards, providing online training programs for staff and requiring all tenured projects to adopt resiliency processes.

Below are some of the tools essential to progressing CDOT’s program. These tools are used to quantify annualized risk reduction.

Data, support, policy and more are keys to developing a formal program

“The successful delivery of this project allowed MaineDOT to build public trust, a critical measure for any public agency.”

1. Framework

To give the program structure, CDOT adopted the 4R Resiliency Framework, developed by Michel Bruneau, Ph.D., professor at the University of Buffalo’s Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering. It outlines four characteristics of resiliency:

• Robustness: the strength of a system or organization

• Redundancy: the availability of substitute systems, resources and alternative processes

• Resourcefulness: the ability to be adaptive, creative and tenacious in crises

• Rapidity: the ability to quickly restore operations

CDOT’s program will strive to assess and improve its critical assets in all four areas.

2. Support

CDOT’s resiliency program has the full support of executive leadership as well as key staff in all regions across the state. The DOT also established a working group of representatives from each regional transportation district to promote regional equity and an executive oversight committee to ensure the resiliency program meets the agency’s goals.

3. Data

DOTs need data to make their resiliency programs work. So the first question a DOT should ask is, “Do we have the proper systems to capture the data we need?” For example, culvert data might include location, condition and capacity. Rockfall data might consist of location, frequency and cause. If the DOT does not have data, the next step is to secure support and funding to collect it.

4. Policy

CDOT’s most significant accomplishment to date is the formal recognition of the program. In 2018, the Transportation Commission adopted Policy Directive 1905.0, “Building Resilience into Transportation Infrastructure and Operations,” which directs CDOT to support state resilience goals by incorporating resilience in strategic decisions about transportation assets and operations. The policy directive builds on efforts since the 2013 flood to formalize and encourage future resilience activities, so the department can manage risks and successfully adapt to future challenges.

5. Criticality

Criticality is a measure of an asset’s importance to the system’s resilience and, by extension, to the success of CDOT in delivering service to travelers. Understanding an asset’s criticality allows the department to evaluate mitigation alternatives, know where emergency response plans are most urgently needed and improve alternate routes should the bridge or roadway become inoperable.

For example, a roadway’s criticality might be determined by its:

• Average annual daily traffic

• The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Roadway Classification factor

• Freight value per ton at the county level

• Tourism dollars generated at the county level

• Social vulnerability index at the county level

• System redundancy

CDOT headquarters collaborated with the regional transportation districts to develop a map of the state’s most critical system assets. Were there differences of opinion as to what infrastructure should be on the criticality map? Yes, but in the end, the data we used to develop the map spoke for itself, and a consensus was achieved. Overall, the DOT’s formal resiliency program ensures the transportation system will ultimately be stronger and safer in the event of a disaster.

ABOUT THE AUTH

“Overall, the DOT’s formal resiliency program ensures the transportation system will ultimately be stronger and safer in the event of a disaster.”