American’s National Operations Center of Excellence has awarded the North Carolina Department of Transportation as the overall winner of its first annual Transportation Systems Management and Operations Awards.
North Carolina’s entry beat out more than 60 other submissions from to win the prestigious award for its successful strategy last September to allow for the safe evacuation of more than a million people in advance of the massive storm while continuing critical, public communications detailing road closures and collapses long after the hurricane left the state.
NOCoE Managing Director, Patrick Son described how North Carolina’s work defines transportation systems management and operations potential saying, “There’s no doubt, lives were saved because of the crucial work done by our colleagues at NCDOT. Their preparation and response was amazing, coordinating, moving and informing millions of people. This is a case where things could have gone horribly wrong and instead, the coalition of TSMO practitioners, traffic managers, first responders and partners had an incredibly positive outcome.”
Jennifer Portanova, the NCDOT State Systems Operations Engineer who travelled to Washington DC to accept the award reacted, “We at the NCDOT are absolutely honoured to be recognised among the 60 plus other submissions as the Overall Winner for our Hurricane Florence response. Day in and day out, we work hard to keep traffic moving and people safe. Hurricane Florence showcased our relationships with other public agencies, the private sector and the emergency responder community. We are most proud of the amazing work our NCDOT team did during a stressful and demanding event. The innovative TSMO solutions and hard work made me proud to be part of the award-winning team.”
NCDOT’s entry was selected as Overall Winner from among four category winners, each celebrating the best in a specific aspect of TSMO. Those winners and runners up were:
Major incident or special event planning and response – Recognising an agency or organisation’s response to a specific incident or special event utilising TSMO.
- Winner – North Carolina Department of Transportation – NCDOT Hurricane Florence Preparation and Response
- Runner Up – Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC), Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) and Information Logistics, Inc. (ILOG) – 511PAConnect (two-way direct emergency communication between the agency and a stranded traveler’s smartphone)
Improving your agency’s TSMO capabilities – Recognising an agency or organisation that has successfully integrated CMM/CMF into its structure and the TSMO benefit that came from it.
- Winner – ITS Heartland Chapter of ITS America and HDR – ITS Heartland’s TSMO University Educational Program
- Runner Up – Florida Department of Transportation – Florida’s Truck Parking Availability System (TPAS)
Best TSMO project (creative solution) – Recognising a successful “on the ground” project that demonstrates the solution(s) of improved system management and operations compared with traditional capacity-based approaches.
- Winner – Arizona Department of Transportation – US-60 Restripe Project: ArizonaDOT Transforms Road Safety Using Full Suite of TSMO Capabilities (reducing crashes by 70% at an interstate merge)
- Runner Up – Arizona Department of Transportation – ArizonaDOT’s Wrong-Way Vehicle Detection System & State Trooper Co-Location
Public Communications – Recognising an agency for successfully increasing public or specific audience awareness of TSMO solutions and benefits.
- Winner – Oregon Department of Transportation – @OregonTIMResponders: Use of Social Media to Engage Oregon Responders Across Disciplines and Promote Responder Safety Laws and Practices
- Runner Up – Michigan Department of Transportation – Development and Maintenance of the MDOT TSMO Implementation and Strategic Plan
Photo shows (L-R):
Patrick Son, Managing Director, National Operations Center of Excellence
Jennifer Portanova, PE, CPM, State Systems Operations Engineer, North Carolina Department of Transportation
Meredith McDiarmid, PE, CPM, State ITS and Signals Engineer, North Carolina Department of Transportation
