Stephen P. Mattingly <smattingly@uta.edu>
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
University of Texas, Arlington
Arlington, TX 76019-0308 USA
http://www-ce.uta.edu/faculty/Mattingly.htm

Pat McGowen, UCI <pmcgowen@uci.edu>
Saty Satyamurti, UTA <satyamurti@yahoo.com>

Funded by a grant from the California PATH.

April 15, 2003 through June 30, 2004

In theory, institutional issues can be identified and addressed in a manner similar to technical issues. In practice, these institutional coordination problems often involve personnel problems that can be the key stumbling blocks in implementation. But such problems are difficult to identify because they rarely are documented. The approach herein is to sample typical projects in selected ITS implementation areas and, through a comprehensive review of the selected projects followed by one-on-one interviews with key participants, develop flowcharts and policy guidelines to identify key institutional constraints when the project itself is being defined, prior to any funding or implementation effort. The products of this research will be a "best practices" policy guide incorporating flowcharts for planning for institutional cooperation.

The following tasks are proposed [lead/responsible party identified in bold]:

1. Literature review [UTA]
   Previous research regarding institutional studies and inter-jurisdictional agreements will be reviewed to identify all previous findings.
2. Review National ITS Architecture (NITSA), California law [UCI]
   The NITSA’s recommendations for institutional integration will be coordinated with California law to lay the foundation for possible alternative institutional arrangements.
3. Review current inter-jurisdictional agreements and previous projects [UCI and UTA]
   Many of the FOTs use inter-jurisdictional agreements. These existing agreements and any other identified agreements will be reviewed to examine their approaches to critical institutional issues. These agreements will be critically analyzed with respect to their impact, if any, on the success or failure of the FOT or other project.
4. Conduct interviews [UTA and UCI]
   The agencies involved in past agreements and potential participants in future inter-jurisdictional projects, especially those involving ITS, must identify any expected institutional constraints to future collaborative approaches. Furthermore, the general priorities and motivations of these agencies need to be elucidated. To accomplish this, this project will interview key representatives from as many appropriate agencies as possible.
5. Synthesize results, identify institutional pitfalls [UTA]
   The results from the review of previous agreements and projects, research and NITSA recommendations must be synthesized with the interview results. Through this comprehensive analysis, previously experienced and potential future institutional pitfalls and constraints will be identified.
6. Propose solutions and legal analysis [UCI]
   The research team will propose solutions to these institutional pitfalls and constraints and examine these solutions with respect to any significant legal concerns.
7. Develop institutional flow chart and guidelines [UTA and UCI]
   The research team will design a flow chart and set of guidelines for use when coordinating jurisdictions. The flow chart will attempt to identify all potential pitfalls and constraints and identify the paths to successfully circumventing them.
8. Develop sample agreements [UCI and UTA]
   The research team will write sample inter-jurisdictional agreements for inclusion in the California Guide for Inter-Jurisdictional Coordination.
9. Assemble California Guide for Inter-Jurisdictional Coordination [UCI]
   The flow chart and guidelines will be combined with the sample agreements to create a guide for inter-jurisdictional coordination amongst California agencies, especially with reference to ITS-related projects and issues.
10. Final Report (UTA and UCI)
    A final report will be written that details the methodology, data collection and analysis, results and findings from the project.

• ATMS Testbed