By Scott Bradley, TRB CSD&S Task Force Chair

Whether working for the Minnesota DOT (Mn/DOT), as point person for our activities as a designated CSD "pilot state," or as Chair of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) joint committee Task Force on Context Sensitive Design & Solutions, I am often pulled aside to dark corners and in "hushed" conversations with people from around the country. One universal question is always on their mind - tell me "frankly" how good a job are state DOTs and other transportation organizations really doing ... is CSS alive and well?

I often mask my uncertainty and inability to answer the first part of the question by answering with more of my own questions which I think I can answer. Questions like:

• Are we making good CSS progress across the country?
• Are we not yet fully getting CSS across the country?
• Are we still resisting CSS across the country?
• Are CSS mainstreaming changes taking longer than expected across the country?
• Are we likely to succeed in mainstreaming CSS across the country?

My answer to all of the above questions (and without uncertainty) is YES!

I believe the CSS Vision can and will overcome all obstacles and resistance across the country but it's not a complete change you can try to force too quickly. According to Aristotle, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit." CSS change management requires new organizational paradigms and habits to overcome our "resistance to change and self-improvement" that is driven by our existing paradigms and habits. According to Stephen Covey, it would follow that new paradigms and habits have to be shaped and informed by new knowledge sets, new skill sets, and new attitudes. Successful and sustainable CSS change management will take time because it is not only counter-intuitive, in many ways, but also incremental and iterative as a process. Trust that CSS is not the latest transportation fashion or self-improvement trend...CSS is borne out of necessity if we hope to be successful in delivering and sustaining public transportation projects that are accepted and valued as assets by an informed and affected "public."

We advocate that CSS is about broadly informed, integrated, and balanced processes and outcomes and acceptance that individual people, places, and transportation projects are all unique and deserving of processes and outcomes tailored to the unique circumstances and agreed upon objectives. We further advocate the need to take more time and use more multidisciplinary resources and public involvement earlier in our project development processes to save time and money and to become more successful in the long run with outcomes. In the same parallel, individual state DOTs and transportation organizations are also unique organizational cultures. To mainstream CSS in a fully successful and sustainable way, each organization needs to tailor their strategies, approaches, and timeframes, for CSS change management, in a manner that addresses their unique and changing circumstances, challenges and opportunities.

While I just made a case for the merits of incremental change and patience in the mainstreaming of CSS, I now have to flip-flop in advocating that we need to pick up the pace a great deal in building the knowledge sets, skill sets, and attitudinal adjustments that inform and support acceptance of new CSS paradigms and habits that will consistently lead us to excellence in processes and outcomes. That's an area where our fledgling TRB joint committee CSD&S Task Force (AFB50T) has been very focused and successful during the past 2 years and our accomplishments and future directions further indicate that "CSS is indeed Alive and Well"...and gaining momentum at a rapid pace across the country (the 100+ e-mails that I receive, more days than not, also gives me a pretty good clue). To learn more about TRB's CSD&S Task Force make-up, mission, activities, accomplishments, initiatives, proposals, and future directions, review the 2004 - 2006 Summary Report.

If you want to know more and want to make a difference toward mainstreaming CSS but find yourself struggling, with information overload, too little time, too much work, and too many competing priorities, I advise that your best one-stop shop, use of time, and opportunity for input is at www.contextsensitivesolutions.org!!