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A recap of the CSS workshops at the 2007 TRB annual meeting.
By Scott Bradley, Chair of the TRB joint committee Context Sensitive Design and Solutions Task Force
The recent Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington DC attracted over 10,000 participants, an attendance record for the event. Based upon the number of high quality CSS research papers that were presented in numerous TRB venues, it was clear from the proceedings that interest in CSS is at an all-time high -- and growing astronomically. Not only were there more CSS-related workshops and seminars than ever before, but the quality of the discussion has deepened a great deal. Gone are the days when CSS experts spent most of their energy making the case for a context sensitive approach, or explaining the basics of what constitutes CSS. At this year's event, practitioners explored CSS process and decision-making in detail and exchanged ideas about how best to apply CSS principles in transportation planning, project development, construction, operations, and maintenance activities.
There were no less than 12 separate venues (workshops, paper presentation sessions and business meetings) focused on CSS and these venues attracted a cumulative total of over 650 attendees. The workshops included:
- Research Needs for Mainstreaming CSS in Transportation Project Development
- Context Sensitive Design & Solutions: Educational Voids
- Community, History, and Highways: CSD and Historic Preservation
Podium presentation sessions included:
- Integrating CSS and Value Engineering
- Mainstreaming CSS in the Workforce
- Influence of Roadway Type and Environment on Context Sensitivity
- Influence of Roadway Type and Roadside Environment on Speed, Safety, and Context Sensitivity
- Land Use Considerations in CSD and CSS
- This is What I Think, Not What I Know: Complete Streets' Design Elements
- Aesthetics for the Workhorse Bridge.
Business meetings included the CSD&S Task Force (with member representation from 20 TRB committees, FHWA, AASHTO and twice as many "friends") and the Context Sensitive Geometric Design of Highways and Streets Subcommittee.
Strategic CSS research and synthesis needs were also brainstormed and prioritized, in two of the previously mentioned venues, and are summarized and calibrated in the following chart:
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CSD&S Research & Synthesis Project Needs Descriptions
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Task Force
2007 Votes
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Workshop
2007 votes
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Research or syntheses
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Research to guide a more broadly informed and context sensitive process for updating / restructuring critical project development guidance documents (AASHTO Green Book)
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12 (#1)
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10 (#3)
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Both
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Research to inform CSS and better integrations related to all transportation modes and modal investment planning
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11 (#2)
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8 (#4)
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Both
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Organizational requirements (structures, relationships, staffing) to better reflect CSS and change in transportation
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10 (#3)
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7 (#6)
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Both
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Discipline-specific Guides for CSS to address current voids (specialists, construction, operations, maintenance, etc.)
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10 (#4)
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NA
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Both
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Research to better inform the understanding of safety performance related to CSS
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9 (#5)
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NA
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Research
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CSS and "sustainability" in transportation
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8 (#6)
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NA
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Both
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Integrations of CSS in non-traditional project delivery and investment processes (design-build, partnerships, etc.)
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6 (#7)
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NA
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Both
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Integration of CSS and value engineering processes
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3 (#8)
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NA
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Both
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Research the benefits from more active community involvement, responsibility and ownership in CSS processes and outcomes (partnerships, sustainability, PR, etc.)
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2 (#9)
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12 (#2)
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Research
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Best practices in project scoping to support CSS
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2 (#10)
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8 (#5)
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Synthesis
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Community Impact Assessment research to better understand the effects of transportation upon Quality of Life concerns
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1 (#11)
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4 (#7)
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Research
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Expand upon existing and current research efforts for performance measures related to CSS principles and values
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Tabled as CSS principles are being revisited
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15 (#1)
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Research
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The identification and prioritization of these CSS needs will once again be used in 2007 to help inform the development of strategic CSS research and synthesis project proposals, calls for research papers, and proposed CSS workshops and presentation sessions at the January 13 -17, 2008 TRB Annual Meeting.
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details: