Pilot test of the TCAPP collaborative decision-making framework including a self-assessment methodology : Washington State’s SR 509 Project. SHRP 2 Capacity Project C18A.

The Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) selected Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) “I-5/SR 509 Corridor Completion and Freight Improvement Project” as a test bed for pilot testing the collaborative decision-making tool, Transportation for Communities — Advancing Projects through Partnerships (TCAPP). The goal of this pilot test was to demonstrate how the TCAPP tool could help facilitate the project stakeholders and their local partners in making key decisions in order to move the project forward. For the SR 509 project this included: • Defining Phase 1 of the project for implementation by taking tolling into consideration; and• Making recommendations on a preferred tolling option for legislative consideration (this was contingent on additional funding from the 2011 Washington State legislature that did not happen). This pilot test was conducted by a project team consisting of WSDOT, the Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC), and the consulting firms Baillie & Associates and Parsons Brinckerhoff. TRAC served as the project independent evaluator for assessing the TCAPP tool and methodology deployed in this pilot test. The project team worked collaboratively with the stakeholders using the tools and techniques provided under the TCAPP corridor planning protocol, and successfully defined Phase 1 of the project. The resulting design reduced the initial project implementation cost by about $400 million while preserving most of the project benefits. (Author/publisher)