TRB Webinar: Railroad – DOT Institutional Mitigation Strategies

On August 31, 2011, TRB, in partnership with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, conducted a web seminar or “webinar”  on a project developed by TRB's second Strategic Highway Program (SHRP 2) that explored the report, Strategies for Improving the Project Agreement Process between Highway Agencies and Railroads. Panelists discussed model standard agreements, standard processes, and practices that will help public highway agencies and railroads reduce the time and cost of project reviews. 

Although both highway agencies and railroads are driven by engineering factors to make investment decisions about linear transportation facilities, they approach these decisions from very different perspectives.  To succeed, each side must understand the basic needs of the other and both must have common languages, practices, standards, and expectations.  Eight model agreements were presented for participants to use or modify in their practice to meet the legal requirements and accepted contracting processes for both individual agencies and railroads.

The objective of this webinar is for participants to:
•    Effectively use strategies and institutional arrangements that facilitate beneficial relationships between railroads and public agencies;
•    Employ innovative partnering techniques;
•    Draft model agreements that also actively streamline the permitting process; and
•    Identify barriers that impact effectiveness and effectively propose remedies.  

View the webinar recording or download the report from TRB’s website. An epub version of this report is available for purchase at the Google ebookstore.

Panelists for this session include:
Mr. Gordon Proctor, Gordon Proctor and Associates, Inc.
Shobna Varma, StarIsis Corporation
Michael Bradley, MLB and Associates
Leo Penne, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

Moderated by: Mark S. Bush, Transportation Research Board