Transportation Planning Capacity Building Program Peer Program Evaluation Report Fiscal Years 2004-2005
October 1, 2005
U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration • Federal Transit Administration

Introduction

This report presents an evaluation of the Peer Program, a key technical assistance component of the Transportation Planning Capacity Building (TPCB) Program. The US Department of Transportation's Volpe Center conducted the evaluation, on behalf of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), who jointly manage the TPCB Peer Program.

The objective of this report is to document Peer Program activities over fiscal years 2004 and 2005, as well as to evaluate overall customer satisfaction. This report details the events sponsored; presents a qualitative assessment of their value to participants; and discusses the effect of participant feedback on management of the Peer Program.

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Background

The Peer Program was initiated in May 2001. It brings transportation planning professionals together to share perspectives on effective practice, common challenges, and problem-solving techniques. The Program enables practitioners to share knowledge and experience in a range of settings, including small group meetings, workshops, informal roundtables, and stakeholder conferences. The Peer Program is an important component of the overall TPCB Program, which utilizes a variety of means to provide technical assistance materials to promote effective transportation planning.

To request technical assistance through the TPCB Peer Program, a representative of state or local government, a transit operator, a metropolitan planning organization (MPO), a regional planning Organization, or a tribal government may approach the appropriate FHWA Division Office and/or FTA Regional Office. Both the Division Office and Regional Office will confer on the request, and must concur that the Peer Program can provide technical assistance on the issue of concern. The appropriate federal field office then submits a formal request to the Peer Program on behalf of the applicant, and works with the applicant to develop the format and details of the peer event. Under most circumstances, the applicant hosts the event. Funding for participant travel and documentation of the event is available from the TPCB Program.

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Summary of Peer Program Events

The Peer Program sponsored 23 events during FY 2004 and FY 2005. Following is a summary of the topics covered, along with specific events and their locations. Reports on most of these events are available on the Peer Program web site. Those events completed in late FY 2005 will have reports published in early FY 2006.

Range of Participation in Peer Programs, FY2004-2005

Peer Program exchanges, roundtables, and workshops were hosted throughout the United States. Events were hosted in urban and rural areas, and focused on a variety of planning topics. The Peer Program also supported a wide variety of agencies between FY 2004 and 2005 including MPOs, state DOTs and tribal governments. Many peer program events included participants from several levels of government. The TPCB Peer Program website, provides specific dates and lists of participants for the various events. The map below shows the host cities as well as the states that have been represented in Peer Program activities.

TRANSPORTATION PLANNING CAPACITY BUILDING
PEER PROGRAM: 2004-2005

Figure 1. Host cities of Peer Programs during Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005.

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Customer Feedback on the Peer Experience

In order to determine customer satisfaction with Peer Program events during FY 2004-2005, Volpe Center Peer Program staff reviewed written evaluations and conducted follow-up telephone interviews six months after each event. Event-specific comments emphasized that the best use of the Peer Program is for addressing a specific problem or process, which can either be benchmarked against what peers are doing, or benefit from a recognized "best practice" from the field. While participants were satisfied with the variety of activities at a given Peer Program, some requested follow-up events to better understand the context of the peers' successful practices, and observe their implementation.

Feedback from the participants was organized into the following categories: General Feedback, Program Participation, Marketing Strategies, and Program Recommendations.

General Feedback

General comments focused on the benefits of participating in a Peer event, and how the Program can be a useful tool for others. Among the benefits cited by participants were the following:

• Gaining ideas for implementation in their own agency
• Increased communication between MPOs and state DOTs
• Hearing success stories from other areas of the country
• Learning from best practices
• The ability to compare approaches to similar issues that other agencies face
• One on one discussions with peers and networking with peers
• Peer exchanges resulted in a greater network of resources.
• Some participants were able to gain information at peer exchanges that helped them to brief higher level officials about the importance of specific issues
• Some peer exchanges were useful in showing participants various performance measures

Program Participation

Having an effective, relevant group of peers at a Peer event greatly contributes to how much information can be gained from the meeting. The Peer Program can assist applicants with choosing specific peers for their event. Feedback and recommendations on the participation component of the Program include:

• Federal staff should be encouraged to attend, especially those who might have relevant experience to contribute.
• Appropriate state DOT staff should also be encouraged to attend
• Several Peer Exchange attendees expressed an interest in attendees from more varied geographic locations and types of agencies.
• One attendee suggested compiling a list of agencies that are interested in participating; information on the list would include an agency's areas of interest and expertise

Marketing Strategies

Participants offered feedback on how to better market the Program as a tool to others, and how to encourage agencies to apply to host an event:

• Many field offices requested better information about the Peer Program from headquarters staff. Increasing the education of FHWA divisions and FTA regions about the Peer Program will help them effectively market it. Federal staff felt a need to publicize the peer program more within FHWA/FTA and inform divisions and regions of the types of events and topics that can be covered.
• One FHWA division uses an email list-serve for planners to identify weaknesses and strengths of area agencies. The division then encourages these agencies to apply for a peer exchange to address the specific issues identified in the list-serve.
• One FTA Region brings TPCB program folders that include information on the peer program on TMA Certification Reviews.
• Some field offices mention the Peer Program at meetings and highlight it in presentations

Program Recommendations

Feedback from the evaluations and interviews included many recommendations for future planning of Peer events. This information will help the FHWA Division and FTA Regional staff, FHWA/FTA Headquarters, and the USDOT Volpe Center, who all play a key role in organizing the event logistics. Feedback from the participants included the following:

• Presenters should be briefed on expectations and requirements before the event.*
• Event materials should be sent to participants so they can review them before the event.*
• Participants should be encouraged to bring relevant materials to events such as handouts relating to their presentations or agencies.*
• There were frequent requests in the evaluations for more time for discussion and for question-and-answer sessions during events. There were also some suggestions to limit formal presentations to provide more time for panel discussions and roundtable discussions.
• Facilitators can organize discussions better and ensure that events flow smoothly and stay on schedule. Non-participating facilitators are preferred.
• There were requests to make the invitational travel process less complex and reimburse travelers more quickly.
• Some attendees called for more timely completion and posting of summary reports.
• Federal staff suggested sharing information about and data from Peer exchanges with field offices through monthly or quarterly emails or newsletters.
• Some attendees suggested that the Volpe Center ensure that event documenters are knowledgeable in the subject area covered at the event.
• There were several suggestions to increase or decrease the number of participants, based on the type of event planned. Invitee numbers should be controlled to meet the goals of each specific event.
• Six-month follow-up conference calls between event participants were suggested.
• There was a request for hard copies of the summary report and PDF copies for distribution.

*These suggestions are standard practice for the peer program. However, some events have limited time for planning and these tasks cannot be completed.

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Results/Outcomes of Peer Programs

The success of the Peer Program can ultimately be judged on the new practices or processes adopted by the applicants as a result of their requested event and by the improvement brought about by those newly adopted processes on transportation decisionmaking. Based on the responses received from the evaluation forms, participants plan to initiate a variety of activities as a result of their participation.

• Participants in the Preparing for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games exchange planned to develop travel demand forecasts that included travel through the US/Canada border.
• Participants in the Potential Transit Projects in the Nine-County Philadelphia Region exchange planned to implement some of the financing and governance alternatives presented by guest speakers from Dallas and Charlotte.
• Michigan DOT planned to replicate New York DOT's ESTIP process.
• Participants at the Safety Conscious Planning Peer Exchange indicated that they would like to implement an online crash data tool similar to the one presented by the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG).
• The Atlanta Regional Commission planned to restructure its freight task force after the Freight Planning Peer Exchange.

Follow-up interviews indicated that various innovative activities, ranging from exchange of materials and manuals to development of new procedures, have resulted from Program events. The information gained from Peer experiences has been shared at MPO meetings, state DOT meetings, and state planning conferences. The efforts that resulted are as follows:

• North Carolina Peer Exchange to Improve Environmental Processes; the Tennessee DOT and the North Carolina DOT have continued to exchange ideas after the exchange. TDOT contacts NCDOT periodically to clarify how certain situations would be handled under NCDOT's environmental processes.
• Best Practices for Small and Medium Sized Metropolitan Planning Organizations; The participants in this peer exchange have instituted an annual state MPO conference.
• Sharing Successes ... Building Visions: Freight Peer Exchange; the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) has provided assistance to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) in writing a request for proposals for help in completing a freight study and a freight plan.
• The Role of State Departments of Transportation in Guiding Transportation Investments; Tennessee DOT's and Virginia DOT's planning staffs are coordinating on a joint interstate corridor planning project. They are also planning a follow-up meeting to review several Virginia DOT planning initiatives.

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Next Steps

FHWA and FTA staff initiated the evaluation of the TPCB Peer Program to gather feedback from customers and determine future needs. The Peer Program is highly valued by a range of transportation planning professionals. Participants and USDOT staff would like to see the Program grow and sponsor a greater number of events in the future. The TPCB Program will use the results of this evaluation to expand the services, improve efficiency and efficacy, and improve the quality of service extended to the FHWA Division and FTA Regional offices and their customers. The points raised in sections above offer several specific opportunities for the Peer Program to improve. The Peer Program will focus on the following in FY2006:

• Develop a database of "resource" peer organizations with a record of demonstrated, documented success for reference and possible participation in future Peer program events.
• Develop a regular method of information dissemination including a possible newsletter or email list-serve. This would serve as a method for marketing the program as well as informing stakeholders about upcoming events and newly available reports.
• Market the Peer Program to states, regions, and tribes that have not yet participated in the program

The Peer Program is expected to continue to grow in FY 2006. Reports highlighting the Peer Program events, including host and participant contact information, can be found on the Peer Program website.

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