Welcome and Opening Remarks

Robert Johns, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota
Doug Differt, Minnesota Department of Transportation
Tom Sorel, Federal Highway Administration

Redefining Excellence in Light of Today's Challenges

James Charlier, President, Charlier Associates, Inc. - Download Charlier's presentation (1.7 MB PDF)

Session 1

Presentation and Panel - Lessons Learned from CSD&S Training Programs
Moderator: Keith Moore, Federal Highway Administration

Scott Bradley, Minnesota Department of Transportation
Nick Stamatiadis, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky
Leigh Lane, Center for Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina State University
Toni Gold, Project for Public Spaces

Panelists who have developed and taught CSD&S will share key lessons and insights that can improve the effectiveness of CSD&S training programs.

Session 2

The Relationship Between CSD&S and Safety
Moderator: Craig Churchward, HNTB Corporation

Tim Neuman, CH2MHill
Jim Rosenow, Minnesota Department of Transportation
Keith Harrison, Federal Highway Administration

Speakers will address when and how far design flexibility can be pushed before safety and liability are compromised in the balancing act. "Nominal" safety (criteria and policy modeling) will be considered against "substantive" safety (quantitative modeling) ... Can a facility that appears nominally unsafe prove to be substantively safe?

Session 3

Roundtable: Understanding Institutional Roadblocks to Excellence
Moderator: Charleen Zimmer, ZAN Associates

Facilitators: Cheryl Martin, Federal Highway Administration
Barb Bauer, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Participants are encouraged to share successes and challenges integrating CSD&S principles and practices in their organizations. Participants will also have an opportunity to get feedback and ideas to address their particular institutional challenges.

Session 4

Engaging Traditionally Disenfranchised Groups in CSD&S
Moderator: Gerry Larson, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Jumetta Posey, Neighborhood Solutions, Denver - Download the Posey presentation (7.6 MB PDF)
Craig Genzlinger, Federal Highway Administration, Montana
Lewis Yellow Robe, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
Download the Genzlinger & Yellow Robe presentation (4.2 MB PDF)

Presenters will explore how to effectively include people of color, tribes, and non-English speaking groups in the CSD&S planning and project development process.

Session 5

Roundtable: Redefining Mobility
Moderator: Tim Neuman, CH2MHill

Facilitators: Jim Rosenow, Minnesota Department of Transportation
Craig Churchward, HNTB Corporation

Participants in small group discussions will have an opportunity to explore and re-examine what should constitute "mobility" to achieve CSD&S in urban and rural environments.

Session 6

Performance Measures and Cost-Effectiveness
Moderator/Presenter: Sally Oldham, Oldham Historic Properties, Inc. - Download Oldham's presentation (167 KB PDF)

Becky Burk, Maryland State Highway Administration - Download Burk's presentation (600 KB PDF)

Speakers will present current and emerging research and practices related to CSD&S performance measures and case studies that illustrate the cost-effectiveness of a CSD&S approach to project development. Challenges include what and how to measure the value of quality-of-life and success in a CSD&S approach to project development.

Session 7

Roundtable: Training Needs
Moderator: Scott Bradley, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Facilitators: Nick Stamatiadis, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky
Leigh Lane, Center for Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina State University
Toni Gold, Project for Public Spaces
Jim Grothaus, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota

Small group discussions will explore gaps in knowledge, skills, and practice that need to be addressed by additional and improved CSD&S training, as well as how that training could be developed and implemented. Participants will have the opportunity to share particularly innovative or effective CSD&S training and education activities that they have utilized or envisioned.

Session 8

Design Flexibility in Rural and Developing Settings
Moderator: Jim Rosenow, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Craig Churchward, HNTB Corporation - Download Churchward's presentation (436 KB PDF)
Dennis Parker, U.S. Forest Service, Minnesota
Kimberly Sannes, Compass Rose, Inc.

Presentations will feature good examples of projects that apply CSD&S principles in rural and developing settings, including tourist areas, environmentally sensitive areas, and areas where land-use development and roadway design have been successfully integrated.

Session 9

Re-Examining Safety Expectations and Assumptions in a Litigious Society
Moderator: Keith Harrison, Federal Highway Administration

Julia Perry, Federal Highway Administration, Eastern Federal Lands
Brelend Gowan, California Department of Transportation
Ken Kohnstamm, Minnesota Attorney General's Office - Download Kohnstamm's presentation (129 KB PDF)

Presentations and discussion will focus on how much safety and context matter to the public. Is safety the paramount concern or just an important concern in the balancing of competing public interests? To what degree and under what circumstances is case law likely to recognize or grant design immunity for flexibility or context-sensitivity in design decision-making to balance competing public interests?

Session 10

Enhancing Your Teaching Skills
Moderator: Barb Bauer, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Joyce Weinsheimer, Center for Teaching and Learning Services, Office of Human Resources, University of Minnesota

CSD&S is challenging the current way of doing business in the transportation industry. What can you do as a trainer to help people understand CSD&S, and then apply it? This session will feature hands-on "train-the-trainer" instruction. Join your colleagues and participate in "teaching for learning" strategies that will set the stage for you to increase your effectiveness with diverse audiences. Get new ideas for assessing the needs of the particular group you're working with, new possibilities for generating and gathering ideas from groups, and new options for avoiding (and dealing with) resistance.

Session 11

Making Walkability a Priority in Design Practices
Moderator: Carol Zoff, Mn/DOT

Michael Ronkin, Oregon Department of Transportation
Kristie Billiar, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Presenters will focus on the importance of accommodating pedestrians and "walkability" in transportation project development based upon successful and emerging models and case studies.

Session 12

Best Practices in Institutional Integration of CSD&S
Moderator: Frank Pafko, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Janet D'Ignazio, Center for Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina State University - Download D'Ignazio's presentation (384 KB PDF)
Tom Warne, Former Executive Director of Utah DOT and AASHTO President

Speakers will discuss successes and best practices integrating CSD&S principles within transportation departments.

Session 13

Integrating CSD&S Into System Planning
Moderator: Lisa Bigham, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Fred Abadi, City of Minneapolis - Download Abadi's presentation (4.5 MB PDF)
Norm Steinman, Charlotte Department of Transportation
Jim Bednar, CH2MHill - Download Bednar's presentation (2.4 MB PDF)

Speakers will present case studies demonstrating successful integration of CSD&S into system planning, and ideas or approaches for integrating CSD&S early in transportation system planning processes.

Session 14

Roundtable: Creating Flexibility in Funding and Cost Participation Policies to Support CSD&S
Moderator: Frank Pafko, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Facilitators: Jim Rosenow, Minnesota Department of Transportation
Scott Bradley, Minnesota Department of Transportation
Rick Arnebeck, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Small group discussions will focus on the constraints that current funding policies, laws, rules, assumptions, and shortfalls can pose for CSD&S—in terms of problems, limitation of opportunities, practical strategies, and partnerships that have been or might be employed to add value and overcome constraints in achieving CSD&S in project development.

Context Sensitive and Sustainable Solutions

Moderator: Debra Brisk, HDR, Inc.

Michael Wolfe, Oregon Department of Transportation
Michaella Wittmann, HDR, Inc.

Session 15

Managing Community Expectations
Moderator: Leigh Lane, Center for Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina State University

Beth Bartz, SRF Consulting Group, Inc. - Download Bartz's presentation (878 KB PDF)
Rick Arnebeck, Minnesota Department of Transportation
Sue Haigh, Central Corridor Partnership, Former Ramsey County Commissioner

Presentations will focus on methods for working more effectively with communities and stakeholders, using particularly challenging or successful case studies. What's the best starting point: community objectives or transportation objectives?

LRT System Tour
Guided tour of Hiawatha LRT line with focus on issues such as intersection design and signalization, parking, CSD&S in design-build, station design, public art, walkability, integration with land use, etc.

Session 16

Addressing the Costs of Design Aesthetics by Measuring the Benefits
Moderator/Presenter: David Larson, Minnesota Department of Transportation - Download Larson's presentation (316 KB PDF)

Bill Gartner, Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota - Download Gartner's presentation (196 KB PDF)
Joan Nassauer, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan - Nassauer's presentation (804 KB PDF)

Specific studies and initiatives will be highlighted as methodologies that can be used to assess the public's aesthetic perceptions, preferences, and values to better inform context-sensitive and cost-effective decision making in project development and corridor management.

Session 17

Panel: Integrating CSD&S Into University Curriculums
Moderator: Gina Baas, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota

Lance Neckar, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Minnesota - Download Neckar's presentation (79 KB PDF)
James Martin, Center for Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina State University - Download Martin's presentation (184 KB PDF)
Nick Stamatiadis, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky

Panelists will explore the need for—and ways to implement—CSD&S knowledge and skill development in university curriculums to better prepare current and future professionals with the nontraditional skill sets needed to embrace and apply CSD&S in professional practice.

Session 18

Re-Thinking Maintenance - Methods, Costs and Responsibilities
Moderator: Mark Wikelius, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Gary McVoy, New York State Department of Transportation - Download McVoy's presentation (5.4 MB PDF)

Presenters will help us to rethink maintenance issues, methods, costs, responsibilities, and opportunities in our obligation to commit beyond the project in preserving and enhancing public investments and environmental and community assets associated with transportation.

Session 19

New Tools in the CSD&S Toolbox
Moderator: Scott Bradley, Minnesota Department of Transportation

Phil Myrick, Project for Public Spaces
Kathleen Harder, Center for Sustainable Building Research, University of Minnesota
Mike Marti, SRF Consulting Group, Inc. - Download Marti's presentation (541 KB PDF)

Presenters will share new CSD&S tools for better understanding and application of CSD&S philosophy, principles, and best practices in project development. Featured tools will include the new national CSD&S online resource center along with driver behavior simulation studies and databases.

Session 20

Design Flexibility on Urban "Main Streets"
Moderator: Craig Churchward, HNTB Corporation

Reid Ewing, National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education, University of Maryland
Jim Grube, Hennepin County - Download Grube's presentation (528 KB PDF)
Mark Mathews, HNTB Corporation - Download Mathews' presentation (963 KB PDF)

Presentations will focus on projects that are good examples of urban main streets planned and designed using the principles of CSD&S, and, in particular, applying design standards or guidelines in a flexible manner. Changes being suggested nationally for county and municipal roadways (state-aid facilities) in urban areas will also be presented.

Session 21

Roundtable: Getting Beyond Institutional Reluctance - Overcoming Roadblocks to Excellence
Moderator: Tom Warne, Former Executive Director of Utah DOT and AASHTO President

Facilitators: Cheryl Martin, Federal Highway Administration
Jim Rosenow, Minnesota Department of Transportation

One of the universal questions, in terms of institutionalizing CSD&S nationally, is: Are there still a lot of professionals and organizations that are just not getting it or are they resisting it? Accepting that the answer appears to be yes, small group discussions will focus on critical needs and strategies to further overcome institutional reluctance and roadblocks to CSD&S.

Integrating CSD&S as an Underlying Principle of Excellence - A Conversation

Moderator: Tom Warne, Former Executive Director of Utah DOT and AASHTO President

Gloria Jeff, Director, Michigan Department of Transportation
Dave Ekern, Director, Idaho Department of Transportation
Dwight Horne, Director, Office of Program Administration, Federal Highway Administration - Download Horne's presentation (60 KB PDF)

Closing Remarks/Adjournment

Scott Bradley, Minnesota Department of Transportation