TURNING GRANT MONEY INTO TRAFFIC RECORDS SUCCESSES

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TURNING GRANT MONEY INTO TRAFFIC RECORDS SUCCESSES

• Part I.
• The fiscal adventures of a
• state program manager.

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Fiscal Adventures of a State Program Manager

• Presented at 100 p.m. August 2, 2005
• 31st International Traffic Records Forum
• Buffalo, New York
• Joyce Emery, Ph.D.
• Program Manager
• Iowa DOT Office of Traffic and Safety

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How did a data analyst like me end up here?

• You too could end up working with numbers
  preceded by dollar signs
• Someone has to move the traffic records grant
  money

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Caveat

• I am part of a small engineering safety work
  unit.
• I report to the State
• Traffic Safety Engineer.
• My Office of Traffic and Safety is NOT
• the 402 or 411 office
• the custodial office of the crash file
• the office operating TraCS

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Why did I submit this topic?

• Share strategies with my fellow state program
  managers for traffic records improvements.
• Let our grant agencies know what goes on down
  here in the trenches.
• Help everyone attain more success!

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Questions sometimes asked

• Why dont states apply for all grants possible?
• Why cant states get their grant money spent once
  they get it?
• Why cant traffic records projects have a better
  success rate?

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To be covered today

• I. Scope of ADMIN work vs. available staff
• II. Challenges and Needs of Traffic Records
  Projects
• III. Strategies that help achieve success

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I. Scope of Admin work versus available staff
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Times have changed

• Once we did safety project work.
• Now we do safety project work,
• contract administration, and
• grant funds management.

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The Iowa DOT Safety Engineer has 7 people
reporting to him.

• 5 staff manage multiple contracts
• 3 of those attempt to understand their agencys
  accounting system and
• wear the hats of funds managers who attempt to
  understand the funding agencies policies

2 of the 5 do the TR system improvements projects
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What are the steps?
Obtain the grant
Program Manager (state employee)
Personal Services Contract
What is wrong with this illustration?
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Too simple! This is better
Obtain the grant and divvy it up
Program manager 1 Program manager 2 etc.
Personal Services Contract 1 Personal Services
Contract 2, etc. Commodities/Equipment Purchases,
etc.
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Todays reality in a small office
Grant 1 Grant 2 Grant 3 Grant 4
Grant 5, etc.
Project Manager 1 Project Manager 2 Project
Manager 3
Technical Monitor 1 Technical Monitor 2
Technical Monitor 3
Contracts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
etc.
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What are the grant sources?(Traffic and Safety
Office share)

• TSIP (in Iowa, state Traffic Safety Improvement
  Program funds)
• SMS (in Iowa, state funds)
• Section 411
• Section 402
• Section 157 (seat belt reward)
• Section 163 (.08 BAC reward)
• SPR, HES, others

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For we 5 plus our boss

• A single funding source (TSIP) generates about a
  dozen newly funded studies projects every year.
• We attempt to keep track of it all.

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Why are multiple funding
sources good?

• Different rules allow for greater variety of
  projects ease of matching project to funding
  source
• Different funding cycles to fit timing of
  projects
• All eggs not in one basket
• Can blend funding for single project
• (see Strategy 3)

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Why are they a challenge?

• Need to learn multiple sets of policies and rules
• More for the project manager to keep track of
  (leading to mistakes)
• Difficult to evaluate impact of any given funding
  source

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How many hats can each person wear? How many
hoops to jump through?
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The RESULTS are worth it!

• Examples from the
• Iowa Highway Safety GIS
• SAVER customized software

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Primary Highway High-Crash Curves
Focus Rapid Funding Projects

• Statewide curve average 1.1 crashes / MVM
• Top 30 average 11.7 crashes / MVM
• Worst Curve 78 crashes / MVM
• 5 of crashes occur at top 30 locations (1 of
  curves)
• 11 of fatal crashes occur at top 30 locations

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Two Lane Safety CorridorsRural Two-Lane Primary
Road Fatalities and Major Injuries (District 6
1998-2000)
DOTData Use
25 unlocated injury severities not
represented. (2 Fatal, 23 Major Injuries)
Disclaimer The Center for Transportation
Research and Education presents these data as
preliminary.
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School-AgePedestrianCrashes
City of Des Moines 1995 to 1999 Ages 5 to
19 August 15 to June 15 Monday to Friday 700
a.m. to 500 p.m.
Schools and SAFE Kids Data Use
Middle Schools
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Its not just a matter of maps

• Productivity includes tables, charts, graphs, and
  designed evaluation research.
• For example, it was recently shown that Iowas
  4-to-3 lane conversions have yielded a 19 percent
  crash reduction.

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II.Challenges and Needs of Traffic Records
Projects
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Traffic records projects are a different animal

• If you come from a background in traditional
  highway safety traffic law enforcement or highway
  engineering projects, expect TR projects to be
  different.
• They are more like information technologybut
  safety and analytical staff participation are
  critical.

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Traffic records projects are a different animal

• They require interagency and interdisciplinary
  cooperation.

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Traffic records projects are a different animal

• They are susceptible to failure, the kind that
  often means starting over.

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Traffic records projects are a different animal

• Implementation is complex.
• Sometimes multiple pilots of the project are
  necessary.
• Training needs may be
• extraordinary.

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Everyone wants to make bricks

• Bricks are the building blockscomponents--of the
  TR system.
• But you cant build just with bricks
• You also must have mortar...
• (connectivity to all other parts of the system)

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Mortar is a problem for us because

• We dont plan for connectivity--we wait until we
  get to the end of the project to discover it is
  needed.
• We might wish to have slush funds, but funding
  agencies are wary of undefined projects and
  discretionary spending.

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Anticipate the need for Mortar

• Though you cant tell what your future problems
  will be, there is no doubt you will encounter
  them if you are building a traffic records
  system.
• Mortar is justifiable accountability in using it
  is possible
• Mortar can be planned and written up as a project
  just as the bricks are.

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Money-grabbing situations

• The lead programmer left when the project was
  half-done.
• You are implementing an emerging technology and
  miscalculated cost.
• Before you can utilize your project, major
  changes are required in other parts of the TR
  system.
• You gave users what they asked for and now they
  want something else.

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What my boss always asks me
Joyce, are we ever going to be done with this?

What I say
It will get better. We will get to a point
where we can coast for a while if we have to.

What I think
But if we coast, well be falling behind.
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My rule of thumb

• By the time you are distributing a new system
  component (such as a crash analysis tool), if you
  dont already have the next reincarnation on the
  drawing board, youre behind the curve.

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III. Strategies for Success
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Strategy 1. Cultivate Human Resources

• The more contractors with which you have a
  working relationship, the more choices and
  options you have when unexpected work crops up.
• Retired staff are a great resource.
• Use small tasks to get acquainted with potential
  consultants.
• Anyone with skills you need is a potential
  consultant or teammate.

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Strategy 2.Build your Bag of Tricks

• Use the full array of ways of doing business
  allowed in your PPM
• Ask others in your agency how they do admin
  workeveryone has their tricks!

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Strategy 3. Blend funding sources

• When contract tasks are not a good fit to any one
  funding source
• add less specific funding to structured funding
  to provide flexibility
• For Seamless Money Flow
• For projects needing to run over a year
• Better fit for contract start and end dates

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Strategy 4. Be realistic Make your own
contingency plans

• For new development (as for software), in your
  mind, double the cost and triple the time.
• Then prepare for how you are going to deal with
  that (which leads to next strategy)

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Strategy 5. Throw life rafts into the future

• Set up contingency funds that have a shelf-life.
• Submit proposals to the long-cycle funding
  sources that set aside funds that can be used for
  project needs years down the road.

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Strategy 6.Deal positively with failure

• Traffic records successes rarely happen on the
  first try.
• The path to success is often an ugly and painful
  mess.
• Dont let a failure stop you. Consider lessons
  learned and begin again.

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Strategy 7.Stay Focused on the GOAL

• Traffic records systems are not DONE until they
  result in better decisions.
• Quality Data--Effectively Utilized--Available to
  All
• Were doing this to save lives.

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In Summary

• Grant administration has grown in volume and
  complexity
• Some office directors may feel their staff cannot
  cope with the extra workload of grants
• Safety staff must wear two hats what they were
  hired to do, and grant administration work

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Traffic records systems projects are a different
animal

• Special challenges
• Higher risks

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Send life rafts into the future
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YOU ARE BUILDING A SYSTEM

• and not just
• creating components
• Remember the mortar
• to go with the bricks!

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STAY FOCUSED ON THE GOAL
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Thank you!

• Joyce Emery
• 515-239-1016
• joyce.emery_at_dot.iowa.gov
• jemerydot_at_yahoo.com