Three state departments of transportation and the Houston Transtar traffic management consortium took home top honors in the second annual National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) Transportation Systems Management and Operations or TSMO awards competition.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation won for its “Statewide Central Signal System Initiative” in the Agency Improvement: Use of Capability Maturity Model category, while the Georgia Department of Transportation won for its “Improving TSMO in Georgia Using Data” in the Best Use of Management of Data to Improve TSMO category.

The Washington State Department of Transportation won for its “TSMO Workforce Development Program” in the contest’s TSMO Workforce Development category, while Houston Transtar – a partnership begun in 1993 between the City of Houston, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, and the Texas Department of Transportation – won for its “Roadway Flood Warning System” in the Best TSMO Project category.

“These awards celebrate the expanding discipline of TSMO, which aims to get the most out of our existing transportation system by managing and operating the system in an efficient manner that emphasizes safety, mobility, and an empowered workforce to operate the system,” noted Patrick Son, NOCoE’s managing director, in a statement.

“Our two new categories – focused on data management and workforce development – demonstrated how adept the TSMO industry is at using emerging strategies and issues to immediately improve the transportation system,” he added.

The NOCoE – a partnership of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, with support from the Federal Highway Administration – received 46 entries in total for its annual TSMO contest, which is open to cities, counties, state DOTs, municipal planning organizations, and private sector organizations. Winners in each of the four categories highlighted a successful TSMO project undertaken in the last five years that provided a clear benefit to the traveling public.

At the AASHTO 2020 Spring Meeting in Kansas City, an overall winner will be selected from among the four category winners and be presented with the NOCoE TSMO Award Trophy. Also, one individual will be honored with the annual TSMO Champion Award, who will be selected by the judges for advancing TSMO and changing the way people and organizations think about transportation.