Rhode Island Transportation Director Michael Lewis, panel moderator, said it's important to show the public that state DOTs are wisely spending taxpayer dollars. Reducing project delivery times is one way that can be accomplished, he suggested.

"Truly we must make every day count," Lewis said.

Lewis and his panel of transportation officials from Maryland, North Carolina, and Utah pointed to promising efforts including getting rid of "silos" within agencies that restrict or reduce collaboration, using a range of innovative contacting, and thinking more holistically.

Sonal Sanghavi, director of environmental design for the Maryland State Highway Administration, talked about the need for a new perspective. 

"Rather than fragmented approaches to project-level mitigation, we have to think: what's the vision for the corridor and the watershed?" she asked.

Maryland's approach is to improve transportation and environmental outcomes and streamline environmental processes through regular, ongoing dialogues with resource agencies, communities, and other stakeholders. 

"That way we can anticipate issues early in the project development process," Sanghavi said. "When you go above and beyond [what is required], regulatory agencies recognize this and it helps develop collaborative partnerships over the long-term."

For example, through an agreement with the Maryland Department of the Environment, the highway administration conducts self-certification for inspections of erosion and sediment controls.

Maryland is currently involved in a particularly challenging "mega project:" constructing the Intercounty Connector across Montgomery and Prince George's counties in the Washington suburbs. The construction zone includes an area of significant environmental challenges. Sanghavi said that the MSHA is proving its environmental stewardship one community at a time, building support for the long-planned project to move into construction.

Steven Dewitt, chief engineer for the North Carolina Turnpike Authority, raised a key issue: "Do we save the tools to accelerate project delivery only for special projects or for everything we do?"

He said to move major highway projects to completion from 13 years to six or seven years, "We have to focus on concurrency. We can't be linear any more. Our world is blurring and we are stretching our boundaries and our responsibilities and our opportunities."

Dewitt suggested changes might be needed in the way state DOT divisions are organized.

Accelerated project delivery can be accomplished "only if we keep the football in our hands," he said. "We need flexibility in rights of way, in procurement options. We need the most up-to-date project-delivery tools and know when to apply the lessons we've learned. Early contractor involvement is critical."

Dewitt spoke about one effort in moving toward more design/build projects that has already borne fruit in North Carolina. The state "worked with our industry and really made sure they knew what design/build was about," he said.

Randy Park, project development director for the Utah Department of Transportation, said "engineers need to think differently. Less money and increased need require different approaches."

Innovative contracting is critical, Park said. He pointed to several Utah initiatives that are achieving results, including accelerated bridge construction and placement, and "chokepoint projects" that allow for continuous flow intersections, flex lanes, and diverging diamond interchanges. 

Park also pointed to the quick letting of projects by states using funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as a roadmap for how to improve and speed up future project delivery. There were no excuses for not getting the work out the door and underway, Park asserted.

"You had the involvement of senior leadership; and money could be quickly reprogrammed and out the door," he said.

Park said it was important to engage the media in the process. 

"We set up places to let them see what we were doing," he said. "They loved watching bridges being constructed so quickly."

Sonhavi's presentation is available at bit.ly/Sanghavi, Dewitt's presentation is available at bit.ly/Dewitt1031, and Park's presentation is available at bit.ly/Park1031.