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Context Sensitive Solutions

Overview | Recent Developments | Research, Documents & Reports
Case Studies | Organizations & Training

Organizations & Training  

This section provides links to organizations and training information related to context sensitive solutions. If you would like to suggest additional links to organizations or training on this topic, please submit a short description to AASHTO (including any pertinent links) on the Share Info with AASHTO form.
 
Organizations

Federal

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State

  • Caltrans Division of Design, Context Sensitive Solutions Website. This site includes links to CSS policy, CSS implementation plan, agency directive on non-motorized travel, their highway design manual philosophy, a booklet on Main Streets: Flexibility in Design and Operations, Caltrans articles on CSS, district newsletters with CSS articles, and links to other CSS websites. 
  • Florida DOT State Environmental Management Office Website. FDOT’s Efficient Transportation Decision Making (ETDM) process changed the way it does business. Florida revamped its procedures for planning transportation projects, conducting environmental reviews, and developing and permitting projects. Links are provided to materials on the ETDM process and other related environmental information. 
  • Idaho Transportation Department Context Sensitive Design Website. This website gives an overview of Context Sensitive Design, lists six CSD key principles, notes the keys for success and has a link to the FHWA national CSD website.  
  • Illinois Department of Transportation CSS Website. This is Illinois Department of Transportation’s main CSS site.  It discusses many different aspects of CSS and provides many links that include the basics of CSS, IDOT CSS vision, the purpose of CSS, resources, policies and guidelines, the latest CSS activities with IDOT, CSS project examples by district, training and contact information. 
  • Kentucky Transportation Center (see CSS information links)
  • Maryland State Highway Administration Context Sensitive Design/Thinking Beyond the Pavement Website. This website provides state definition of CSD, their implementation approach to CSD, and information on the 1998 Thinking Beyond the Pavement National Workshop. The site is the Maryland State Highway Administration’s site for its CSS resources.  
  • Maryland State Highway Administration Traveling Maryland’s Roundabouts Website. This site includes a history of roundabouts, how to use a roundabout, roundabout safety, roundabouts on the highway system, frequently asked roundabout questions and answers, and roundabout links. 
  • Michigan DOT CSS Website. Michigan Department of Transportation’s CSS homepage defines CSS and provides links to further information, CSS awareness training, and CSS training for MPOs. 
  • University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies: Context Sensitive Design: The Road Best Traveled Website. This website includes definitions of CSD, keys to success for CSD, CSD resources, workshop information and manuals, CSD for local government information and workshop, and visual impact assessment videos. 
  • New Jersey Department of Transportation Context Sensitive Design website. This website provides an introduction to the New Jersey CSD program. There is a link to a standard CSD project flowchart and a link to one project example, Route 35 Coopers Bridge over the Navesink River. 
  • New Jersey FIT:  Future in Transportation Website. The NJFIT initiative represents a change in direction for the New Jersey Department of Transportation. With NJFIT, NJDOT is integrating road building and community building. The agency is forming partnerships to coordinate development and redevelopment of towns and cities with transportation needs and investments. The site includes an extensive list of links, articles, and documents related to NJFIT, frequently asked questions, case studies, toolbox, and partnership opportunities. 
  • New Mexico Department of Transportation Context Sensitive Solutions Website. This website provides an introduction to New Mexico's CSS Division, links to its Value Engineering and Consultant Management units, and an online slide show offering an overview of the CSS and public involvement process. It also includes additional guidance on Best Management Practices and a Best Practices ToolBox. 
  • New York State Department of Transportation Context Sensitive Solutions Website. This website provides an introduction to New York's CSS program, including a list of key program points and their CSS awards program. It has a Tools and Resources page that lists many links to various CSS websites and examples from around the state and the country. There is also a gallery with "before" and "after" images from a number of CSS projects in New York. 
  • New York State DOT Engineering Division Office of Design Website. This site is the New York Department of Transportation’s Engineering Division Office of Design.  It has many links to documents and reports, and design services, including CSS.  
  • New York State DOT Roundabouts Website. This site serves to introduce and inform the public about the modern roundabout. A variety of topics are covered such as: what are roundabouts, how roundabouts differ from traffic circles and rotaries, how to properly use a roundabout, as well as the many benefits they provide. The site also provides information on the location of roundabouts throughout the state. 
  • Ohio DOT Design Aesthetics Website. In 2000 ODOT started to focus attention on improving the look of the state’s highway system. Since then the department has been working with community members and local stakeholders to learn about their concerns and plan projects with those concerns in mind. Additionally, ODOT has been incorporating aesthetic features by using simple, low-cost designs involving color, texture and pattern. Website includes links to news clips, Federal color on-line, public involvement, landscape guidelines, native plants, noxious weeds and district aesthetic contacts. 
  • Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Context Sensitive Solutions Website. This website provides links to more than 40 project examples in Pennsylvania and discussions of various CSS tools. Overviews of Pennsylvania's CSS policy and project development process are included, along with other links to other agencies and resources. Other links include: community impact assessment, planning partners, community context audit, public involvement, flexibility in design, CSS tool kit, CSS library, CSS resources, featured projects, and training.
  • Tennessee Department of Transportation Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) Website. This website gives a brief summary of CSS. And a link to its statement of commitment to CSS.  It ists CSS projects around the state with links to summaries of the projects. There is also a page of terminology and a page devoted to development process definitions. 
  • Utah Department of Transportation Context Sensitive Solutions Website. This website provides an overview of Utah's CSS program. The site also includes additional information by linking to CSS In Depth and CSS Related Links. 
  • Washington State Department of Transportation Context Sensitive Solutions Website. This site provides an overview of Washington's CSS program. There are links to Washington projects, FHWA CSD websites, other states' websites on Context Sensitive Solutions, TRB website, and the Urban Land Institute. 
  • West Virginia Department of Transportation Division of Highway Design Directive. This is a five page document from the West Virginia Department of Transportation that explains the WV Division of Highways “Context Sensitive Solutions” Policy.  It gives guidance instruction on the West Virginia Division of Highway’s Context Sensitive Solutions Design Policy and its implementation within the various design units within the division. 
  • Wyoming DOT Context Sensitive Amenities. This site takes you to Wyoming DOT’s page, with several links and information on Wyoming’s CSS purpose and overview. On this site you need to type in context sensitive in the search feature on the site to access relevant information.

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Regional Planning Organizations

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Other Organizations and Associations

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Training

Listed below are training resources related to implementation of CSS principles. Links include materials developed by transportation agencies for internal training and are intended to lead users to sources of training materials and the agencies that developed them. In addition, some information is provided related to ongoing training courses offered at a national level. Links to organizations that offer CSS training are provided at http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/content/topics/what_is_css/training/.

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Awareness Training
The following provides references to CSS training that may be conducted in less than four hours, and which focuses on explaining what CSS is and what it is not. These training sessions discuss the benefits of CSS to the agency’s mission and reveal examples of CSS applications.

  • Colorado
  • Illinois
    • CSS Awareness. Half-day class for upper management, giving a general overview of the CSS process.  Also presented to ACEC members and other consultants. Course objectives, Manual (with agenda and slides)
    • CSS for Local Agencies. Half-day class intended for local agency personnel to gain a better understanding of the CSS process being used by IDOT. Course objectives, Manual (with agenda and slides)
  • Massachusetts
    • Project Development and Design Manual Training.  Six-hour course to DOT, FHWA and local agency staff to cover material in newly introduced Project Development and Design Manual.  This manual covers the CSS-related policies of MassHighway, and this policy is addressed briefly in the training. Slides
  • Michigan
    • CSS Awareness. Half-day class developed by HNTB and MDOT for planning, engineering, and construction staff.  Currently targeting county road commission staff and smaller cities. Slides
    • CSS Awareness for MPOs.  Modified version of the half-day awareness class, intended for distribution to MPO staff.  Slides
  • Minnesota
    • CSS Awareness. - This 2-hour interactive CSD&S overview has been designed for any audience and is easily tailored to the specific needs of any audience. Includes a group exercise called "Whose Context Is It Anyway?" in which the presenter runs a public meeting with class members playing stakeholder roles. Discussion centers on: 1) What context is and why its important, 2) What CSD&S is and is not, 3) MnDOT’s CSD&S philosophy, approach, policy, and commitment, 4) MnDOT’s CSD&S core principles and the benefits we see and expect from our application of them, 5) What Flexibility in Design is and is not, and 6) A wide range of case study examples. Slides, Case Study Exercise 
  • Tennessee
    • CSS Overview. One- to two-hour course developed internally and delivered by upper and mid-level managers in TDOT.  Covers: What CSS is and is not, CSS principles, CSS mindset/philosophy, CSS application to all functional areas, and project examples.  Audience includes staff from all functional areas. Agenda, Slides, Handout  

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Basic Training
The following CSS training programs are conducted in two to four days. They are usually conducted in a workshop learning environment with high participant interactivity.  These programs focus on applying CSS principles to real world situations and practicing skills needed to implement CSS.

  • California 
    • Three-day CSS Basic. Created by a private consultant, Caltrans and UC Berkeley, adapted for California context and regulations. Audience includes all functional areas. Half of attendees are local stakeholders. CH2MHill post-training report (including learning objectives and course outline) Caltrans CSS Summary 
  • Illinois 
    • Two-day CSS Approach.  Hands-on class directed at employees who will be working on the day to day activities of CSS projects.  Approximately one third of trained individuals have been consultants.  Additional courses will further target consultants and resource agencies. Course objectives, Manual (with agenda and slides), Case study background packet
  • Kentucky 
    • Two-day CSS Basic.  Course was developed by Kentucky Transportation Center for Kentucky as well as the AASHTO region (SASHTO).  Covers 4 modules: public involvement and facilitated communication; environmental issues; liability issues; design guidelines/safety.  Audience is half mid-level DOT staff, and half consultants. Slides 
  • Minnesota 
    • Two- to Three-day CSS Basic.  The workshop approach is built upon 10 core presentation and discussion modules interspersed with 5 successive, cumulative and facilitated break-out group working case study exercises in which 4 varied teams of disciplines and stakeholder perspectives each work interactively and progressively on a real project (that has not yet moved successfully through a project development process) to apply what they are learning as a diverse team.  Developed by MnDOT, University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, and FHWA.  MnDOT staff typically represent 65% of the attendees, with the rest a mix of external stakeholders. Agenda
  • New Hampshire 
    • Two-day CSS Basic.  Developed internally with a consultant, for staff in all departments.  Half of attendees are external, including consultants. Agenda, Learning Objectives, Slides
  • New Jersey 
    • Three-day CSS Basic.  This class was initially offered as a 5-day class, and was later shortened, then modified into the National Transit Institute three-day CSS class.  Audience includes staff from all functional areas, with 10-25% of slots reserved for external stakeholders. Agenda, Learning Objectives
  • New York 
    • Two-day CSS Basic.  Modified from the Two-day NHI course, this course has been customized for the New York state context.  Delivered to NYSDOT staff, MPO staff, and FHWA division staff. Agenda
  • North Carolina 
    • Three-day CSS Basic.  Developed by NCDOT and the Center for Transportation and the Environment at North Carolina State University.  Course addresses all functional areas and attendees represent all departments within NCDOT.  Includes numerous interactive group exercises. Manual (with agenda and slides), Role playing descriptions, Facilitator’s Guide to Exercises
  • Pennsylvania 
    • Three-day CSS Basic.  Attendees include PennDOT staff from design, planning, traffic, construction, maintenance; as well as staff from district offices, consultants, counties, MPOs and RPOs.  Modules include: Introduction; Placemaking, Visioning and Defining Context; Consensus Building/PI; Flexibility in Design; Construction Specifications, Cost and Maintenance; Tort Liability. Outline
  • Washington 
    • Two-day CSS Basic.  Developed by a private consultant. Attendees include about half DOT staff, from all functional areas, and half other participants (local and regional agencies, consultants, tribal and environmental groups). Agenda
  • National Highway Institute 
    • Three-day CSS Basic.  This course is an introductory course. The target audience is broad and includes Federal, State, and local highway and transportation agencies located within the U.S., consulting firms, private industry, universities, and other national and international entities engaged in any aspect of the planning, design, construction, and management of transportation projects. Overview
  • National Transit Institute 
    • Three-day CSS Basic.  National course, delivered on-demand anywhere in the country.  Course is designed to go from the big picture down to the specific.  There is a focus on the multimodal aspects of transportation, but not heavily transit-oriented.  Has been delivered to state DOT staff and MPO staff. Outline

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Specialized Skills Training
The following training programs focus on specialized skills that relate to implementing CSS concepts and principles in all phases of project delivery.  These may include specific CSS training for functional areas or specialized skills needed such as facilitation, design flexibility, decision-making, etc.

  • Arkansas
    • Environmental Awareness Workshop. One-day workshop for resident engineers, maintenance engineers and field supervisors explaining NEPA processes, erosion control, endangered species, environmental mitigation, etc.  Delivered around the state, customized to the ecoregion, by in-house staff and FHWA division office. Agenda
  • California
    • Management Training Program. Highly interactive eight-day training program, delivered over a four-month period to upcoming middle managers.  Does not currently incorporate CSS.  Fact sheet.
    • Design Senior Seminar. Two-day workshop for senior design engineers. Includes CSS module. Agenda
    • Landscape Architects Academy.  Three-day workshop for Landscape Architects across the department.  Occasionally includes CSS modules depending on theme. Agenda
    • PE Academy.  Five-day workshop offered to Caltrans engineers.  Includes 1-hour CSS module. Agenda
  • Colorado
    • Maintenance Academy – Environmental Awareness.  One-day course for CDOT maintenance personnel, which includes a one-hour module on environmental awareness. Slides 
  • Florida
    • Two-day Sociocultural Effects Training. The participants will learn the theory, methods, and techniques for acquiring and using quantitative and qualitative community data to make effective decisions concerning the social, economic, land use, mobility, aesthetics and relocation effects potentially associated with transportation projects.  Incorporates CSS principles. Audience includes: Efficient Transportation Decision Making Coordinators, Community Liaison Coordinators, Public Involvement Specialists, Public Information Officers and Project Managers, MPOs and some local governments, District environmental personnel, staff from central Environmental Management Office. Overview 
    • Livable Communities Workshop.  One-day workshop.  Covers barriers to mobility, livable streets, streetscapes.  Audience includes many community members. Link to website with slides 
    • Efficient Transportation Decision Making Process Training Course. One and a half days workshop for ETDM Coordinators.  Covers the ETDM process, going through the ETDM Manual. Agenda
    • Project Development and Environment Manual Process Training.  Two-day workshop for local staff working on local projects that are on state roadways.  Required for Local Area Project (LAP) certification.  Also recommended for FDOT staff.  Covers the PD&E Manual, including environmental assessments and impact statements. Agenda 
  • Kentucky
    • Context Sensitive Solutions in Construction & Maintenance.  Half-day class, first module is the benefits of CSS, then a module primarily on the applications of CSS to construction activities, then one on the applications of CSS to maintenance activities.  Developed by Kentucky Transportation Center for FHWA.  Audience is DOT construction and maintenance personnel and contractors. Slides (the three files are for the three modules of the course)
  • Maine
    • Highway Program Design Training.  Two-day course, the first day of which deals with CSS issues, the second day is more general engineering.  Audience is primarily project development personnel. Agenda
  • Minnesota
    • Project Management Academy.  8-day course, delivered in two four-day modules.  Covers project delivery, context sensitive design, team building, communication skills, conflict management, and environmental issues. Overview 
    • Public Involvement in CSS.  Two-day workshop with advanced level emphasis on managing effective public participation. Within the workshop, participants satisfy requirements and receive certification from the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) for completion of their core training course on Effective Public Participation for Executives & Decision Makers.  Developed by MnDOT, Univ. of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies with consultants. Agenda
  • New York
    • Project Development Process.  Half-day course delivered to multidisciplinary groups in all NYSDOT regions using in-house staff.  Covers the Project Development manual and CSS policy.  Three variations on this presentation are available: general audience, for landscape architects, and a presentation to the annual environmental/landscape architecture meeting (shorter presentation).  General presentation, for landscape architects, conference presentation
    • Public Involvement in the Transportation Decision-making Process.  Three-day workshop developed by FHWA, focusing on long range planning and environmental/NEPA planners.  Focuses on active participation in public involvement techniques. Agenda
    • Controversial Issues Process.  One-day workshop offered by the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations, covering conflict resolution in public involvement settings.  The workshop teaches a process to resolve controversial issues and lessen interpersonal and intergroup conflict.  Audience is design engineers, traffic & safety engineers, planners, and others involved in public involvement. Description
    • Legal Issues in Design. One-day workshop covering tort liability in highway design.  Includes case studies. Agenda
    • Charrette Workshop. Offered by Walkable Communities, Inc.  Two-day course to prepare participants to successfully host or conduct a charrette. The workshop will provide participants with methods of conducting focus groups, determining community values, and assessing when the Charrette is the preferred process to use.  Audience is design engineers, planners, program managers and project managers. Description
    • Transportation Decision Making.  Two-day course developed for NYDOT, attended by DOT and MPO staff.  Course provides a framework for analyzing and delivering decisions, methods and tools for managing stakeholder needs, and real case examples. Outline
    • Context Identification.  Short presentation describing CSS principles, steps to defining the context of a project, and resources available to NYSDOT staff. Slides
    • Placemaking.  Designed and delivered by the Project for Public Spaces.  This one-day workshop is to provide staff and partners with the tools necessary to adequately assess all the needs of a community when developing transportation projects. The target audience is for statewide NYSDOT employees, focusing on regional design staff, project designers, landscape architects, highway designers, planners, design managers and environmental staff, and other partnering transportation resource agencies. Description
    • CSS for Construction/Operations/Maintenance Personnel.  Two brief presentations designed to introduce construction, operations, and maintenance personnel in NYSDOT to CSS and its benefits.  Slides1, Slides2
  • Tennessee
    • Building High Performance Teams.  Two-day course by Phase 3 Performance consultants.  TDOT offered this course twice, once to an external stakeholder group as part of a project, once internally to staff.  Course focuses on working within a team to build consensus. Outline
  • FHWA
    • Community Impact Analysis.  Two-day course developed by the Center for Transportation and the Environment at North Carolina State University.  Strives to help transportation professionals understand the critical linkage between the planning and project development processes.  Audience is planning and project development practitioners.  Agenda, Description
  • FHWA Resource Center
    • Highway Geometric Design for Safety and Efficiency.  This workshop emphasizes the means toward understanding the functional basis and safety effects for various design elements, not just what the design values are. The workshop is able to be presented in a modular format that allows for customization based upon the training needs of the host agency. The course length will vary depending upon the elective modules selected. It is targeted toward engineers of state highway agencies, local agencies, design consultants, and FHWA field engineers.  This course is still in development and is not currently offered.  Will eventually be offered through the National Highway Institute. Description 
  • National Highway Institute
    • Safety and Operational Effects of Geometric Design Features for Two-Lane Rural Highways (380070).  This two-day course provides quantitative safety assessment methods for the design process for two-lane rural highways. Emphasis is on the application of safety research results to design decisions for application of the requirements and guidelines detailed in the 2001 "AASHTO Green Book" for curvature, lane width, shoulder width, grade, and intersection. Overview
    • Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (380071). This two-day course will instruct highway design project managers, planners, designers, and traffic and safety reviewers in the application of the Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM) software and will provide guidance on interpretation of the output. IHSDM is a suite of software tools to evaluate safety of two-lane rural highways. Overview

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Additional Training Material
Federal

  • CSS in the Western Federal Lands Highway Department.  Powerpoint covers CSS from the WFLHD perspective in this training from its 2006 Contractor Conference. It covers the definition of CSS, the keys to CSS, CSS in WFL, CSS in design, CSS and AASHTO, design exceptions, CSS techniques, and CSS in construction.
  • FHWA Competency Building Initiative. The Environmental Competency Building (ECB) program focuses on the current and future multidisciplinary professional development needs of transportation and environmental professionals. The ECB program is an ongoing effort and collaboration between transportation and environmental stakeholders with leadership from the Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Center for Environmental Excellence, State Departments of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the private consulting industry. The site includes a listing of training and tutorials offered by Federal and state agencies, academic institutions and centers, private firms, and institutions.
State DOTs

  • New York State Department of Transportation Walkable Community Workshop. This is an 80-Page Power Point Document on CSS and Project Development created by NYSDOT.  This presentation illustrates the affects of CSS implementation on transportation projects in this state.  It also illustrates several examples of before and after pictures of specific project sites that are developed using CSS.  The presentation has shows several processes and examples of how context sensitive solutions can be integrated into project development. 
  • Michigan DOT CSS Awareness Training Material. This website takes you to the Michigan DOT website for CSS Awareness training materials.  The site will take you to the links with 14 sessions of CSS training materials. Each session is a different link with each link taking you directly to the materials.
  • Context Sensitive Solutions and Transportation Decision Making Summary. This power point presentation by Leigh B. Lane, Environmental Planning Consultant in Raleigh, N.C., provides information on CSS and Transportation Decision Making Process.  It documents the old and new way of decision making and provides pictures and illustration for the steps taken with CSS implementation in the decision making process.

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Overview | Recent Developments | Research, Documents & Reports
Case Studies | Organizations & Training

Copyright © 2008, Center for Environmental Excellence by AASHTO (the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials)
 AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials)
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