Transportation systems management and operations, or TSMO, encompasses a broad set of strategies that aim to optimize the safe, efficient, and reliable use of existing and planned transportation infrastructure for all modes. TSMO is undertaken from a systems perspective, which means that these strategies are coordinated with related strategies and across multiple jurisdictions, agencies, and modes. TSMO strategies range from regional traffic signal systems management to shared-use mobility initiatives and include efforts to operate the multimodal transportation system and activities to manage travel demand. The FHWA Office of Operations commissioned these case studies to highlighting TSMO strategies throughout the United States. The aim of this document is to provide State and local agencies with examples and advice that can assist them in planning and implementing TSMO strategies in their own jurisdictions.

This primer discusses the rationale for and key elements of successful transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) program planning. It is designed as a practical resource to help State departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations, and local or regional operations organizations to integrate and mainstream TSMO within their organizations. The primer describes why TSMO program planning is important and how it can benefit a transportation agency. It identifies the strategic, programmatic, and tactical elements needed to advance TSMO as a critical part of the agency’s mission which describes ten guiding principles to advance TSMO program planning, and building on successful practices to date.

This Desk Reference is designed to equip State, regional, and local transportation operations and planning professionals with the knowledge and tools necessary to effectively plan for and implement transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) within a corridor. Its purpose is to support transportation planners and operations staff to plan for and apply TSMO activities within corridors to achieve a more reliable, efficient, and livable outcome from their existing and planned transportation infrastructure. This document highlights a planning for operations approach at a corridor level to focus on issues, such as mobility, reliability, and safety, from a multimodal perspective and provides a variety of tools to advance TSMO within corridors

This primer showcases six illustrative packages of transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) strategy deployments with varied geographic, social, and institutional contexts to serve as examples for advancing State, regional, and local plans and programs for TSMO. This document is intended to help planners, transportation engineers, and decisionmakers apply a comprehensive approach to the deployment of TSMO in corridors and subareas. This primer will enable planners and transportation engineers to think beyond deploying TSMO on a project-by-project basis to defining and advancing a "package" of project deployments, institutional advancements, and programs that can meet longer term strategic and operational objectives in a corridor or subarea.

The Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) Benefit Cost Compendium is a continuation of the series of reference documents and tools developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Operations designed to assist planners and operations professionals in evaluating the benefits and costs of Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) strategies and technologies. The TSMO Compendium is a collection of cases from across the country where benefit-cost analysis (BCA) has been applied to a specific TSMO technology/strategy or group. These actual project evaluations demonstrate the use of custom spreadsheet analysis developed by the agency or its contractors or the application of available software tools to conduct the BCA. The Compendium also includes hypothetical cases designed to demonstrate how BCA can be used for a specific TSMO technology/strategy or group. FHWA has developed a sketch planning BCA tool, called the Tool for Operations Benefit-Cost Analysis (TOPS-BC), for application to TSMO projects. For the hypothetical cases TOPS-BC is used to assist in the measurement of benefits and costs and in the calculation of the benefit-cost ratio. Each case demonstrates how planners have or could in the future conduct a BCA on one or more TSMO technologies or strategies. There are over two dozen cases presented in the Compendium and they cover a wide range of TSMO technologies and strategies where each case addresses one or more specific issues or procedures.