Register now at http://www.trb.org/ElectronicSessions/Blurbs/TRB_Webinar_Railroad_DOT_Institutional_Mitigation_165714.aspx.

TRB, in partnership with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), will conduct a web seminar or “webinar” on August 31, 2011, from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM EDT on a project developed by TRB's second Strategic Highway Program (SHRP 2) that explores the report, Strategies for Improving the Project Agreement Process between Highway Agencies and Railroads. Participants must register in advance of the webinar, and there is no fee for registrants.  The webinar has a Professional Development Hour (PDH) value of 1. To receive a certificate, a person must register and attend the webinar as an individual. For questions, please contact Lisa Marflak at [email protected].  

The webinar will explore model standard agreements, standard processes, and practices that will help public highway agencies and railroads reduce the time and cost of project reviews.  Although both highway agencies and railroads are driven by engineering factors to make investment decisions about linear transportation facilities, they approach these decisions from very different perspectives.  To succeed, each side must understand the basic needs of the other and both must have common languages, practices, standards, and expectations.   

Eight model agreements will be presented that participants may then effectively use or modify in their practice to meet the legal requirements and accepted contracting processes for both individual agencies and railroads.

The objective of this webinar is for participants to:
•    Effectively use strategies and institutional arrangements that facilitate beneficial relationships between railroads and public agencies;
•    Employ innovative partnering techniques; 
•    Draft model agreements that also actively streamline the permitting process; and 
•    Identify barriers that impact effectiveness and effectively propose remedies.  

The report may be downloaded from TRB’s website. An epub version of this report is available for purchase at the Google ebookstore.

Panelists for this session include: 
Mr. Gordon Proctor, Gordon Proctor and Associates, Inc.
Shobna Varma, StarIsis Corporation
Leo Penne, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

Moderated by: Mark S. Bush, Transportation Research Board

Participants will receive 1 PDH credit for attending this session. To receive a certificate, a person must register and attend the webinar individually. For groups, only the person who registers and attends the session receives a certificate. Directions to retrieve certificates will be emailed to participants after registering for the webinar. For questions, please contact Lisa Marflak at [email protected].

This webinar was developed in July 2011. TRB has met the standards and requirements of the NCEES Registered Continuing Education Program (RCEP). Credit earned on completion of this program will be reported to RCEP by TRB. Certificates of Completion will be issued to individuals who register for and attend the entire webinar session. Complaints regarding registered providers may be addressed to RCEP, PO Box 1686, Clemson, SC, 29633. Website: http://www.RCEP.net.