Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Practices. Topic 57-10. Strategic Planning Practices

Many state departments of transportation (DOT) develop strategic plans. These strategic plans range from brief statements of mission, vision, and values to detailed documents that link these statements to operational and budgetary decisions across the agency. Unlike long-range transportation plans and other federally required planning documents, there are no formal requirements or guidance for state DOT strategic plans. The national transportation vision framework, adopted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), from NCHRP Research Results Digest 404: Collective and Individual Actions to Envision and Realize the Next Era of America's Transportation Infrastructure: Phase 1, highlighted the importance of strategic planning to effect organizational change. The objective of this synthesis is to document state DOT practice for agency-wide strategic plan development, adoption, and implementation.   Information to be gathered includes (but is not limited to): State DOTs with formal agency-wide strategic plans; Types of strategic plans; Content of the strategic plans (e.g., mission statement, values, vision statement, strategic goals and objectives, strategies, actions, performance and progress measures); Source requirements for the strategic plans (e.g., state statute or executive initiative); Process for developing strategic plans, including degree of leadership/management, employees, partners and public engagement, and level of review by state DOT executive board, commission, or other governing bodies; Strategic plan development resources (developed internally only or with consultant support); Department or business unit tasked with leading the development of the strategic plan; Frequency of strategic plan update; Integration of strategic plan with other agency long-range planning documents, capital plans, and operational/business plans; Examples of how strategic planning processes supported agency decision-making; and Implementation practices to operationalize strategic plans. Information will be gathered through a literature review, a survey of state DOTs, and follow-up interviews with selected DOTs for the development of case examples. Information gaps and suggestions for research to address those gaps will be identified.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5987

Language

• English

Project

• Funding: $65,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  20-05/Topic 57-10

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC    20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Wadsworth, Trey

• Start Date: 20241001
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Organizational factors; State departments of transportation; Strategic planning; Transportation planning
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01972923
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: 20-05/Topic 57-10
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Nov 26 2025 3:51PM