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Strategic Workforce Development: Preparing Justice-Impacted Individuals for Transportation, Engineering and Construction Careers

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Strategic Workforce Development, an innovative initiative of the Every Day Counts Program, suggests the importance of fostering an environment and partnerships favorable to training programs, pre-apprenticeship programs, and support for women and minorities in the construction workforce, among other strategies. The Rutgers Youth Success Program (RYSP), housed in Rutgers’s Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT), has provided several strategic workforce development programming to vulnerable populations in and around Camden, NJ. While the program supports a variety of individuals, a majority of those served are justice-impacted and from historically underserved or vulnerable populations. With the continued success of these services, RYSP has grown and developed, most recently starting a new program focused on enhancing employment access in the transportation, infrastructure, and construction fields, called PACE (Pre-Apprenticeship in Career Education), sponsored by the Apprenticeship Office of NJDOL. The program has also taken a new name to reflect its expansion into serving adults and focusing more closely on employment: Rutgers Employment Success Program (RESP).

We interviewed Todd Pisani, the Training Director of Rutgers Employment Success Programs. Todd has been working for the past ten years on strategic workforce development programs for justice-impacted individuals in Camden, NJ. His work started with the creation of the Rutgers Youth Success Program and has developed into several Camden, New Brunswick, and South Jersey based programs focused on bridging employment gaps for justice-challenged individuals.

Q. Can you tell us about the Rutgers Employment Success Program?

A. The Rutgers Employment Success Program (previously the Rutgers Youth Success Program) supports up to 120 justice-impacted youth in and around Camden, NJ, with job readiness, career exposure, work experience, education, and legal services. The program addresses some of the challenges many young people face following involvement in the juvenile justice system, especially with employment and accessing education. The program is funded by the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development (NJDOL) and is a collaboration between Rutgers University and the Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT).

Participants of the Rutgers Youth Success Program learn from field professionals about automotive repairs

By the end of 2024, we will be serving 400 individuals and hope to increase this number going forward. While the program began with serving young individuals, we have found that expanding into an older age cohort, 18+ years, has been successful. We work directly with vulnerable populations — for example, black and brown people, individuals from historically underserved communities, returning citizens, or otherwise justice impacted people — to address employment barriers. Our approach includes consideration and support for people with mental, behavioral, or psychiatric health challenges. In addition to our on-the-ground work, we advocate for the change of harmful systems that pose barriers to employment by initiating a change in language and policy that have historically slowed progress and support for the populations we serve.

Q. How did you get involved in the Rutgers Youth Success Program and what has kept you involved for the past 10 years? 

A. After several years as an employee affiliated with the Cooperative Extension program at Rutgers, Camden, we were successful in putting together a team that included Dr. Clifton Lacy, former Commissioner of Health and head of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that attracted federal funding. That 1.2 million dollar longitudinal research project studied recidivism and violence among justice impacted youth over 3 years, and led me to collaborate with Rutgers CAIT. When a staffing change presented an opportunity, we were able to move the continuation of funding from Cooperative Extension to CAIT. The program remained consistent with its goals and mission and our support for individuals remains the same, but we have been able to expand the program and strengthen our ties to the engineering, transportation, and infrastructure realm.

Q. One of the goals of the Rutgers Employment Success Program is to address some of the barriers under-represented, or justice-challenged individuals face when pursuing a career. What do some of these barriers look like and how is this program targeting these? 

A. The barriers are baked into the system as a whole — and there are many organizations and even political movements that are working to change that trajectory. The most prevalent barriers include:

  • The outrageous and arbitrary time individuals must wait after incarceration to even be considered for some positions. We combat that by pushing for improved hiring policies, advocacy efforts in a variety of environments including discussions with trade unions, partnerships with community colleges and their affiliates, and developing relationships with specific employers and helping them see the value in hiring returning citizens.
  • Trauma and PTSD are common effects of incarceration and experience in the justice system. These conditions may make finding or receiving employment challenging and advocating for oneself even more so. We lead our program from a strengths-based trauma-informed approach, ensuring that everyone is treated with respect, honor, and dignity.
  • Justice-impacted individuals are often restricted from decision-making rooms. We utilize our privilege by inviting in justice-impacted leaders to rooms they often are kept from. We have several justice-impacted individuals on our team, so we lead by example. The resulting interactions with Judges, attorneys and law enforcement encourage human to human interactions and help those in power rethink their language and approaches.
  • Low exposure to higher education. We encourage individuals to dream and follow their professional interests. Our program also provides individuals with tours of colleges and supportive conversations, proving that it is a viable option for them.

Q. How has the Rutgers Employment Success Program been received by justice-challenged individuals? 

A. There are hits and misses, like any group of individuals. We hire people who are reflective culturally of the communities we serve — most of the team are black or brown people, including the team leads. We have several Spanish speakers on the team. And 2 have been justice impacted themselves, one a well-known community leader who spent over 30 years in prison for a crime committed as a teenager. He earned  his degree in Criminal Justice from Rutgers while incarcerated as part of the NJ STEP (Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons) program, and has emerged as an amazing advocate for returning citizens, and has helped us link to the returning citizens  community in an authentic, immersive, and heartfelt way.

Our past participants have been extremely helpful with refining our practices by voicing their own experience and suggestions for improvements. Most recently we changed some of our intake paperwork to make it easier to access and friendlier, as requested. Participants have also identified system challenges, like the selective service status letter requirement which automatically creates a barrier for some. We really appreciate this feedback, and we also look to our sponsors for advice and suggestions.

Q. Are there any populations you are having difficulty reaching?

A. The population we serve is mostly minorities and men. We have promoted and recruited our programs across gender identities and have had female program coordinators. However, our most recent research project was a 90/10 split male to female. This is most likely a result of the gender disparity of justice-impacted youth; there are far less women and girls entangled by the justice-impacted world. We have engaged young women in our apprenticeship projects and have a black female instructor who teaches occupational safety and heavy equipment—she is very active and vocal about bringing women into the trades. Our hope is to encourage more women into the field; however, we don’t necessarily want more females to be impacted by justice. Since the NJDOL has infused the importance of targeting other populations into their grant opportunities by listing the variety of individuals traditionally harder to reach or less likely to consider the trades, we expect that employers and trade unions will follow suit and make diversity and inclusion a priority, if they haven’t already.

Q. Why are transportation and infrastructure important fields for the population you serve to connect to?

A. Many of our individuals we serve or have served identify hands-on work as appealing to them. They tend toward less office-based employment and more toward the trade industries, including transportation. Other fields of interest include construction, heavy equipment, offshore wind and other green energy solutions.

Q. Speaking of participant interest in construction and transportation careers, tell us about the new RYSP program, PACE.

A. The Pre-Apprenticeship in Career Education program, or PACE, is an exciting new apprenticeship program that has recently been added to the suite of Rutgers Youth Success Program services. The program is modeled after past NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development models and will prepare participants with the necessary experience to apply for apprenticeships. Our program began in July 2023 and currently has funding for 30 participants from around the North Brunswick area. PACE goes beyond the foundational support that RYSP provides to disconnected or justice impacted youth, by increasing direct services to emerging adults 17-24 years old who are not immediately interested in or applying to college but would like to explore immediate career options.

Flyer for PACE Program Targeted to Heavy Equipment Operations

This program follows several successful programs through RESP, and in many cases incorporates the lessons learned from previous participants. Individuals not pursuing a degree following high school are often encouraged into service industry fields and healthcare, as preparation programs are more readily available. However, past participants have really expressed interest in hands-on skill training and work. Therefore, PACE is aiming to address this gap by establishing pathways for underserved populations to work in the transportation, infrastructure, or construction fields. In this case, participants will move through the Operating Engineers introductory curriculum, which includes:

  • 10 hours of on-the-job shadowing, with placement support through Hudson County Community College;
  • 30 hours of training to receive OSHA construction industry certification that will be provided by our long-standing partnership with Myers Crossing LLC.
  • Taking the Operating Engineers introductory course at Hudson County community College
  • Exposure and connections to Local 825, the International Union of Operating Engineers, which has a hands-on training facility and a training initiative with Hudson County Community College, its Earn and Learn Program.  

The goal is to expand the possible futures of each participant, allowing them to:

  • Begin an entry-level job in the transportation, infrastructure, or construction field.
  • Participate in a registered apprenticeship program.
  • Enroll in an educational program, like the Associate of Applied Science in Technical Studies at Hudson County Community College

We anticipate making employment, apprenticeship, or full-time training or education quality placements   for at least 20 of our pre-apprentices in operating engineering by December 2024.

Debbie Myers of Myers Crossing, LLC instructing a PACE participant during an OSHA training session

We also have built a relationship with NJ Transit, NJDOT, and other large infrastructure related employers and are hopeful this will assist with job placements for younger people (18-19 years), which can be more challenging.

Q. In addition to the new PACE program, you are listed as the part of the lead research team for the EDC-7 Pilot Evaluation of Strategic Workforce Development for Justice-Challenged Youth research project. Could you tell us more about this work?

A. This is a very new research project, so I don’t have a lot to share yet. Our team will develop a set of best practices for strategic workforce development in the transportation and infrastructure fields using a nationwide survey of current workforce development programs that assist justice-impacted youth. The research is managed by the National Center for Infrastructure Transformation, led by Prairie View A&M University in Texas, and performed by Rutgers University and the Prairie View A&M. My hope is to strengthen our current efforts and support multiple projects through this project.

Q. What types of agencies will benefit from these best practices for Strategic workforce development? 

A. We are voting members of the Camden Youth Services Commission; each county has a version of this. The biggest benefactor for this research project will be the local youth justice system folks who are always seeking alternative methods for creating positive preventive and diversionary pathways as well as providing alternatives to detention or other punitive responses especially for young, justice-impacted individuals. Partner organizations that include the community colleges, Pathstone, Volunteer’s of America, and others will benefit from having access to a database of models for moving impacted young people into the workforce or training sectors. The transportation employer sectors, and other employers can benefit when presented with supportive data from other areas where these projects have found success. For example, if they are doing something amazing and successful in California that we can replicate and demonstrate its efficacy using data, it can potentially erode resistance and allow for larger organizations to overcome the risk factor and partner with organizations like Rutgers providing the support services to lean toward success for all. 

Q.  Do you have any final thoughts that you would like to share?

Todd Pisani takes group selfie with participants and colleagues from the Youth Success Program.

A. We had an 82 percent benchmark attainment rate at the conclusion of the pilot Bridges program, which we are now in the first year of a 3-year continuation cycle. That project grew from serving 40 during the beginning of the pandemic when no in-person contact was allowed, to 100 served in the Camden area alone in 2022, and we are now on track to serving 120 in Camden and New Brunswick.

We have sought to successfully intertwine research and community-serving initiatives through multiple projects – our four NJDOL projects have been specifically project-based with no research specifically attached to them.  The EDC-7 Pilot Evaluation Study of Strategic Workforce Development for Justice-Challenged Youth, as well as others, can help to attract attention, provide reinforcement for our effort, and place the work itself into a scholarly context. We believe we can use the research to refine our projects, but also improve the design of research about the populations we serve.

Language is an important component of our work; for instance, we started using the term “justice impacted” instead of justice involved, primarily to demonstrate that nobody really wants to be “involved’ in justice world, and to plant the seed that there is an impact here that can shift the whole picture for many folks, especially black and brown individuals who have been disproportionately targeted and treated differently at all levels of the justice system, including in policing, sentencing structure and disciplinary policies in schools. Research helps solidify philosophical or observational notions, and provides an undergirding for the work itself, which for our implementation teams is the most important factor—helping to shift the trajectory for a young person, or an older individual for that matter. 

Resources

Rutgers Youth Success Program
https://cait.rutgers.edu/facilities-equipment/rutgers-youth-success-program/

Federal Highway Administration, Every Day Counts Round 7, Strategic Workforce Development
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_7/strategic_workforce_development.cfm

Hudson County Community College, Workforce Development
https://www.hccc.edu/programs-courses/workforce-development/index.html

International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 825
http://www.iuoe825.org/

NJ Community College Consortium for Workforce and Economic Development
https://njworkforce.org

Camden Youth Services Commission
Youth Services Commission | Camden County, NJ

National Center for Infrastructure Transformation Prairie View
National Center for Infrastructure Transformation (NCIT) – Led by Prairie View A&M University (pvamu.edu)

Associate of Applied Science in Technical Studies at Hudson County Community College
Technical Studies AAS (hccc.edu)

Operating Engineers Local 825 Earn and Learn Program
825 Earn and Learn

For information on current workforce development programs see:

NJ Department of Labor, Office of Apprenticeships
https://www.nj.gov/labor/career-services/apprenticeship/

NJ Pathways to Career Opportunities
https://njpathways.org/centers-of-workforce-innovation/

For information on re-entry support programs in New Jersey visit: Governor’s Reentry Training & Employment Center NJRC (njreentry.org)

For information on re-entry support for women, visit: The_Womens_Project_2023.pdf (njreentry.org)

Research Underway to Address Travel Needs of Cognitively Divergent Individuals in Complete Streets Plans

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The Complete Streets planning approach pushes for a future in which people of all ages and abilities can safely travel. Recently signed NJ legislation takes an important step toward this vision by ensuring that the travel needs of cognitively divergent individuals are addressed in Complete Streets Plans.

In January 2023, Governor Phil Murphy signed S-147 into law, directing the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) to update its Complete Streets policy to consider and implement design elements and infrastructure projects that promote the ability of persons diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) to travel independently.

This requirement follows important research conducted by Rutgers CAIT and VTC and funded by NJDOT, in which the travel behavior of over 700 adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was studied. The research concluded that individuals with ASD, seeking to travel independently, experience extraordinary transportation barriers that are complicated by the state’s auto-oriented street design and land uses. With fewer such persons driving cars, an improved network of walking and biking infrastructure opens a world of opportunities for engagement in civic life and to reaching essential destinations via public transportation.

The Complete Streets Summit event will include a session on efforts underway to revise policies to promote travel independence for ASD with IDD persons.

NJDOT has undertaken a project that seeks to address how to accommodate the travel needs of people with ASD and/or IDDs through policy and design. The Department’s Bureau of Safety, Bicycle and Pedestrian Programs has engaged the Rutgers-Voorhees Transportation Center, NV5, Toole Design Group and a working group of NJDOT planners and engineers to assist with addressing the travel needs of cognitively divergent persons – and with meeting the requirements of the legislation.

The research team is developing a primer on Complete Streets and neurodivergence and will use the information gathered to help NJDOT develop universal design guidelines that will ensure the Department’s Complete Streets policy considers the needs of those with ASD and IDDs. The team will be sharing more information at the upcoming 2023 New Jersey Complete Streets Summit on November 1st. Not yet registered? Register Here.

More information on the past and ongoing research underway and how cognitive functioning can differ among members of ASD and IDD populations is summarized in this short article, Complete Streets for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDDs), on the NJ Bicycle and Pedestrian Resource Center website.

WEBINAR: 2023 Build a Better Mousetrap Competition National Winners

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The Federal Highway Administration’s Local Aid Support team in the Office of Transportation Innovation and Workforce Solutions will be holding a national webinar on October 19, 2023 for those interested in learning more about this year’s winning entries in the 2023 Build a Better Mousetrap National Recognition Program for Transportation Innovation.

Winners were announced at the National Local and Tribal Technical Assistance Program Association’s Annual Meeting in Columbus, Ohio this summer. New Jersey’s “Route 71 Over Shark River Road Diet” was this year’s Bold Steps Award Winner in the national competition.

Build a Better Mousetrap celebrates innovative solutions for challenges that local and tribal transportation workers encounter. These innovations can range from the development of tools and equipment modifications to the implementation of new processes that increase safety, reduce cost, and improve efficiency of our transportation system.

Gerald Oliveto, P.E., from the New Jersey Department of Transportation will give a presentation about the Route 71 bridge rehabilitation and road diet project. More information about this award-winning project, recipient of this year’s “Bold Steps” Award, can be found here and here.

Mr. Oliveto will be among the presenters during the national webinar. Below is a full list of the 2023 BABM Award recipients during the webinar.

Innovative Project Award – “The Mobile Unit Sensing Traffic (MUST) Device” – a device specifically designed to monitor traffic, detect dangerous events, and provide real-time warning messages to users along rural roads. Presenter: HollyAnna Littlebull, formerly Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. Associate Director of the Northwest Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP) Center, University of Washington.

Bold Steps Award – “Route 71 Over Shark River Road Diet” – a road diet project that preserves an old historic bridge while improving safety and saving money. Presenter: Gerald Oliveto, New Jersey Department of Transportation

Smart Transformation Award – “Solar-powered Remote Cameras” – providing more accurate and immediate information on road conditions that assists with emergency response while requiring less maintenance. Presenter: Matthew Beyer, St. Louis County, Minnesota, Public Works Department

Pioneer Award – “Safe Sightings of Signs and Signals (SSOSS) Software” – an automated process for identifying and addressing obstructed traffic signals saving time and money while increasing data accuracy. Presenter: Matthew Redmond, City of Walnut Creek, California

Registration – The national webinar is scheduled for Thursday, October 19, 2023, 2.00 PM and 4.00 PM Eastern. The FHWA has provided this link to learn more about the BABM Award winners event and receive a Zoom Government Meeting link to access the event.

Did You Know? Recent NJ Transportation Research Publications

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The NJDOT Research Library maintains a “Did You Know” page to share basic facts about the research library, transportation research resources, and newly issued publications available through AASHTO and the ASTM COMPASS Portal.

Hot Topic Searches are available on the TRID Searches page

The Research Library maintains a "TRID Searches" page that contains a list of recent publications indexed in the TRID database organized by 37 subject areas. NJDOT’s Library also maintains "Hot Topic" searches that contain the projects and publications issued in the last five years on several topics, including: Transformational Technologies; Planning & Safety; Resilience; Sustainability; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; and Workforce Recruitment and Retention.

TRID (Transport Research International Documentation) is the world's largest and most comprehensive bibliographic resource on transportation research information. It combines the records from the Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) database of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Joint Transport Research Centre’s International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) database of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

TRID helps researchers locate solutions to problems, avoid duplication of work, and save resources. It includes records of AASHTO publications, federal and state DOT reports, University Transportation Center (UTC) reports, and commercial journal literature, among other sources. It also satisfies the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) requirements to consult TRB's TRIS databases to identify ongoing or previously completed research on a given topic.

Recent NJ Publications in TRID

Recent publications with New Jersey identifiers and/or prepared by NJ research institutions can be identified through TRID.  A quick search in TRID uncovered these recently added records in the TRID database of recently completed research publications:

Advanced Reinforced Concrete Materials for Transportation Infrastructure
Final Report, 2023, 107p
Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Materials

Exploring the Impact of Truck Traffic on Road Segment-Based Severe Crash Proportion Using Extensive Weigh-In-Motion Data
Safety Science, Volume 166, 106261
Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment

Severity Modeling of Work Zone Crashes in New Jersey Using Machine Learning Models
Journal of Transportation Safety & Security, Volume: 15, Issue Number: 6
Subject Areas: Construction; Highways; Safety and Human Factors

Variation in Drivers’ Seat Belt Use by Indicators of Community-Level Vulnerability
Journal of Safety Research, Volume: 85
Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Updating 2019 Safe Corridors Reports
Final Report, 2023, 93p
Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Safety and Human Factors

What Transportation Systems Management & Operations (TSMO) Means to My Local Transportation Agency
ITE Journal, Volume 93, Issue Number: 4
Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management

Implementing Artificial Neural Network-Based Gap Acceptance Models in the Simulation Model of a Traffic Circle in SUMO
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Online First
Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting

Pedestrian- and Bicyclist-Involved Crashes: Associations with Spatial Factors, Pedestrian Infrastructure, and Equity Impacts
Journal of Safety Research, Available Online
Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors

Investigation of Young Pedestrian Crashes in School Districts of New Jersey Using Machine Learning Models
International Conference on Transportation and Development 2023: Transportation Planning, Operations, and Transit
Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors

Application of Machine Learning Models and SHAP to Examine Crashes Involving Young Drivers in New Jersey
International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology, Available Online
Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors

Artificial Intelligence-Aided Grade Crossing Safety Violation Detection Methodology and a Case Study in New Jersey
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Online First
Subject Areas: Highways; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors

Evaluation of Coefficient Related to Runoff from Roadway Projects
Final Report, 2023, 125p
Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology; Pavements

Statewide Prioritization of Vernal Pools for Pond-Breeding Amphibians in New Jersey
Journal of Environmental Management, Volume: 339
Subject Areas: Environment; Highways

Identifying Colonial Roads in Southern New Jersey: An Application of Remote Sensing, Field, and Archival Methods to Document the Locations, Condition, and Routes of Critical American Revolutionary War Supply Chains
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Online First
Subject Areas: Highways; History; Maintenance and Preservation

Microtransit Deployment Portfolio Management Using Simulation-Based Scenario Data Upscaling
Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Volume: 169, Issue Number: 0
Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation

Please contact the NJDOT research librarian, Eric Schwarz, MSLIS, at (609) 963-1898, or email at library@dot.nj.gov for assistance on how to expand your search to projects, or retrieve these or other publications.

NJDOT Traffic Incident Management Training Course – Now Available Online as Self-Guided Course

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The New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Traffic Incident Management (NJTIM) training is now available as an online, self-guided course. Bringing first responder training program to an online training platform should make it easier for even more emergency and incident response personnel to access a life-saving training. The new online course can be accessed through the NJTIM website.

The TIM training program focuses on a response effort that protects motorists and first responders during a roadside emergency, while minimizing impact on traffic flow. Since its inception in 2009, NJDOT and its partner agencies have trained more than 24,000 emergency and incident response personnel, including police, firefighters, EMS personnel, DOT crews, towing/recovery companies and other responders.

Training efforts, like these, are crucial in coordinating response efforts that keep all first responders and transportation professionals safe.

The new online training course can be found at NJ TIM Website: njtim.org

Providing easier access to TIM training for busy first responders and transportation professionals should prove more cost effective than traditional, in-person meetings for organizations with limited budgets. The online training program is asynchronous, offering greater flexibility in taking the training for personnel whose work schedules may not align with in-person training dates.

Online programs can also be easily updated and revised, ensuring that participants receive the most current and relevant information.

The online training is designed to engage training participants with videos, simulations, knowledge checks, and interactive scenarios that mimic real-world situations. The online TIM training utilizes assessments and certifications to evaluate the trainees’ understanding of the material and practice decision-making in high-stress scenarios without real world consequences.

The online TIM training program seeks to improve safely and coordination in responding to incidents on New Jersey’s roadways. The target audience for this training is county and municipal law enforcement and emergency personnel, including volunteer firefighters and EMTs.

FHWA’s Every Day Counts Program has recognized the importance of TIM as model safety and mobility innovation. In Round 6, Next-Generation TIM: Integrating Technology, Data, and Training, the importance of training of local agencies was encouraged.

The FHWA’s Talking TIM webinar series provides best practices, new technological innovations, and successful implementations. The webinar series provides a forum where TIM champions with any level of experience can exchange information about current practices, programs, and technologies.

More information on the rationale and benefits of the new course can be found in the video and the NJDOT press release.

25th Annual NJDOT Research Showcase – Call for Abstracts!

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The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Bureau of Research is seeking presentations for the 25th Annual NJDOT Research Showcase to be held in-person at The Conference Center at Mercer Community College! Presentations related to transportation research will be considered for in-person presentation during the 25th Annual Research Showcase, to be held October 25, 2023. The theme for this year’s event is “Commitment to Safety."

We welcome your submission of an abstract on completed or nearly completed transportation-related research studies. While priority may be given to projects that align with the Showcase theme of "Commitment to Safety," all submissions will be considered. If selected, you will present your work in-person on the afternoon of October 25. Presentations will be in 20-minute increments and will be selected by NJDOT Research Bureau personnel.

To be considered, please email your proposed presentation topic(s) with accompanying abstract(s) to Janet Leli (jleli@soe.rutgers.edu), Director of the New Jersey Local Technical Assistance Program, no later than September 18, 2023.

Be sure to include:

■  Title and abstract of the presentation
■  Name and email address of the person who will be presenting
■  Which category your project most closely aligns with:

Infrastructure • Safety • Equity / Mobility

■  Any additional information you feel necessary

All submitters will receive a confirmation regarding the selection committee’s final decisions.

Further information is available on the Research Showcase event website, including a call for abstracts, a call for posters, and nomination forms for awards for research implementation and outstanding university student.  The day's agenda and details about the respective deadlines for each of these submissions can be found on the event website.

Thank you for your interest and participation in the NJDOT Transportation Research Program.

The NJDOT Research Showcase is an event of the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Research and organized by the Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT).

25th Annual Research Showcase

Wednesday, October 25, 2023
8:30 AM–2:45 PM

Proceedings begin at 9:00 AM

 

LOCATION

The Conference Center at Mercer
1200 Old Trenton Road
West Windsor, NJ 08550

 

REGISTRATION

Registration is complimentary, but required.
Registration will open soon.

NJ’s Route 71 Over Shark River Road Diet Project Receives Bold Steps Award in National Build a Better Mousetrap Award Competition

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The Federal Highway Administration’s Local Aid Support team in the Office of Transportation Innovation and Workforce Solutions has announced the 2023 recipients of the Build a Better Mousetrap National Recognition Program for Transportation Innovation. Each year, FHWA recognizes and celebrates local government and tribal agencies who pioneer innovations that improve transportation performance. Winners are recognized for a range of innovations that save time and money while improving safety and customer service in their communities.

This year the FHWA again received a record number of nominations from 20 state, local and Tribal agencies. The FHWA recognized national winners for their innovations in four categories: Innovative Project, Smart Transformation, Bold Steps, and Pioneer. Winners were announced during the National Local and Tribal Technical Assistance Program Association’s Annual Meeting in Columbus, Ohio (see the video). 

This year’s Bold Steps Award honors the NJ Department of Transportation for its work on the Route 71 Drawbridge over Shark River between Belmar and Avon-by-the-Sea in Monmouth County, which suffered a mechanical failure in September 2021. Engineers devised a cost-effective design and implementation solution that preserved the drawbridge and kept it in safe operation. NJDOT implemented a road diet across the bridge, which allowed the Department to address safety issues. Traffic over the bridge was reduced from one northbound lane and two southbound lanes to one lane in each direction.

The Bold Steps Award recognizes locally relevant high-risk projects or processes showing a break-through solution with demonstrated high-reward.

NJDOT’s Route 71 Shark River Bridge Preservation and Road Diet project was also recently selected as a regional winner in the 2023 America’s Transportation Awards.  The competition is sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  More information about the project can be found here.

The other Build a Better Mousetrap 2023 winners include:

Innovative Project Award: Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation | The Mobile Unit Sensing Traffic (MUST) Device

Specifically designed and implemented for use along rural roads to monitor traffic, detect dangerous events, and provide real-time warning messages to users.

The Innovation Project Award honors solutions that address any or all phases of the “project”’ lifecycle, such as Planning, Design/Engineering, Construction, Operations and Maintenance. This project introduces new ideas, is locally relevant, original, and creative in thinking.

Smart Transformation Award: St. Louis County Public Works Department, Minnesota | Solar-powered Remote Cameras

The cameras provide more accurate and immediate access to information on road conditions that assists with emergency response while requiring less maintenance.

The Smart Transformation Award recognizes a locally relevant significant change in any transportation activity or process that is SMART “Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound” in nature that results in improved efficiencies.

Pioneer Award: City of Walnut Creek, California | Safe Sightings of Signs and Signals (SSOSS) Software

An automated process for identifying and addressing obstructed traffic signals saving time and money while increasing data accuracy.

The Pioneer Award honors a locally relevant product/tool that is among the first to solve a maintenance problem with a home-grown solution.

The Federal Highway Administration Local Aid Support team supports the use of innovative solutions to improve transportation performance by working through the local and Tribal Technical Assistance Centers to provide training and access to subject matter experts.

For more information on Build a Better Mousetrap and other national initiatives visit, https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/clas/babm/.

WEBINAR: Traveler Information and Traffic Incident Management: Crowdsourcing Course

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Since 2019, the FHWA Every Day Counts (EDC) Innovation, Crowdsourcing for Advancing Operations, has been supporting the adoption of crowdsourced data and tools to advance transportation operations across 35+ States and their local agencies to improve traffic incident, road weather, work zone, traffic signal, traveler information, and emergency management, along with a host of other ITS and TSMO practices.

The Crowdsourcing Innovation Team in collaboration with the ITS Joint Program Office (JPO) Professional Capacity Building (PCB) Program delivered this introductory Crowdsourcing course, one in series of webinars, featuring State and local practitioner perspectives.

On July 18, 2023, Sal Cowan, NJDOT’s Senior Director of Mobility served as one of the course instructors for Traveler Information and Traffic Incident Management, the third session in a webinar series targeted to transportation professionals with an interest in or responsibility for the management and operations of roadway systems. Mr. Cowan delivered instruction on how crowdsourcing can be used to enhance traveler information. He shared examples of how some leading state transportation agencies (e.g., Virginia, Arizona, Kentucky, Pennsylvania) are using various crowdsourcing platforms for communicating traveler information. Mr. Cowan then spoke at greater length about New Jersey’s Travel Information Systems, highlighting the state’s initiatives for Commercial Vehicle Notifications, 511 Platforms and Voice Assistant Systems, and Crowdsourced Data, among other topics.

Mr. Cowan was joined by two other featured speakers and the event’s host, Ralph Volpe, EDC-6 Crowdsourcing Program Co-Lead, who moderated the capacity-building webinar.

Vaishali Shah, AEM Corporation, Support Lead for the FHWA EDC-5/6 Crowdsourcing Innovation, gave an introduction to the Traffic Incident Management topic and described the components and challenges of State and local TIM systems. She shared several examples of how crowdsourced data is being used to enhance Traffic Incident Management (TIM) around the U.S..

Mr. Cowan explained the rationale for crowdsourcing to improve traveler information and shared examples of how its being used in select states, including New Jersey.
Ms. Shah explained how crowdsourcing applications were being used to enhance TIM and shared some examples of innovative state and local deployments nationally.

John Parker, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC), Senior Traffic Operations Project Manager, then described the PTC’s Traffic Incident Management and Traveler Information initiatives. In his talk, he described various examples of data-sharing providers and partnerships, touching upon technology platforms, dashboard features, operating challenges, and new partnering opportunities being considered by the PTC and the state of Pennsylvania to enhance crowdsourcing for TIM and Traveler Information.

More information on this webinar training event can be found here, including a recording of the webinar, the presentation, transcript, and the question and answers that closed out the training event.

AASHTO Innovation Management Wants to Accelerate Adoption of Your Innovation Nationwide!

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The 2023 AASHTO Innovation Management (AIM), formerly A.I.I., has issued a call for nominations for ready-to-share examples of innovation implementation or deployment of select proven technologies, products or processes that are likely to yield significant economic or qualitative benefits. Submissions are due by October 6th.

NJDOT’s Saw Cut Vertical Curb was recognized as AASHTO Innovation Initiative in 2022.

Last year, the AASHTO program recognized NJDOT’s Sawcut Vertical Curb as one of seven Focus Technologies. More information about this winning entry can be found here and here.

BACKGROUND

Many new and emerging technologies, offering improved performance or effectiveness, are continually becoming ready for operational implementation. Some of these technologies have been developed through rigorous research and may have been demonstrated in “real world” applications. Some may have been gleaned from international technology scanning tours. Others evolved within practice but are not shared.

The purpose of the AIM is to identify and champion the implementation or deployment of a select few proven technologies, products or processes that are likely to yield significant economic or qualitative benefits to the users.

AASHTO’s Innovation Management encourages the sharing innovation practices nationwide.

WHO: The AASHTO Innovation Initiative accepts innovations for consideration from State and local Departments of Transportation, and organizational units of AASHTO. (AASHTO members include member departments and associate members). Additionally, private industry representatives may work with eligible subm​itters who have successfully used these innovative practices to nominate technologies. Applications may be developed by DOT partners (academia, industry, other associations, etc.); however, actual submissions mu​st be proposed by one of the agencies listed above.

HOW:  Learn more and complete the NOMINATION form that can be found here. All nominations must be submitted electronically. If you have any difficulty with your submission, please contact Glenn Page, gpage@aashto.org​ or (202) 624-5265.

Justice40 and the Equitable Transportation Community Explorer

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The Justice40 Initiative, referenced in Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crises at Home and Abroad, is a key element in the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) efforts to recognize and address long-standing patterns of under-investment in disadvantaged communities. The Initiative seeks to deliver resources to communities that have been disproportionately burdened by the adverse effects of climate change, pollution, and environmental hazards.

The Justice40 Initiative seeks to understand persistent gaps in infrastructure investment and public services and remedy disparities by working toward the goal that at least 40 percent of the benefits from many grants, programs, and initiatives will flow to disadvantaged communities. Through this Initiative, the USDOT will encourage the nation’s transportation agencies to plan and prioritize projects that will benefit rural, suburban, tribal, and urban communities facing barriers to affordable, equitable, reliable, and safe transportation.

USDOT has developed tools that practitioners and decision makers can use to become better informed on how their state or region’s communities may experience persistent disadvantages.  With this information at-hand, agencies are called upon to advance projects to address or mitigate the causes of these disadvantages and improve the conditions within these overlooked communities to promote livability and economic prosperity.

Equitable Transportation Community Explorer

The USDOT’s Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer, an interactive web application, explores the spatial patterns of cumulative burden experienced by communities. The ETC Explorer examines five components: Transportation Insecurity, Climate and Disaster Risk Burden, Environmental Burden, Health Vulnerability, and Social Vulnerability. See Table 1 for definitions of each of the underlying components.

Table 1. Definitions for the Disadvantage Components of ETC Explorer
ComponentsDefinitions
Transportation InsecurityTransportation Insecurity occurs when people are unable to get to where they need to go to meet the needs of their daily life regularly, reliably, and safely.
Environmental BurdenThe Environmental Burden component of the index includes variables measuring factors such as pollution, hazardous facility exposure, water pollution and the built environment.
Social VulnerabilitySocial Vulnerability is a measure of socioeconomic indicators that have a direct impact on quality of life.
Health VulnerabilityThe Health Vulnerability category assesses the increased frequency of health conditions that may result from exposure to air, noise, and water pollution, as well as lifestyle factors such as poor walkability, car dependency, and long commute times.
Climate and Disaster Risk BurdenClimate and Disaster Risk Burden reflects sea level rise, changes in precipitation, extreme weather, and heat which pose risks to the transportation system.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation (2023).  Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer, ETC Explorer Technical Documentation.

These five components inform the development of a composite measure, the Disadvantaged Community Index, that defines census tracts as disadvantaged communities in the U.S. based on multiple dimensions of disadvantage. A score for each disadvantage component comprises several variables and information from several datasets. The index calculates cumulative disadvantage by normalizing the indicators associated with disadvantage, summing the percentile ranks of these indicators into components, and then summing the percentile ranks of the sums of each component to determine an overall score.

Figure 1 provides a graphical representation, including a list of the indicators for each component. The graphic shows how the indicators are used to inform each components score and how standardization techniques and percentile rankings are applied to derive a composite disadvantage score. USDOT considers census tracts to be “disadvantaged” if the overall index score places it in the 65th percentile (or higher) of all US census tracts.

Figure 1

The ETC Explorer Technical Documentation provides greater detail about how the data sources and methods were applied to create the individual indicators and standardize measures of disadvantage. The ETC Explorer relies upon an ArcGIS platform tool to observe spatial patterns and make comparisons at national, state, regional, and sub-state levels.  Additional information is provided on the methodological assumptions and limitations of developing a tool with these capabilities.

The ETC Explorer was designed to complement the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST). USDOT’s tool looks more deeply at the “Transportation Disadvantage” component of the CEJST, and the ETC Explorer’s Transportation Insecurity component.  Both tools were developed to inform analyses and decision making to foster consideration of the transportation-related causes of disadvantage and how they can be remedied, in part, through future USDOT investments.

Past USDOT guidance noted that applicants for discretionary program funding have had the option of using CEJST or ETC Explorer when developing funding applications. State DOTs and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) can use the ETC Explorer in developing their Statewide Transportation Improvement Programs (STIPs) and Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs). USDOT also expects to use ETC Explorer as a consideration in setting policy and making funding decisions. Reference to the tool and how it can be used to consider equity in grant application criteria can be found in recently issued NOFOs.

Justice40 Covered Programs

In August 2022, the White House issued guidance on the breadth of the Federal programs that would be covered by Justice40 Initiative including seven areas of Federal investments covered by the Initiative: climate change, clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce development, remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, and clean water and wastewater infrastructure. In this guidance, USDOT noted that 39 programs, across five modes, totaling more than $204 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, are covered by the Initiative. USDOT indicated that other programs might be added or removed from coverage under Justice40. Table 2 provides a list of USDOT programs covered by Justice40.

Table 2. Justice40 Covered Program List

The Justice40 Covered Program list included 39 covered programs within the U.S. Department of Transportation in August 2022.

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
  • Carbon Reduction Program *
  • Charging & Fueling Infrastructure Grants*
  • Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program *
  • Congestion Relief Program *
  • Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Supportive Services*
  • National Electric Vehicle Competitive Program*
  • National Electric Vehicle Formula Program*
  • Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects *
  • On the Job Supportive Services*
  • Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) (23 USC 176) *
  • Protect Grants (23 USC 176(d))*
  • Reduction of Truck Emissions at Port Facilities*
  • Transportation Alternatives (Surface Transportation Block Grant set-aside) *
  • Tribal High Priority Projects Program *
  • Tribal Transportation Facility Bridges (Bridge Investment Program set-aside) *
  • Tribal Transportation Facility Bridges (Bridge Replacement, Rehabilitation, Preservation, Protection and Construction set-aside) *
  • Tribal Transportation Program *
Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
  • Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements *
  • Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail *
  • Railroad Crossing Elimination Program *
Federal Transportation Administration (FTA)
  • All Station Accessibility Program (ASAP) *
  • Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program*
  • Buses and Bus Facilities Program Formula *
  • Electric or Low-Emitting Ferry Program *
  • Fixed Guideway Capital Investment Grants (CIG) *
  • Low or No Emission Vehicle Program *
  • Passenger Ferry Grant Program*
  • Innovative Coordinated Access and Mobility Pilot Program *
  • Rural Transit Funding Programs (Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Competitive) *
  • Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Planning Program*
Maritime Administration (MARAD)
  • America’s Marine Highway Program *
  • Port Infrastructure Development Program *
Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST)
  • National Infrastructure Project Assistance (MEGA) *
  • Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects (INFRA) *
  • Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) *
  • Reconnecting Communities Grant Program *
  • Safe Streets & Roads for All *
  • SMART (Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation)*
  • Thriving Communities Program

NJ Example Maps

The ETC Explorer offers an interactive dashboard to help users understand how a community or project area experiences transportation disadvantage compared to all other census tracts nationally or statewide across the various disadvantage components and forty indicators.   Popup databoxes provide more information on Transportation Insecurity for a selected census tract.

Below are examples of the statewide and local area outputs that can be quickly generated.

ETC Explorer Statewide Dashboard for New Jersey. The dashboard highlights that “Disadvantaged Census Tracts” comprise 17 percent of all the Census Tracts statewide and that 1.3 million persons live in these census tracts. In this example, Environmental Burdens are displayed and indicate that they are more prevalent in NJ than other components of disadvantage. Among the individual indicators of environmental burden that rank relatively highly and exceed the threshold for “disadvantage” are Diesel PM Levels, Hazardous Sites Proximity, and Impaired Surface Waters (see Figure 2A).

Figure 2A. ETC Explorer Dashboard for NJ
Figure 2C. DOT Disadvantage Census Tracts – State Results
Figure 2B. DOT Disadvantage Census Tracts – National Results

DOT Disadvantaged Census Tracts – National and State Results. The ETC Explorer can be used to display the DOT Disadvantaged Census Tracts based on a nationwide comparison (see Figure 2B) or on a statewide basis (see Figure 2C). The state results map shows additional areas that meet a disadvantaged threshold than are identified in the national results map. This is particularly useful for identifying the locations and spatial distribution of these highly-disadvantaged tracts in New Jersey.

Figure 2D. DOT Disadvantage Census Tracts, Percentile Ranked – State Results

Overall Disadvantage Percentile Ranked State Results. This statewide map shows percentile rankings of disadvantage by census tract for the three MPO regions (see Figure 2D). The gradient mapping display offers more information than the simpler binary designations.

Figure 2F. Climate & Disaster Risk Burden Percentile Ranked State Results
Figure 2E. Environmental Burden Percentile Ranked – State Results

Disadvantage Components, Percentile Ranked State Results. Data on the individual underlying components of disadvantage can be mapped to show the percentile rankings within the state. Examples of statewide maps displaying the census tracts that are more and less affected by Environmental Burden (Figure 2E) and Climate and Disaster Risk Burden (Figure 2F) are shown.

Figure 2G. DOT Disadvantage Census Tracts, Trenton Area, Percentile Ranked – State Results

Overall Disadvantage Percentile Ranked, State Results, Community Analysis Example. The ETC Explorer on the online ArcGIS platform permits analysis of sub-areas of the state. In Figure 2G, the City of Trenton and environs are examined for Overall Disadvantage in a percentile ranking map.

Figure 2H. Selected Census Tract, Trenton Area, Popup Databox

Transportation Insecurity Features. The ETC Explorer tool permits closer inspection of its various data elements. In Figure 2H, a small portion of a popup databox is shown for a selected census tract in Trenton that provides a snapshot of Transportation Insecurity indicators. When fully displayed, the popup databox displays summary and the underlying insecurity feature indicators for “Cost Burden,”  “Access Burden,” and “Safety.”

Justice40 is More than a Desktop Exercise

The ETC Explorer is an important tool for identifying the underlying components of disadvantage, but achieving the objectives of Justice40 will require more than desktop exercise. USDOT emphasizes that agencies and practitioners should be cognizant of the Three Major Components of DOT’s Justice40 Initiative as they work to plan, design, program, and deliver projects.  They include understanding:

  • The needs of a community through meaningful public engagement
  • How a community is affected by lack of transportation investments and options
  • What benefits a project may create, who will receive these benefits, and how these benefits will lessen the effects of the disadvantage of the community in question

Ongoing challenges exist in building capacity and preparing transportation agencies, eligible nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and affected communities for applying for and utilizing the project funding offered by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. In a recent research brief, the Urban Institute distilled observations from interviews with representatives from agencies and NGOs on their pressing needs and how to address the varying capacities of applicants to secure discretionary grant infrastructure funding. Among the topics covered, the interviews shared insights on the challenges of facilitating meaningful community engagement, contending within the application cycle, and managing relationships within the local ecosystem.

Recognizing the capacity challenges and moving toward a more equity-centric vision for project funding, USDOT established the Thriving Communities Program to provide planning, technical assistance, and capacity building support. The first round of funding awards, announced in April 2023, included funding for teams of Capacity Builders.

The City of East Orange, in partnership with the City of Orange Township and Housing and Neighborhood Development Services, Inc. (HANDS), was among the communities awarded project funding for capacity building support. They hope to address key challenges and needs disproportionately borne by low-income and minority populations in both cities due to the construction of Interstate 280 and Freeway Drive in the 1960s that led to detrimental safety, economic development, livability, housing, connectivity, and mobility effects for the affected communities. They would like to enlist the capacity builders to “assist the cities in working with state and regional transportation partners to advance a set of improvements to bridges, roadways, and other transportation infrastructure.”

Similarly, USDOT established a Reconnecting Communities Institute (RCI) to deliver training and technical assistance to build organizational or community capacity in transportation planning and formulate innovative strategies for communities previously divided by transportation infrastructure. The BiL created a new $1 billion Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program (RCP), and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) created a similar $3.15 billion Neighborhood Access and Equity Program (NAEP) to fund projects that will retrofit, remove or remediate infrastructure that cause barriers and other harmful impacts that isolate and separate neighborhoods and communities. Both programs offer planning grants, capital grants, and technical assistance, and a combined Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods (RCN) notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) was recently issued. USDOT has indicated that enrollment into the RCI will be open to States, local and tribal governments, MPOs, and NGOs.  Disadvantaged communities are expected to be prioritized for enrollment in the RCI.

RESOURCES

Axelrod, A., Boyd, C., Fu, S., Ramos, K., and Balakrishnan, C. (2022). Lessons from Local Leaders: How Federal Agencies Can Help Ensure Data-Driven and Equity-Centric Infrastructure Investments. Urban Institute. Accessed here: Link

Boutros, A., Resler, K., and Field, S. (2023). Integrating Equity into Transportation Funding and Project Prioritization. Public Roads – Spring 2023. Vol. 87 No. 1. Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-23-003. Accessed here: Link

U.S. Department of Transportation (2023). Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer, Website. Accessed here: Link

U.S. Department of Transportation. (2023). Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer, User Guide. Accessed here: Link

U.S. Department of Transportation. (2023). Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer, ETC Explorer Technical Documentation. Accessed here: Link

U.S. Department of Transportation. (2023). Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer National Results Dashboard. [Video], Accessed here: Equitable Transportation Community Explorer Video

U.S. Department of Transportation. (2023). Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer, User Guide. Accessed here: Link

U.S. Department of Transportation. (2023). FY 2022 Thriving Communities Program: Selected Capacity Builder Profiles. Access here: Link

U.S. Department of Transportation. (2023). Calculating Percentage of Population in Underserved Communities for SS4A. Access here: Link

Executive Office of the President. (January, 2021). Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. Accessed here: Link

Executive Office of the President. (August, 2022). Justice40 Initiative Covered Programs List. Accessed here: Link

Zhao, L., Huynh, N., and Hawkins, J. Framework for Quantifying Benefits to Disadvantaged Communities: Application to Nebraska’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Plan. Funded Project. Accessed here: Link.