TDOT Region 1 outlines streamlined project-delivery process and program priorities

A TDOT Region 1 manager briefed the Kingsport MPO on the department’s project-delivery changes, program priorities and where Region 1 projects stand.

Randy Boesler, manager in TDOT’s project management division, said the department’s Project Delivery Network (PDN) and integrated project delivery workstreams, launched in 2022, allow teams to overlap tasks that formerly occurred strictly in sequence. He said TDOT has moved toward a “line-and-grade” initial plan set—more robust than previous initial-study sets—so environmental, title search and other activities can begin earlier and projects can reach design and construction readiness more quickly.

Boesler reviewed Region 1 program lines: bridge, pavement (renamed to reflect concrete and pavement variety), safety, resurfacing, state industrial access (SIA), unstable-slope/rockfall work and miscellaneous safety/signal upgrades. He said the paving three-year plan was released in January and other three-year plans are expected in spring; Region 1 will assume responsibility for the bridge-repair program in July. On SIAs, Boesler said those projects are economically driven and not published like other three-year plans; once an SIA is accepted into the program TDOT typically targets delivery in about three years but right-of-way or utility issues can extend schedules.

Boesler said TDOT is applying a more data-driven asset-management approach to route selection and bridge prioritization and is coordinating with district operations and materials/testing divisions to vet lists before programming.

Board members asked whether locally managed projects follow PDN; Boesler said the current PDN approach applies to TDOT-managed projects and that local-program involvement is evolving. He encouraged MPO members to use TDOT project webpages and to contact him for specific SIA questions.