Transportation Solutions

XRiver Technologies brings 25-plus years of experience in working with transportation clients across the country.  This includes integrating off-the-shelf products with new custom modules developing complete custom solutions and interfaces with existing legacy systems.  XRiver's renowned experience with integrating products for clients stands above the competition with their ability to work as a transportation client advocate to translate the complex business requirements of the industry to a software vendor, ensuring the final product will meet the business need.  We have delivered solutions in the following key areas:

Capital Management:

For transportation, the prospect of capital management includes many overlapping layers of complexity.  Most transportation organizations keep a 20-30 year plan of projects in the long term plan, evaluating most closely those within the next 5 years and revisiting those in the next 12 months on an annual basis.  This includes multiple phases for each project, which are normally funded separately, and must be supported by hundreds of fund sources including local, state and federal funds which are limited to spending money in finite fiscal year periods.  This results in projects frequently being funded and/or losing funding so that other projects can be put into and out of the program to meet those goals.  This 'monte-carlo' approach to funding or approved projects is a fundamental element of getting transportation projects completed and the dollars spent before planned funding expires.  Large transportation organizations struggle to work with capital planning budgets that are heavily influenced by the projects that are underway so that the money is there at just the right time for expenditure.  This includes getting obligations early in the transportation life cycle that need to be managed downstream as projects mature and discovery changes both cost estimates and project schedules.  

Project Management:

The need for transportation improvements are identified years before the project is actually funded and constructed.  Projects can span 1-20 years and can be funded one phase at a time.  Projects can also be bundled for funding such as by type of work for award to one contractor or geographically when a group of project impacts a single corridor.  The trend towards increased local government involvement and local funding has added another element of complexity where often DOT's may only perform a supervisory role to ensure the project works within the transportation system and complies with all design standards adopted by the state.  With or without local involvement, much of the work on a project can be outsourced to consultants either by phase or by individual task making the management of individual projects vary quite distinctly depending on the project.  

Right-of-Way (ROW):

ROW acquisition of property for the purposes of transportation must comply with the uniform act for real estate acquisition.  This process is rigorous to protect the rights of private and commercial property owners to obtain fair market value for their property and adequate compensation for their change in accommodations.  In the case of condemnation, where a landowner does not agree to sell, the process is structured in the same way to protect the land owner while allowing the project to proceed based on the benefit to the traveling public.  ROW also involves the acquisition of land that may need maintenance, temporary management of tenants, relocation of occupants or the removal of structures once acquired.  Occasionally this results in property inventory that does not get utilized on a project and must be monitored until it can be re-purposed or relinquished as deemed appropriate.

Utility Relocation:

Utility Relocation involves the impact of roadways on public and private utilities.  Utilities normally run in the ROW alongside the road bed.  When utilities will be disturbed or need to be moved due to expanded lanes or intersections this requires simultaneous coordination with all involved utilities to match the construction window.  In the process of moving utilities there is sometimes a request from utility companies to upgrade their existing equipment during the move.  This results in complex agreements between the state and the individual utility companies outlining who will cover what costs and the timeline in which the work must be completed.  

Environmental:

Keeping the human and natural environment safe is a key concern for the individual agencies that protect these resources.  This involves a myriad of elements such as parks, historic structures, protected plant and animal species, cemetery sites, and protected classes of individuals.  Environmental studies are conducted in the earlier stages of project development to identify those resources prior to the final placement of the road footprint.  Every effort is made to avoid these resources and when they cannot be avoided the mitigation of how they will be protected must be negotiated with the appropriate agency.  Depending on the impact a project might be required to produce a document stating it is categorically excluded - meaning there is no impact anticipated, or an environmental assessment to study the impact and determine it is within an acceptable range, or a formal environmental impact statement which clearly identifies the impacts and the steps that will be taken to protect each resource involved. 

Organizational Change Management:

All organization can benefit from taking a proactive approach to process or system changes for their end users.  By involving support from all levels, from sponsorship to the functional users, along with continuous communication this risk can be minimized.  Ideally the organization will cultivate change agents that are strategically placed within the organization to cover all levels and areas of functionality.  In this way the agents act as messengers and role models for the entire organization so all staff can understand the benefit of the coming changes, embrace the impact to their individual work tasks, and be willing to let go of old process and systems that are being replaced.

 Experience with the following transportation clients:

 List of transportation clients:

• Alabama DOT 
• Alaska DOT
• Arkansas DOT
• Colorado DOT
• Florida Turnpike
• King County Roads
• Louisiana DOTD
• Maine DOT
• Metropolitan Transportation Commission (Bay Area)
• Michigan DOT
• Minnesota DOT
• Mississippi DOT
• Montana DOT
• Missouri DOT
• New Jersey DOT
• New Mexico DOT
• New York Port Authority of NY and NJ
• New York State DOT
• Oregon DOT
• South Carolina DOT
• Tennessee DOT
• Texas DOT
• Washington State DOT