DPP ORGANDA

Innovation Implementation: 

State Transportation Innovation Councils

The State Transportation Innovation Council, or “STIC,” is a concept that came out of the Every Day Counts summits in 2010. The idea is that bringing together the key players in the area of highway transportation within a state is a great way to determine which innovations will work best for them.

State Transportation Innovation Councils across the country are using the Federal Highway Administration’s STIC incentive program to help cover the cost of making innovations standard practice. 

The councils—made up of public and private transportation stakeholders in each state—are using the incentives on a variety of projects:

• The Vermont STIC, for example, is funding a project to institutionalize the design-build contracting method. The Vermont Agency of Transportation has used design-build on five bridge projects and has another in procurement. After relying on a small team to implement design-build on early projects, the agency is documenting key design-build processes and procedures so they can be used consistently throughout the agency.
• The North Carolina Department of Transportation is pursuing a local government agency certification initiative. The first phase of the certification program requires local agencies to become prequalified so they understand what’s involved in delivering local Federal-Aid projects. The agency is using STIC funds to help design, develop and implement the prequalification phase of the program.
• The Michigan STIC requested STIC incentives to develop a report on a pilot project to collect and maintain geospatial data identifying the location of underground utilities in Michigan Department of Transportation rights-of-way. The pilot project is part of an effort to make it standard practice to capture utility location information at the time of installation.

Each state STIC can apply for up to $100,000 a year to carry out projects that mainstream innovative practices.