INTERAGENCY COMMUNICATION: A VITAL ELEMENT IN THE DALLAS MULTIJURISDICTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

The article describes how engineers and planners in the Dallas Urban Area are interacting to meet the urban transportation problems. The case study is described of an interjurisdictional traffic signal improvement project in North Dallas County that involved 6 contiguous cities. The details of the program are described, its objectives, its effectiveness and other program features. The highly successful program demonstrated that cooperation in a complex urban environment is a viable reality. The excellent intergovernmental cooperation that developed has been catalytic in strengthening and developing other interagency transportation programs: interagency traffic management team to solve traffic problems of an operational or safety nature; Technical Advisory Staff Committee to help guide DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit); Mobility Technical Committee which developed a proposal for funding a regional IVHS (intelligent vehicle highway system); and subcommittees