Project Leadership Team

Every project in the I-70 Mountain Corridor will form a Project Leadership Team (PLT) to lead the project. The formation of a PLT can only be waived with formal county approval. The formation and membership of the PLT will be agreed upon by both the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the county.

The Mission of the PLT:

The PLT is a collaborative stakeholder team that leads the project, champions Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS), and enables decision making.

The PLT facilitates the decision-making process and focuses on moving the process forward. The PLT ensures that the 6-Step Process is followed and that decisions are made collaboratively among stakeholders on all project teams and during project activities. The PLT steps in to analyze and formulate a process to move forward when other project teams find themselves at an impasse.

The PLT does not make the final selection or endorse the project recommendation(s). Rather, the PLT ensures that the recommendation is developed in an open, collaborative process.

Roles and Responsibilities:

The PLT's primary roles are to:

Lead the Project: The PLT will identify all relevant materials for the project -- such as the CSS Guidance, Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), other environmental documents, and local plans. The PLT will discuss the surrounding context, establish project goals, and identify the actions and decisions needed to reach those goals. These elements will be documented in a Context Statement for the project.

The PLT may assist in developing a request for proposals (RFP).

The PLT will also determine the teams needed to reach the project outcomes and will identify the members needed for each team. If consultants are used on the project, the CDOT project manager and community leaders will join the consultant selection team.

Along with the Project Staff and attendees at County-Wide Coordination Meetings, the PLT will assist in staffing the other teams needed for the project.

Champion CSS: The PLT will ensure that the CSS Guidance, the Context Statement, the Core Values, and the 6-Step Process are integrated into the project. The PLT will identify CSS checkpoints as events in the project timeline upon completion of a formal review for consistency with CSS.

The PLT will have primary responsibility for ensuring that Step 1: Define Desired Outcomes and Actions and Step 2: Endorsing the Process are accomplished with all project stakeholders.

The PLT will review and endorse required CSS elements such as the Project Work Plan and associated Project Schedule, Context Map Reviews, the Stakeholder Involvement Plan, and the Public Information Plan.

Enable Decision Making: The PLT will approve the project-specific decision-making process for its project. This process will detail the interaction between teams, the Stakeholder Involvement Plan, and the Public Information Plan. The PLT will be responsible for keeping the project on track with each of these plans.

When policy issues arise that cannot be resolved within the project teams, the PLT will identify and implement the steps needed to resolve the issue and make a decision. The PLT is not empowered to make policy decisions. Instead, it is responsible for identifying who must be involved in making the decision, bringing the decision makers together, and facilitating solutions or approaches to keep the project moving forward.

The PLT will facilitate formal actions required by councils, boards, and/or commissions to keep the project moving forward.

Membership:

  • The PLT is the leader of the project and consists of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), CDOT, and corridor leaders. The following entities will have representation on the PLT:
  • FHWA (1 – 2)
  • CDOT program engineer (1)
  • CDOT project manager (1)
  • Community leaders (1 – 2)
  • CDOT environmental lead (1)
  • Open seat based on individual project needs (1)
  • Contractor project manager, added during the construction phase of a project (1)
  • Consultant project manager as facilitator
  • Consultant staff for technical expertise as needed

Community leaders will be identified by the county with consideration given to local municipalities directly adjacent to the project.

If a consultant is engaged for the project, the consultant project manager will facilitate this team.

The primary mission of the PLT -- to lead the project, champion CSS, and enable decision making -- will be best accomplished by maintaining a PLT of 10 to 12 members.

 

Forming the PLT:

The PLT should include representatives from each of the entities listed above. Every effort should be made to keep the members of the PLT consistent throughout all phases of the project. Each of the agencies and affected communities should be contacted early in the project initiation and asked to identify its representative(s) for the PLT. Outreach to county officials and local municipalities should occur prior to finalizing a scope or advertising for consultant services to ensure the involvement of community leaders in developing the request for proposal and selecting the consultant or contractor.

Members of the PLT should make every effort to attend all meetings in person rather than appoint alternate members, and each should be able to adequately represent his or her agency's interests on the PLT.

Meetings:

The PLT will meet regularly, perhaps monthly, through active times of the project. The PLT will remain intact through all the phases of the project. Periods of low activity may occur, particularly between Life Cycle Phases.