Category: Inside ITD

Innovate ITD!, in its fifth year, has so far saved Idaho taxpayers more than $8.5 million in efficiencies that are applied directly back into maintenance and repair of the state’s roads and bridges. Along the way, more than 550 of the innovations have improved customer service, and hundreds more have enhanced mobility or directly impacted safety for highway workers and the traveling public.

ITD’s innovation effort is statewide, employee-driven, and is focused on finding safer, easier and less expensive solutions. It has become a model nationally for organizations looking to get better.

The 2018 Best of the Best competition spotlights innovations in each of seven categories central to the department’s main goals: safety, mobility, economic opportunity, customer service, employee development, time savings and cost savings.

“It is exciting to celebrate employee efforts to make things safer and better,” said ITD Chief Administrative Officer Charlene McArthur. “Recognizing and celebrating the spirit of innovation that exists in every ITD employee is what Innovate ITD! is all about.”

“The Best of the Best Winners were selected by employees as outstanding representations of innovations and innovators from throughout ITD.”

Since the program began in 2014, ITD has:

• Received 1,428 ideas from employees
• Implemented 951 innovations
• Generated savings and efficiency improvements of $8.5 million*
• Realized 188,322 contractor and employee hours saved
• Created 551 customer-service improvements

* The savings in time and money are being used to maintain roads and bridges and provide better customer service.

Here are the seven category winners in ITD’s Best of the Best 2018:

In Safety, a hand injury sustained by a worker in another region by reaching into a tailgate to wrestle a rock loose inspired a crew in District 2 to solve a common problem. Bud Converse, Moscow Foreman, went to his crew with a possible solution. Within a few hours they’d welded a pipe to the truck, painted it and placed a bar in the pipe. The aptly named “Bud Bar” is within easy reach of the back of the truck. It is used like a crowbar to wedge open an obstructed tailgate without endangering anyone.

In Mobility, the state’s first double Flashing Yellow Arrow traffic signal helps move traffic through one of the busiest intersections in Coeur d’Alene. The new double FYA signal allows two lanes of traffic to turn left after yielding to oncoming vehicles and pedestrians. The signal more quickly gets passenger vehicles on their way and commercial haulers to market with goods and services.

When bridges are hit by an over-height vehicle, a road can be closed for months, costing taxpayers millions. In the Economic Opportunity category, an innovation was developed to combat this. The minimum bridge heights are measured by bridge inspectors and this information is communicated to the permitting department in an easy-to-follow Google map. They can see which bridges trucks can safely pass under, increasing safety, and saving time by reducing bridge closures.

In the Customer Service category, improvements to the 511 Traveler Services platform will allow drivers to track weather conditions on certain highway routes. ITD partnered with the National Weather Service in Pocatello to add a forecast feature. The platform takes specific forecast information from areas along a section of highway, and creates an overall forecast for that route. This gets useful information to the traveling public, at their fingertips.

The Time Savings winner is an innovative new plow-blade changing cart. In a bad winter, blades have to swapped out up to five times per month. This idea will minimize the old back-breaking method of changing and installing blades by hand. The cart serves as the holder during these operations. They go on easier, and more safely allows crews to get plow trucks on the road more quickly.

In Cost Savings, teamwork saved millions of dollars. District 6, 5 and 4 combined 17 bridge repairs under one contract. This allowed ITD to shave nearly 20 years off the timeline for replacing these bridges, saved about $1.7 million in design costs, and another $3 million off construction. The 6-5-4 project won the 2018 AASHTO President’s Award for Planning. Each of the bridges is over 50 years old, and all will be brought up to current design standards and will be wider & longer.

In the Employee Development category,, new employee onboarding focuses on retaining good employees. Approximately 25% of ITD’s employees started with the department in the last two years. Employee orientation generally takes place on Day One and often includes only routine paperwork. Onboarding, though, is an experience that lasts through the employee’s first 6-18 months.

For new employees, introducing them to the “ITD way” early in the process and allowing them to take ownership of their job is another step in ITD’s mission of being the best transportation department in the country.

And there you have it – this year’s Best of the Best, combining safety, ingenuity and efficiency!

Watch the 2018 Best of the Best video.

BOISE – A bridge-replacement project near Sun Valley and the consolidation of 17 bridge projects in a single contract to reduce time and save millions in taxpayer funds won President’s Transportation Awards from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) on Sunday, Sept. 23.

The awards, considered the highest honors for state departments of transportation, were handed out to the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) at AASHTO’s annual conference, held this year in Atlanta, Georgia.

“The key to ITD achieving our vision to become the best transportation department in the country is building strong partnerships within our organization and in the communities across Idaho,” said Idaho Transportation Department Director Brian Ness. “Both of these awards are the result of developing vital collaborations and using innovative ways to better serve our citizens and the traveling public.”

ITD won the Environment award for the Big Wood River Bridge project that replaced the bridge south of Hailey last fall. The design team consulted the Idaho Dept. of Fish & Game regarding wildlife mortality, and added wildlife passage tunnels on both ends of the bridge to reduce vehicle-animal crashes from migrating animals crossing the bridge.

The passageways were designed and built 33-feet wide to maximize the attractiveness of the tunnel to animals — if it was too narrow, it likely would not be used because the animals needed more room for escape in case a predator appeared. It was also built 13-feet tall to accommodate large animals such as elk.

Additional lanes improved traffic flow around slower recreational vehicles that are heading through the resort towns to the mountainous recreation areas, and addressed the regular occurrence of bottlenecking which plagued the former bridge. It also allowed for better traffic flow of large trucks traveling the highway carrying resources, materials, and supplies on a daily basis to support the resort and recreational activities.

ITD also won a President’s Award in the Planning category for replacing 17 bridges under one contract, saving $1.7 million and about 17 years. The single contract enabled the collection of engineering data on all the bridges at once rather than separately. Jointly collecting the data on bridge alignment, subsurface stability, right-of-way footprint, and hydraulic property saved about $100,000 per bridge compared to a bridge-by-bridge method.

The 17 bridges are located in ITD districts 4, 5, and 6 — in eastern, south-central, and southeast Idaho. The three districts worked together to accomplish common objectives.

Even more savings occurred once construction began on these bridges, as the project bid came in about $3 million under estimates.

ITD has won 13 AASHTO President’s Awards in the nine years Ness has been at the helm of the organization.

 

ITD Chief Deputy Scott Stokes has spent his entire career advocating for highway safety issues, and that focus earned him the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA).

Watch video tribute to Scott.

AAMVA presented the award to Stokes during their annual conference, Aug. 23 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Stokes began with ITD in December of 1991 as a staff engineer in the bridge section at ITD headquarters, after some time spent in the private sector. He then began a rapid ascent. In 1993, he moved north to become a project development engineer in Coeur d’Alene. Eighteen months later, he returned to Boise to become the state bridge engineer. Then, in 1996, he accepted the position of District 1 Engineer, and moved back to Coeur d’Alene.

“Every day in homes across Idaho, families and friends of vehicle accident victims bear the anguish and grief of needless loss of life. Through his tireless efforts and lifetime commitment to highway safety, Scott is helping Idaho reduce and hopefully end this senseless tragedy,” DMV Manager Alberto Gonzalez wrote in his letter nominating Scott.

During his 25-year career at the department, Scott witnessed how engineering decisions, operational procedures and media campaigns impact highway safety, Alberto continued.

In February 2007, Stokes transferred from his job as District 1 Engineer to a new job as Deputy Director at headquarters. He stepped up to serve as interim Director from July 2009 to January 2010.

His passion is linking how engineering and operating decisions influence driver behavior and how driver behavior should influence engineering and operations.

Through these positions and his passion for safety, Stokes led the effort to make improving highway safety the top priority for all employees.

BOISE – ITD’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) group recently earned the Special Achievement in GIS, or SAG Award, on July 11 at the annual Esri User Conference in San Diego. Esri is the global market leader in GIS software, and selected ITD from more than 300,000 eligible organizations worldwide to receive the award for innovative application of mapping, data analytics, and thought leadership in the field of transportation.

This work benefits the department, but also is a step toward greater access to road data for the public.

This roadway location intelligence will be available to local government entities and highway districts to provide accurate disbursement of federal highway dollars,” ITD Senior Service Delivery Manager Jeff Carpenter explained. “This data will be available to the public for use in urban planning, environmental impact analysis, disaster management, natural resource management and health-care planning. GIS location intelligence can help in many aspects of community development and planning.”

And here is the interesting part about this award:

ITD did not apply for it. The agency was selected, unsolicited.

Esri looked at the work ITD is doing, then sent it to a group of peers for review, and they nominated the department for the award. Linear Referencing expert Amit Hazra said that ITD has the best road-network data that he has worked with in doing roads and highways implementation projects.

The award selection was cemented by the high quality of ITD’s road network, specifically the road data for each ITD district.

ITD’s system provides quicker access to data, which can then be used to make data-driven decisions about planning, project funding, or asset management.

There were 134 countries represented in San Diego, and 21,000 people on hand.

“There was a single example of excellence used in the transportation category, and it was Idaho,” Carpenter said.

Back Row: Sydney Lewis, Brian Ness, Will Thoman, Jeff Carpenter
Front Row: David Fulton, Nicole Hanson, Wendy Bates, Tyler Jackson
Not Pictured: Michael Miller, Brian Smith

 

 

 

RIGBY – A unique Idaho Transportation Department collaboration within Districts 4, 5 and 6 — the south-central, southeastern and eastern idaho regions of the state — allowed those groups to come together and identify 17 bridges in dire need of replacement.

The team created one project that combined all 17, saving more than $3 million in construction, plus an estimated $100,000 per bridge ($1.7 million) during the design phase — a grand total of $4.7 million.

“When estimated, ITD had budgeted $27 million for this unique project,” said District 6’s Josh Sprague, who identified the savings as the former D6 Innovation Steward. “Once our budget was set, the bid opened at just $24 million.”

This allowed ITD to save money while increasing mobility and economic opportunity.

“The incredible savings are associated with grouping projects across district lines and working together,” said Sprague.

They also were successful in finishing the data collection and concept designs necessary for these 17 bridges at a fraction of the cost of doing each individually.

“Combining the 17 projects into one saves a significant amount of money for taxpayers, but the biggest benefit is time,” said D6 District Engineer Jason Minzghor. “This accelerates the whole process, so we can make needed repairs more quickly for the users of the highway system.”

Each of the bridges had reached their 50-year life span, so they all were in need of replacement. Each bridge will be brought up to current design standards; being wider to accommodate wider shoulders or future widenings, and in most cases longer, to better accommodate ever-changing waterways. As a result of the future shoulder widenings, ITD also will be minimizing the amount of guardrail needed.

By constructing 17 bridges under one contract, long-term impacts to the traveling public are minimized by:

– Grouping together similar bridges in similar areas
– Using concrete barrier for the safety of drivers and construction personnel
– Traffic drives on a paved surface at all times
– One lane is required to be open at all times

An area of major need in Idaho may get a vital shot of federal money, as federal officials shortlisted $90.24 million in grant funds to help ease congestion on Interstate 84 in the Treasure Valley between the Karcher Interchange and Franklin Boulevard. The Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant will also allow improvements benefiting the movement of good and services on the heavily used route.

The improvements include widening I-84 to three lanes in each direction in this 2.8-mile section, adding auxiliary lanes, replacing and widening an overpass and an under-sized canal structure, replacing and expanding two bridges over a railroad and canal, performing ramp improvements, reconstructing an interchange, and rebuilding a bridge over the freeway.

This area sees nearly 100,000 vehicle trips per day, and commercial trucks comprise a significant percentage of that traffic.

The project is innovative because of its use of diverse local and state matching funds. Idaho’s application was a joint effort between ITD and COMPASS (the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho). COMPASS was instrumental in spearheading the funding application, arranging for needed funds from the city of Caldwell and Canyon County.

The Idaho Transportation Board also was innovative in its use of state money as a matching funding source. The grant offsets 60% of the project’s total estimated cost of $150 million.

By law, the U.S. Congress (the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works) has 60 days to review before award can be made.

“Idaho is the fastest-growing state in the country, and receiving this grant shows the importance of the Interstate 84 corridor for moving freight, along with our own goods and services, across the west and the world,” said ITD Director Brian Ness. “More importantly, the project is expected to Improve safety by significantly reducing crashes in the area.”

The President’s Administration, ITD Director Ness, COMPASS, Idaho Senator Crapo’s Office and other members of Idaho’s congressional delegation all helped move the grant application forward.

“We appreciate this additional funding and the benefits it will bring for commerce, commuters and the traveling public. It will relieve congestion through Canyon County and the entire Treasure Valley,” he added.

BOISE – The history of Idaho is very much intertwined with the history of our highways and roads. Early pioneers built the Gem State by carving highways and byways into our diverse landscape. From rolling hills, fertile plains, and lush meadows, to stark desert and rugged mountains, highways connect them all.

You now have the opportunity to uncover that early highway history – Idaho’s heritage — through a free online archive of more than 30,000 historical images.

ITD’s free photo collection is at itd.idaho.gov/photohistory.

Accessing the photos is simple. Just go to the site, enter your search criteria (name and location of the photo you want), then download the results in whatever size you need. Here’s a short video to walk you through the process.

May is Historic Preservation Month, so what better time to unveil this new service? Travel back in time and get to know your Idaho!

Idaho Transportation Department Director Brian Ness was recently named to the Executive Committee of the 2018 Transportation Research Board (TRB). The TRB is a unit of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and serves as an independent adviser to the President of the United States, the Congress, and federal and state agencies on scientific and technical transportation issues of national importance.

Ness, who has been ITD Director since 2010, serves as the chair of the Research & Innovation Committee for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and chaired AASHTO’s Special Committee on Transportation Security and Emergency Management (SCOTSEM) until August 2017. Through his leadership of SCOTSEM, Mr. Ness achieved national recognition for applying his organizational model to emergency management and security, which has helped reshape the group’s strategic plan.

Ness was President of the Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (WASHTO) in 2016. In this position, he served as a regional representative to AASHTO’s Executive Committee. In addition, he sponsors the WASHTO Highway Transport Committee. He is also the creator and sponsor of WASHTO’s Emerging Leaders Program, which he also brought to ITD.

Ness is a nationally recognized authority on organizational realignment and speaks regularly at national conferences for both the public and private sectors about how to structure a more effective and accountable state government. He leads a seminar each year on his “Nine Steps to a Results-Focused Culture” for the National Transportation Leadership Institute’s (NTLI) senior and executive-level management courses.

Ness was honored in 2012 as Leader of the Year by the Treasure Valley chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar, and named Trine University’s (formerly Tri-State University) 2014 Alumni of the Year.  He received the 2016 Navigator Award from Route Fifty. The award, in the “Agency and Department Chiefs” category, is based on his citizen-focused approach to government and transformative style. In 2013, ITD earned AASHTO’s President’s Award for Administration for its realignment efforts.

Since Ness joined the department, ITD has received nearly 100 national awards for its people, programs and projects, including the prestigious Francis B. Francois Award for Innovation.

Under his leadership, ITD began an employee-driven innovation program in 2014. Since that time, the department has implemented more than 860 innovations, saved nearly $5.2 million, created 500 customer-service improvements, and saved about 187,000 contractor and employee hours.

The department was recognized in 2016 by the Idaho Technology Council as a finalist for Innovative Company of the Year.

Ness earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Tri-State University and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Western Michigan University. He is a licensed professional engineer in Michigan and Idaho. Before becoming director at ITD, he worked for 30 years at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), holding a variety of positions in research, operations, aeronautics, construction, and project development.