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The Ohio Department of Transportation Employee Newsletter July 2000

Rating Your Pavement:HoHoHoHoHow Does it w Does it w Does it w Does it w Does it StacStacStacStacStack Up?k Up?k Up?k Up?k Up?Pg. 2

MANAGING CONGESTION:Follow These Simple GuidelinesPg. 3

Summer’s Fair-est EventPg. 4

Coordinating Your ProjectsPg. 4

2000 INITIA2000 INITIA2000 INITIA2000 INITIA2000 INITIATIVES:TIVES:TIVES:TIVES:TIVES:Did We Measure Up?Pg. 5

Riding The BullPg. 6

BED BUSTERSPg. 7

T

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OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONSJ. Brian Cunningham, EditorRon Poole, Managing EditorJulie Walcoff, Layout/Design Editor

PRINTED BY THE ODOT PRINT SHOP

ODOT IS AN EEO EMPLOYER

Bob Taft, GovernorGordon Proctor, ODOT Director

V i s i t o u r W e b s i t e a t ww w . d o t . s t a t e . o h . u s

OHIO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION1980 W. BROAD ST.COLUMBUS, OHIO 43223(614) 466-7170 (FAX) 644-8662

FYI

Cover Photo: File Photo

Julie RayBy: Sara Davis, Central Office

Julie Ray, former administrator forthe Office of Finance, was recentlypromoted to deputy director of Fi-nance. Ray replaced Mike Cope wholeft the position in May.

Ray’s new responsibilities includeoverseeing the office’s functions ofbudgeting, payroll, and developmentof fiscal policies. She has also beenappointed to serve on the Ellis Com-mittee, a management system whichserves as the entry point for projectsin the ODOT program, and the Depart-ment Funds Management subcom-mittee, which allocate funds for pro-grams within ODOT.

Over the past 19 years with ODOT,Ray has been the section supervisorof Appropriate Accounts and Operat-ing & Capital Accounts Payable sec-tions, and administrator for the Officeof Accounting.

Ray received a bachelor’s of sciencedegree in Accounting from WheelingJesuit University. Ray resides inHilliard, with her husband John Ray,administrator for the Office of AerialEngineering, and their 2-year-old sonJustin.

File Photo

ODOTFast Facts

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By: Brian Cunningham, CentralOffice

Strategic Initiative OneODOT will adopt clear goals to im-

prove conditions on its freeway net-work.

Strategic Initiative One is the com-mitment of each ODOT district to de-liver a construction program that re-sults in achieving a deficiency ratingof 9 percent on the priority highwaysystem by 2004. Currently, the prior-ity system has a deficiency rating of17 percent.

“We focused on the priority systembecause of its importance to travel inOhio,” said Leonard Evans, adminis-trator of the Office of Systems Analy-sis Planning. “However, the emphasison the priority system will not comeat the expense of the urban and gen-eral systems.”

Even though Ohio’s priority systemonly comprises 24 percent of ODOT’stotal roadway network, it carries 52percent of all traffic and 85 percent ofall truck freight. The statewide defi-ciency goal was established by analyz-ing district resources, production ca-pabilities and priority system pave-ment condition expectations for2004 and combining them.

Deficiency is a term used by ODOTto identify pavements that havedropped below a certain PavementCondition Rating (PCR) and need re-surfacing activities. PCR is a measure-ment of road conditions attainedthrough visual observation of crack-

ing, potholes and other surface problems. Points indicating deficiencies are de-ducted from a score of 100. Pavements are deficient on the priority system ifthey score below 65 PCR. For the urban and general systems, a PCR below 55 isconsidered deficient. Deficiency goals established for the urban and generalsystems are 7 percent and 10 percent respectively.

Ohio’s priority system includes all interstates and four-lane routes on the Na-tional Highway System outside of incorporated areas with a population of 5,000or more. The routes included in the urban classification are non-priority stateroutes within incorporated areas with a population of more than 5,000. The gen-eral system consists of all remaining state routes, mostly two-lane highways.

As a result of the large freeway building initiative beginning in the 1950s andcontinuing through the 1970’s, ODOT concentrated on building new roads. Thecurrent deficiencies are the result of miles of roads exceeding their expected lifespan concurrently. Strategic Initiative One focuses on moving Ohio’s prioritysystem to a “steady state,” so deficiencies can be addressed in a manageableway, avoiding future waves of poor road conditions.

“You do not want to place unreasonable expectations on people if realisticallyyou know there is no way to deliver the projects required to attain the goal,”said Matt Selhorst, deputy director for the Division of Planning. “This initiativefocuses on what is realistic, what is in the right direction and commits everyoneto attaining it.”

This initiative is a natural progression in the development of the district an-nual work plans,” said Evans. “Each of the districts assessed their road condi-tions through 2010 and forecasted what they were capable of completing intheir 10-year program. This initiative is the next step. It ensures we are going toproduce to a given level by 2004, and commits the districts and Central Office toachievements instead of simply analyzing where we think we are going to be.”

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BestPractices

By: Nancy Pedigo, District 10

Vehicle damage was a constant aggravation for highway workers in District10’s Meigs County when they hauled dump rock. That is, until Highway WorkersDan Davis and Raymond Werry, and Mechanic Roger Hysell adapted trucks withspecial bed liners and endgates. Their modifications saved money and helpedprotect motorists from potential safety hazards.

District 10 usually buys dump rock - limestone and sandstone - from one ofthe local quarries to use primarily as slope protection, to hold or repair slip ar-eas. “We haul a lot of dump rock,” said Hysell. “Some pieces are larger than astandard desk.”

Prior to the implementation of the liner adaptations, the heavy materialsdamaged the beds and the tailgates of state trucks. Additionally, there weretimes when rock pieces fell from the truck and damaged the windshields of othercars on the road. In the first year of implementation, the new modificationssaved the district more than $1,000 in labor and replacement costs.

Davis, Werry and Hysell formed a QStP team in order to develop their solu-tion to protect the truck beds. Before being taken out for loading, a truck is fit-ted with a bed liner of two-inch, oil-treated, rough-cut lumber, bolted to a steelgusset with rubber belting. A dovetail (or angled) endgate is also installed inplace of a regular tailgate. Safety chains are welded to the endgate, and steelpins are inserted through the chains to anchor the endgate securely to the truck.

Prior to the new liners, highway workers used old guardrails to line the bed,

but this afforded little protection tothe trucks. The new liner absorbs thejolt of loading, protecting and pro-longing the life expectancy of the ve-hicle.

Tailgates were another matter.With no way to protect a tailgate asrock was being dumped into thetruck, damage to this part of the ve-hicle was “pretty much, a sure thing,”said Hysell. The new dovetail endgateis made of heavier steel than a regulartailgate, and can better withstand thepunishment from hauling the heavyloads. By using a secure anchoringsystem, the dovetail is better able tokeep the rocks in the vehicle whilethey are being transported.

For their suggestion, all three bedbusters received $200 gift certifi-cates.

Nancy Pedigo, District 10

Mechanic Roger Hysell and highway workers Dan Davis and Raymond Werry attach the tailgate to the bed of the truck.

Over the next five months,Transcript will present a seriesof articles introducing thenew ODOT initiatives for2001. This month, we look atInitiatives One and Two.

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By: Brian Cunningham, CentralOffice

Strategic Initiative TwoStrategic Initiative Two - Develop

and implement a comprehensivestrategy for measuring and manag-ing congestion in Ohio.

Congestion on Ohio’s highwayscontinues to increase. Overall trafficvolumes, particularly truck volumes,continue to grow at a faster rate thanthe department’s ability to expandthe highway network. Strategic Initia-tive Two will create a process to sys-tematically identify congestion lev-els, and develop both short–term andlong–term goals for reducing it.

“We benchmarked pavement andbridge conditions in the past, but havebeen inconsistent with congestionlevels,” said Matt Selhorst, deputy di-rector for the Division of Planning.“Before we can reduce congestion, wemust identify where and why delaysoccur.”

This strategic initiative is an out-growth of a 1993 federal mandate re-quiring Ohio’s eight large metropoli-tan planning organizations (MPOs) tohave a congestion management sys-tem. Selhorst said, “When we re-viewed data compiled by the MPOs,there was no consistent standardused for measuring congestion. EachMPO produced a congestion report,but they each measured it differ-ently.”

Because no consistent congestionmeasurement method existed, thedepartment is developing its own.

ODOT’s method will incorporate components used by the Texas TransportationInstitute (TTI), a nationally recognized transportation research organization,including hours of delay, cost and a congestion index to create standard con-gestion measurements.

“By developing standardized criteria to measure traffic delays, we will be ableto identify the top congestion locations in Ohio,” said Selhorst. “This will enableus to determine Ohio’s future trends, and structure our plans to address them.”

The second component of this initiative is identifying strategies to minimizetraffic congestion including access management, Intelligent TransportationSystems (ITS), improving incident management techniques, identifying oppor-tunities to better utilize the state’s freight rail system and promoting publictransit.

A national statistic from TTI indicated emergency incidents including crashesand stalled vehicles caused 50 percent of recurring delays. By using ITS, notifica-tion of delays will help motorists avoid traffic problems, and potentially mini-mizing traffic disruptions.

The access management plan will analyze road designs such as creating ser-vice roads to reduce delays and safety hazards caused by vehicles turning acrosstraffic. “One of the tasks for the department is to ensure affected businessessupport this concept,” said Selhorst. “It is our duty to ensure access manage-ment is understood and how it will benefit these businesses.”

ODOT will work with the rail industry to increase rail freight transportationwhich may include providing capital improvement funds to increase rail capac-ity or efficiency. “In 1995 we used Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funds inCincinnati to build a third main rail line to increase the capacity of transportingfreight,” said Selhorst.

Additionally, by promoting public transit as a viable alternative to driving, thedepartment can help decrease the volume of vehicles on the roadways and re-duce the potential for traffic delays.

“The overriding transportation trend in Ohio is congestion,” said DirectorGordon Proctor. “It has a significant impact on the state’s system, and we mustdevote significant resources to alleviate it. This initiative is our commitment todo just that.”

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By: Billie Baughman, District 12

Everyone is familiar with the sport of bull riding, whether they have seen it inrodeo competitions on TV, in movies or even in person. Most people think of thesport as strictly for country folk. But Justin Budi, an intermittent highway workerwith the Independence Yard, regularly dons his chaps as. The 27-year-old Cleve-land native has been riding bulls for three years, traveling to many states to testhimself against some notorious animals.

Budi’s interest in riding came from his childhood. He grew up in Parma, butspent a great deal of time with relatives who had a farm and livestock in Lorain.He was at the fairgrounds with friends one day, and just decided to jump on thebull. He taught himself to ride, and has been riding ever since. He decided laterto switch to bull riding and enter competitions.

Bull riding is easily the most dangerous event in a rodeo, with riders compet-ing against each other by attempting to stay astride a bucking and twisting bull.A rodeo bull can weigh 1,400 pounds or more, and can be a fierce opponent.Under the rules, riders must hold on with one hand, to a bull rope wrappedaround the body of the animal; the free hand is not allowed to touch anything.The riders use a combination of balance and technique to stay on the bull foreight seconds - an eternity for even the most determined competitor. Both therider and the bull are given a combined score of their performances, with 100points being the highest possible score.

Bull riding is exciting, but riders can be injured or killed while competing. Budihas already proven himself in the rodeo circuit by winning a buckle (a first placefinish) during his first year riding — a great honor for a rookie. Budi has also hadhis share of battle scars — he has been knocked out six times in one year, and

has sustained several concussions.Budi even once rode a bull with a bro-ken hand. With all these injuries, whydoes he keep doing it?

“It’s the thrill of riding the bull,”said Budi, “How many people aroundhere can say that they have donesomething like this?”

Budi has a second job with the cityof Parma Heights, in addition to work-ing for ODOT. This leaves him verylittle spare time, but he still finds away to regularly compete. On aver-age, he gets in about two rides amonth. Budi owns a horse, which hekeeps with relatives in Lorain County.One day, he hopes to go to school forsteer wrestling, another rodeo event.When asked what his mom thoughtabout his hobby, Budi said she sup-ports him even if she does not like it.

“The good Lord gave me the talentto do this, so as long as I can do it, Iwill,” said Budi.

HobbyShoppe

File Photo

ClevelandClevelandClevelandClevelandCleveland1990–12 Million1997–30 Million122 % increase

Annual Hours of Delay

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CincinatiCincinatiCincinatiCincinatiCincinati1990–16 Million1997–30 Million72% increase

ColumbusColumbusColumbusColumbusColumbus1990–11 Million1997–24 Million88% increase

Data from the 1999 Mobility Reportconducted by the Texas TransportationInstitute.

4 TRANSCRIPT, July 2000

JobProfile

By: Robin Grant and Julie Walcoff,Central Office

Like her fellow Program coordina-tors, Karen Young has several activemajor new projects to oversee in anumber of districts.

Each project is different, almostwith its own personality, tugged andpushed by a number of influences.

It is a job Young obviously likes:“This is a great opportunity for me towork with various disciplines and adiverse group of people. I like the factI am always in contact with the dis-tricts.”

Young and her colleagues in Cen-tral Office report to Assistant Direc-tor for Planning and Production CashMisel, and work mostly with districtplanning administrators. Her job is tosee that deadlines are met, plans areapproved, environmental hurdles arecleared and right of way is purchased.Young works with districts 1, 2, 7, 11and 12.

In years past, too many projectswere delivered in one large group to-ward the end of a fiscal year, creatingscheduling crunches for ODOT andcontractors and contributing tohigher costs. As a program manager,Young works to guide a steady, pre-dictable process.

“I help make sure the district con-struction schedules are met,” saidYoung. “I figure out what needs done

By: Robin Grant, Central Office

They are the rites of summer, really. Hundreds of Ohio communities, villagesand counties host festivals and fairs during the warm season. From Aug. 4through 20, the state will host the biggest fair of them all: the Ohio State Fair.Visitors from everywhere will not only enjoy the entertainment, food and spiritof Ohio, they will also have the chance to learn about the services and work per-formed by ODOT.

ODOT’s tradition of being at the Ohio State Fair began in 1912, when the thenDepartment of Highways had its first booth. In recent years the department hasset up a large display inside the Bricker Building. This year, the department willprovide information on construction activities, and brochures on subjects likebike trails, bike and bus safety for children, and Ohio’s scenic byways. The de-partment will also distribute thousands of copies of the state transportationmap to fair attendants.

The ODOT display will focus on the 2001 Strategic Initiatives, and will high-light all modes of transportation and all functions of the department.

“This year’s display will provide visitors a better idea of what we do,” said JulieWalcoff, chair of the state fair planning committee. “We are going to use visu-als, including an actual snow plow, to show ODOT does much more than just con-struction.”

ODOT will feature display sections on bike paths, scenic byways, rail, highway,aviation and waterway transportation. It will provide information on how ODOTis involved in developing and maintaining each of these modes.

ODOT staff members from various division and district offices will work at thedisplay. Last year they distributed thousands of maps, brochures, crayons, suck-ers and stickers to fair-goers.

Bette Mendenhall, who works in the Office of Chief Legal Counsel, was one ofthe many volunteers who worked the fair last year.

“People react very positively when we answer their questions, give themmaps and information, and explain to them all of the services ODOT provides,”she said. “A lot of people think ODOT is only about orange barrels and trafficcongestion. They don’t realize how much more the department does.”

Director Gordon Proctor sees the fair as a great opportunity to communicatemuch needed information to the general public.

“Because many visitors to the state fair are not from the Columbus area, thedisplay proves to be a good tool for educating people from all over the stateabout the projects we have planned,” said Director Proctor. “We find a lot of ourvisitors are asking questions about upcoming work in their communities, andthe fair display is a great way to help them plan ahead for the future construc-tion in their neighborhoods.”

File Photo

TRANSCRIPT, July 2000 5

to help the districts get their projectsready for sale.”

In addition to her main duties,Young has been charged with imple-menting the statewide aesthetic ini-tiative: “Since the announcement ofthe Design Aesthetics Initiative, I haveoverseen the development of theguidelines, development of thepolicy, and the inclusion of aestheticelements to ODOT projects acrossthe state. I am proud to be a part of itsimplementation.”

Young joined the department as ahistorian for the Office of Environ-mental Services in 1978; previously,she had worked for the Ohio Histori-cal Society. She worked on thedepartment’s historic bridge inven-tory in the early 1980s and on its up-dates. Following the passage of theInterstate Surface Transportation Ef-ficiency Act in 1991, she coordinatedthe department’s enhancement pro-gram, over seeing plans for scenic andhistoric projects. After thedepartment’s reorganization in1995, she coordinated the Scenic By-ways program and served as bicycleand pedestrian coordinator until be-ing named to her current position inNovember.

She and her husband Keith live inthe Clintonville area of Columbus.

By: Robin Grant, Central Office

With Fiscal Year 2001 beginning this month, ODOT is wrapping up its FY 2000Strategic Initiatives, making way for a new set of goals for the upcoming year.

“I am proud of our accomplishments for 2000,” said Director Gordon Proctor.“The department set and achieved strategic initiatives that included improve-ments to seven key aspects of ODOT operations. The department has used thesegoals to set itself up for continued achievement in the years to come.”

What follows is a status report on how the department fulfilled its FY 2000goals:

Strategic Initiative OneReaffirm Vision 2000

The department has increased its productivity and achieved a record con-struction program while decreasing operating costs and staffing levels.

Strategic Initiative TwoEnsure Project Delivery Processes Capable of Administering

a $1.2 Billion Construction ProgramIn 1999-2000, the department successfully made use of multi–year work

plans at the county and district levels, creating a farsighted, needs–basedproject identification and development system. The new system maximizesstate construction dollars.

Strategic Initiative ThreeComplete a Common Format for the Annual Work Plan

An annual work plan format was developed and adopted by the departmentto enable all work units to strive for common objectives. All goals for each yearare clearly identified.

Strategic Initiative FourAdopt a System to Forecast Multi-Lane Pavement Needs;

Enact a Program to Meet the NeedsODOT has allocated additional funds for the multi–lane system, adopted a

Pavement Condition Rating (PCR) system to measure roadway conditions andprioritize their repair, and instituted increased preventive maintenance.

Strategic Initiative FiveODOT Will Begin Implementing Warranties, Innovative Materials, and

Contracting Techniques to Extend Bridge and Pavement LifeIn 2000, 20 percent of all paving projects were warranted. By the end of July

2001, all multi–lane paving projects will carry warranties, with additional war-ranties for bridge and pavement repair projects. The department has also in-creased its use of techniques like the Design-Build method.

Strategic Initiative SixODOT Will be Second to None in Maintenance of Traffic

Recently formalized, the new maintenance of traffic policy mandates specificpractices for maintaining traffic flow in work zones. The department will con-sider and plan for easing traffic congestion early in the project planning process.

Strategic Initiative SevenAdopt Design Standards to Aesthetically Enhance

Transportation StructuresCurrently in the review process, the department’s first Design Aesthetics

policy will add inexpensive treatments to transportation projects, using texture,color, and landscaping to improve the look of the highway system.

Initiative Status

Photo By Julie Walcoff