Connections: Mar. 2008

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Connections
Winner
March 2008

A Publication for Employees of the Missouri Department of Transportation

Quality Award

Missouri 2007

Filet Mignon Expectations, Filet O’ Fish Funding
by Jeff Briggs
Look how far we’ve come!” declared Director Pete Rahn as he touted the dramatic improvement of the state’s transportation system and the department itself during his annual State of Transportation address. He also emphasized future challenges, including a big decrease in funding coming in 2010 and an $18 billion gap between transportation needs and projected funding. “The public has filet mignon expectations, but MoDOT has Filet O’ Fish funding,” Rahn quipped. He said that MoDOT has earned the trust of Missourians by demonstrating credibility in the five years since the State of Transportation Address was created as an accountability measure. (See timeline on pages 2 and 3.) He said the proof is in the results, such as an amazing drop in roadway fatalities. “In 2006, there were 868 fewer deaths on America's roadways. Missouri accounted for 161 of those lives saved,” Rahn said during the speech to a joint session of the Missouri General Assembly. “That means that a state that makes up less than 2 percent of the nation's population accounted as compared to 44 percent just five years ago.” To keep the fatality numbers going down, he added, Missouri should adopt a primary safety belt law, and should never repeal the state’s motorcycle helmet law. Rahn highlighted other major initiatives, including the rebuilding of Interstate 64 in St. Louis and coming improvements to the Interstate 29/35 corridor in north Kansas City. He also emphasized MoDOT’s Safe & Sound bridge improvement program, which will improve 800 of the state’s most worn-out bridges in the next five years. But this sort of progress is threatened in the future, Rahn warned, due to several factors coming together in two years – revenue from Amendment 3 bonds drying up, future federal funding that’s projected to drop by 40 percent and the dramatically increasing costs of building and maintaining highways. “In 2010, these factors converge and the bottom drops out of Missouri's transportation funding,” Rahn said. “We go from a $1.2 billion construction program in 2005
continued on page 2

Members of the I-64 and Jefferson Street Bridge Teams were recognized by Director Pete Rahn during his State of Transportation Address for their outstanding efforts in handling two very challenging project.

for 19 percent of lives saved on America's roads. We led the nation in lives saved. In 2007, the great news continued . . . we experienced 118 fewer deaths on our roads.”

Rahn attributed the drop to recent road improvements, along with a big push from law enforcement and other safety partners. “In 2006, we delivered 2,200 miles of “With just one year of Better Roads, smoother, safer roads a full year ahead of Brighter Future completed, 78 percent of schedule,” he said. “We are now building our major roads are now in good condition

on that success with our Better Roads, Brighter Future initiative which will result in 5,600 miles of major roads with smooth pavement; brighter, wider striping; larger signs; rumble stripes; and, in most cases, a minimum four-foot paved shoulder all by 2012.

Shawn Schmitz

Honoring Employee Innovations
by Melissa Black
Coming up with a better way to get the job done – that’s what employees are doing through the first-ever Tool and Equipment Innovation Showcase to be held March 4 in Sedalia. “All employees can benefit from sharing best practices,” said Don Hillis, director of System Management. “This showcase is a great way to recognize all the good work and innovative ideas our employees come up with.” The showcase will feature innovative tools and equipment from all around the state that employees have developed. Categories for the statewide competition include: hand tools, non-fleet and fleet. Nine out of the 10 districts have had their own competitions and have chosen their top picks to compete on a statewide level in these three categories. The winners in the competition will receive more than just bragging rights though. One statewide winner in each category will bring back $10,000 for the district to use for other improvements; $2,000 will go directly to the winning team for their own use, or if the winner is an individual, they will receive $500. Each category will also have two honorable mentions that will be recognized with certificates for their efforts. “We have a lot of very inventive employees out there and we want to honor them, as well as put their great ideas to work,” Hillis said. “Anything that helps MoDOT employees work better, faster and cheaper is going to be a winner for all of us.” For more information will be available on the Solutions at Work Intranet home page at wwwi/intranet/or/Solutions/index.htm.

Corridor Project
The backbone of Missouri’s major highway network is our interstates. In 2008, MoDOT will place an increased emphasis on the maintenance and operation of its interstate highways by launching a new interstate highway maintenance plan. District 2 Engineer Dan Niec has been selected to lead the new statewide team. Six corridor engineers have already been selected and will officially begin operations in April. (See pages 10 and 13.) After MoDOT’s recent, significant investment to get our interstates in good condition, this team will help ensure they continue to look and ride keep them looking and riding good. Look for more details about the new plan in the April issue.

Inside

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Racing for a Good Cause
Upper management races tricycles to raise money for the 10-33 Benevolent Fund.

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A Grain of Salt
Winter weather puts a strain on District 1’s salt supply

Bridge Demo
District 4 razes the old Noland Road Bridge and starts on a new one

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In Your Face
Pastries help District 7 raise more ‘dough for charity

Battle Ground
District 8 Maintenance crews battle snow and ice

by Melissa Black

Missouri Roadsides Need Spring Cleaning
bags. People who helped clean up trash included MoDOT crews, Missouri Department of Conservation Stream Team members and other employees, AdoptA-Highway participants, incarcerated crews and other volunteers. Each year, MoDOT alone spends approximately $5.7 million to clear litter along highways throughout the state – mostly litter that people have thrown out vehicle windows. The Missouri Department of Conservation spends an additional $1 million a year to cleanup waterways and conservation areas. The more than 3,700 Adopt-A-Highway volunteer groups also spend countless hours on litter cleanup, but litter continues to line our roads and streams.

Everything looks better after a good No MOre Trash! Bash starting April 1. scrubbing, and Missouri’s roadsides “We are hoping for good weather this and waterways are no exception. Volunyear, and double the amount of volunteers can help make Missouri beautiful teers as we had last year,” said Stacy by cleaning up litter during the annual Armstrong, Missouri Department of Transportation, roadside management supervisor. In 2007, despite record cold in April, more than 10,000 volunteers collected over 72,000 bags of litter and numerous truckloads of larger items that wouldn’t fit into trash

bash 2008

“The ultimate goal of the Bash is to raise awareness about littering,” Armstrong said. “The money spent on clean-up could be used in many more productive ways like fixing potholes and improving roads.” The month-long Bash supports No MOre Trash!, a year-round litter prevention campaign established by the Missouri departments of Conservation and Transportation. To raise litter awareness during April, schedule a litter pickup, educate others about litter and/or conduct or participate in a litterfree activity visit www.nomoretrash. org. Any volunteers who report their activities will be recognized for their efforts with a lapel pin. Brochures to help you keep track of your cleanup or other activity will be mailed to all existing Adopt-A-Highway groups on or around March 1.

Five Things You Can Tell Your Neighbors About Emergency Projects
by Holly Dentner You never know when an emergency is going to happen, but you can guarantee that eventually it will. An emergency for MoDOT can be as basic as a downed utility line that blocks traffic for a few hours, or as complicated as the tanker explosion last November that resulted in the reconstruction of a bridge across U.S. Route 54 in Jefferson City. Either way, we’ve got a plan and tools in place to deal with emergency situations. Here are five things you can tell your neighbors about them: 1. Understand and assess the situation. When the tanker truck exploded on Route 54 last November, our employees were at the scene immediately after it happened. While emergency workers are responsible for containing the aftermath of the crash, we were there to see what needed to be done about traffic flow and assess damage to our property. 2. Communicate with the public. The nature of emergencies means that there will likely be a disruption or impact on traffic. It’s not enough to only focus on what’s wrong and how to fix it; we have to make sure that our customers are aware of the situation. When the tanker truck crashed under the Jefferson Street Bridge, we continually issued news releases, made frequent updates to our Web site, and even e-mailed all Central Office and District 5 employees to apprise them of the situation. 3. Figure out how to fix the resulting problem. Last April, District 5 had a different type of emergency when the earth under Route 100 near Hermann began to slide away, taking the road with it. Within just days we had determined the best plan of action and had crews there to remove the unstable material and repair the slide.

Cathy Morrison

4. Continue to follow the standard procedures for obtaining and inspecting materials. We can speed the process up, but we still negotiate for the lowest and most responsive bidcontinued from page 1 ders for contract work and materials.

State of Transportation Address

to a $569 million one. From the largest 5. If we need to, we can build it highway-building program in Missouri fast too. When the impact to our customers is so significant that stan- history to one where we will struggle to maintain roads.” He said the answer dard work schedules aren’t acceptis more funding. able, we ask our contractors and employees to work on an acceler“But, why should you trust us with more ated schedule. In both the Hermann money?” he asked. “Because we have slide and the Jefferson Street Bridge come a long way in just five years and reconstruction, crews worked we have shown you the results.” seven days a week. At the Jefferson Street Bridge the contractor worked To view or read the entire speech, visit www.modot.org/stateoftransportation. on a 24-hour-a-day schedule and finished the entire structure in less than one month.

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Look
2002-2008
2002 2003

how far we’ve come!
July 2003 New law requires annual MoDOT address to legislature.

November 2004 Missouri voters pass Constitutional Amendment 3, redirecting some highway user fees back to MoDOT. Funds used for Smoother, Safer, Sooner program, which improves thousands of miles of the state’s busiest highways. Missouri safety group establishes goal of reducing highway deaths to below 1,000 per year by the end of 2008.

January 2005 $800 million in Smoother, Safer, Sooner projects awarded. MoDOT creates Tracker, a performance-based system that tracks how the agency is delivering transportation improvements.

February 2006 “Progress You Can Feel” is the theme of the third State of Transportation Address.

August 2006 A new law creating penalties for injuring or killing workers in work zones and another that strengthens the requirements for children in booster seats take effect.

2004
February 2004 MoDOT Director tells legislators “a new day has dawned at MoDOT” in first State of Transportation Address.

2005
December 2004 MoDOT announces Smooth Roads Initiative – the first component of the Smoother, Safer, Sooner program funded by Amendment 3.

2006
February 2005 New MoDOT Director Pete Rahn delivers the second State of Transportation Address, telling legislators “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” May 2006 MoDOT completes installing median guard cable on Interstate 70 across the state, a measure that has reduced cross-over traffic deaths from 24 in 2002 to only one in 2007.

August 2002 Proposition B transportation funding measure fails by a threeto-one margin.

Customer Satisfaction 69% 64% 68% ‘99 ‘03 ‘05 75% ‘06 79%

‘07

March 2008

Connections

Teamwork Ensures Quick Finish of Jefferson Street Overpass
by Bob Brendel
Working around the clock, through periods of snow, ice and frigid temperatures, the construction crews got most of the attention for rebuilding the Jefferson Street Overpass over U.S. Route 54 in Jefferson City. The bridge was reopened to traffic Jan. 3, just 38 days after a tanker truck crash and ensuing fire damaged the structure in November and forced its replacement. But many MoDOT employees deserve a lot of credit as well for this project that normally would have taken months under the best conditions. "We are very pleased with the quick action by MoDOT employees and the contractor to reconstruct this bridge," said District 5 Engineer Roger Schwartze. “They worked tirelessly throughout the holiday season to ensure this bridge could be replaced and opened to traffic as quickly as possible.” During the press conference to mark the opening of the overpass, Director Pete Rahn also stated how proud Construction inspectors were on the scene all month, 24 hours a day/seven days a week during the rain, ice and snowstorms to ensure that all MoDOT specifications and safety standards were met during the process and no short cuts were taken.

Jefferson Street Overpass
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Construction Contract – Pace Construction Co., St. Louis – $878,000 Concrete Girders – Coreslab Structures, Marshall – $324,580 Reinforcing Steel – CarterWaters Corp., Kansas City – $41,935 Bearings – D.S. Brown, N. Baltimore, Ohio – $7,120 Fencing – D&S Fencing Co., Festus – $8,811 Total Project Cost – $1,260,446 MoDOT also furnished piling for the bridge foundation and improved pedestrian access by including a six-footwide sidewalk to replace the old bridge's four-foot sidewalk.

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Ice, sleet, snow nor nightfall ... nothing stopped the quick rebuilding of the Jefferson Street Overpass.

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he was of the MoDOT employees who worked on the emergency bridge project. The rapid repair was first aided by the swift work of engineers and technicians in the Bridge Division at Central Office. State Bridge Engineer Dennis Heckman said a team of 25 completed in six days what normally would have taken six months. Bryan Hartnagel, structural hydraulics engineer, was the structural project manager on the job. At the same time, District 5 designers were also hard at work designing approaches and preparing construction plans.

Maintenance handled all detours during construction and also during the incident itself, while Community Relations sent regular updates to media and customer service responded to many, many customers with information. In the end, many thanks go to all the employees that made up the Jefferson Street Overpass Team. As the saying goes, many hands make light work. Chalk this up as another great success for Team MoDOT.

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ShareLeave Program Helps Employees in Need
by Sally Oxenhandler
Each year, MoDOT employees open up their hearts and their annual leave and comp time balances to help co-workers members who have catastrophic or life-threatening illnesses or injuries and have used all of their leave time. The program gets some hours each fall from employees whose annual leave balances are over the maximum amount of time that can be accrued. But it’s not enough to keep the program running and fill all of the employees’ needs. The program receives about 40 applications a year for leave. Forms to donate or request leave can be found on our Intranet site, wwwi, under the Divisions/Business Offices tab. ShareLeave forms are also available on office computers under Microsoft Word. From the drop-down menu, select “File” and then “New.” Choose the MoDOT tab and scroll down to find the ShareLeave forms. You can even donate leave automatically each month. “Additional donations are always needed,” said Joe Pestka, administrator of aviation for the Multimodal Division. Pestka is one of the committee members who reviews ShareLeave requests and determines if they meet the necessary requirements. Other committee members are Dale Baumhoer, District 5; Jose Rodriguez, District 1; Sandy Fritz, District 6; and Deborah Stuart, District 8. The committee meets two to four times a year, but gets together by telephone or e-mail more frequently to discuss applications. You can contact committee members at Shareleave.Team.Members@modot. mo.gov.

Doing Good

through the department’s ShareLeave Program. The ShareLeave program allows employees to donate annual leave or compensatory time to help co-workers and their immediate family

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June 2007 A new national report shows Missouri jumping from 28th to 17th in state highway system performance from 2004 to 2005, and from 39th to 17th from 2000 to 2005. Missouri also has the nation’s third lowest administrative costs per mile, the report adds.

September 2006 Gov. Blunt and MoDOT unveil the Safe & Sound Bridge Improvement Program, which will repair or replace 802 of the state’s worst bridges.

January 2007 MoDOT unveils Better Roads, Brighter Future program, which will bring smoother pavement, brighter signs and wider stripes to the remainder of the state’s 5,600 miles of major roads.

Winner
November 2007 The Excellence in Missouri Foundation honors MoDOT with the 2007 Missouri Quality Award, putting the department on par with past winners like Boeing, Anhueser-Busch and Sprint. January 2008 Goal of 1,000 or fewer highway deaths reached one year early. Missouri had 978 traffic fatalities in 2007, the lowest number in 15 years.

2007
December 2006 MoDOT meets Gov. Blunt’s challenge and completes the Smooth Roads Initiative one year early. Median guard cable installation is completed on Interstate 44 from Oklahoma to St. Louis. As a result, cross-over traffic deaths have declined from 25 in 2005 to one in 2007. February 2007 Director Pete Rahn outlines the department’s progress in the fourth annual State of Transportation Address titled “Completed As Promised.”

2008
July 2007 MoDOT announces that since 2003 it has delivered $5.5 billion in road improvements within less than one-tenth of one percent of the budgeted amount using “radical cost control” – a series of cost-saving programs. Missouri leads the nation in reduced traffic fatalities for 2006, the federal government announces. Of the 868 fewer traffic deaths nationwide, Missouri accounted for 161 of them. February 2008 Director Pete Rahn delivers the fifth and final State of Transportation Address proclaiming, “Look how far we’ve come!”

March 2008

Connections

Living Our Values
by Sally Oxenhandler By now, we should all be familiar with the 17 value statements that define the framework within which we work. Here are a few examples. MoDOT will: n encourage risk and accept failure because we believe in getting better. n be responsive and courteous because we believe in delighting our customers. n empower employees because we trust them to make timely and in novative decisions. But just how good are we at putting our department values into play? Our senior managers examined that issue at a recent Strategic Advance and decided we could all use some tools to help us better live our values. “We agreed it would be helpful to have a toolkit of strategies to help employees ‘walk the walk, and talk the talk’ when it comes to living our values every day,” said Mara Campbell, Organizational Results director, whose division is heading up the effort. “We want to provide the resources that can help employees be better employees.”

The Work Environment team will be the first to tackle its assignment and will report its recommendations in March. The Work Process team will submit its findings in May, the Innovation team in July and the Customer Relations team in September. The team recommendations will not be mandatory, but will serve as guidelines for putting our values into play a little better.

and what we’re committed to doing is to give employees tools to help them be better at living our values.” It will also be hard to gauge how well the tools are received and used, Campbell said. Feedback will likely come in the form of perceptions and observations rather than statistics or measures. “We’ll continue to evaluate our values and strategies over the next six months,” said Campbell. “Then we’ll assess how well the initiative worked at the next Strategic Advance in November.”

To make it easier to identify strategic “Values are behavioral, so you can’t tools for each value, the value stateflip a switch and expect the change to ments were divided into four categories occur,” said Campbell. “What we’re – work environment, work processes, trying to accomplish with this exercise innovation and customer relations. Each division head and district engineer was then asked to identify an employee who positively represented our values. Those employees were by Jeff Briggs assigned to four teams that will each meet for one day to identify strategies With Amtrak ridership between St. we can implement to better exemplify Louis and Kansas City declining each our values. year, Missouri legislators must make a dramatic move to improve service, MoDOT officials say.

MoDOT Giving Amtrak Trains A Big Push This Session
new sets of tracks, called sidings, running parallel to existing tracks to allow oncoming trains to pass by each other rather than stop while the other passes, causing delays. Also included is an electronic on-time messaging service at Amtrak stations, showing when the next train is scheduled to arrive and how the schedule looks for that day. “The current level of service is unacceptable,” Weiler says. “Improvements like this are absolutely essential if we want to keep Amtrak as a viable transportation alternative in Missouri.”

2008 Mississippi Valley Conference Comes to Kansas City
The Missouri and Kansas Departments of Transportation will co-host the 2008 Mississippi Valley Conference on July 7-10, 2008, at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City. The conference theme this year is “Pioneering Transportation: Technology – Funding – Partnerships”– issues that greatly affect all of us in the transportation field. We will have excellent speakers focusing on these important topics, as well as other great conference features including:
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First-ever exhibition hall Special featured speakers Unique transportation-related tours Great jazz and barbecue at the Joint Host State Event

Registration fees are $295 for early bird (by April 1), $350 between April 2 and June 20 or $400 for on site registration. Guests of conference attendees can register for a $150. For more information about the conference and to register now, go to www. mvc2008.com.

“Amtrak passenger numbers are growing all across the country, except for Missouri,” said MoDOT Multimodal Operations Director Brian Weiler. “We had 208,000 riders in 2001, but only 144,000 last year. Many of the trains are late, sometimes several hours behind schedule, so it’s no wonder people don’t want to ride Amtrak in Missouri.” Freight rail congestion is the culprit, Weiler says. Amtrak shares its rail line with Union Pacific Railroad, and its many shipments can clog the tracks, pushing the trains behind schedule. To fix the problem, MoDOT is asking state legislators for more than $10 million for new tracks and other service improvements. Funding would provide

Afternoon golf tournament and premeeting evening reception

March Service Anniversaries
50 Years Paul E. Jungmeyer 35 Years Grace E.Tipton John W. Myers D5 Randall R. Fenton Larry K. Wischmeier Maynard J. Buschmeyer Janice S. Moore Joseph C. Rickman Gary W. Shisler Jacqueline L. Biele David E. Burle 15 Years Travis A. Mace Steve C. Armstrong Michael E. Bragg Keith W. Elliott John E. Fort Debra L. Bradshaw Margaret J. Burns Bethany A. Patten Kelly F. Ray 10 Years Egan D. Carter Robert A. Willis Danny L. Everts Lavonda C. Hughlon Gary L. Morgan Diana L. Dinwiddie Roger A. Brader David P. Backus David L. Scantlin Roberta L. Broeker Pamela O. Parker 5 Years Ronald D. Anderson Blake R. Nauman Donald A. Maddox Phyllis J. Edelman Anna K. Fleig D5 D5 D6 D8 D8 D8 CO CO Susan J. Nelson Rodney W. Hauser Michael J. Branham Dale Hendrickson Samuel E. Schafer David M. Ziegler William L. North Neil R. Wagner Jeffery M. Anderson William A. Stranghoner Jeannemarie Lebeau Karen S. Miller Catherine A. Scribner Amy M. Welch Christina L. Wilkerson D4 D5 D6 D6 D6 D6 D7 D7 D8 D8 CO CO CO CO CO

January Retirements
Name Connie Hale Flint Hibler Michael Hughes Jerry Lininger Paul Butler Ricky McCumber Ronald Perkins Keith Toney Beverley Palmer Sharon Claspill Henry Hentges Hattie Benner Lawrence Creech Charles Crull Linda Dower Gary Horstmann Georgiaann Kells John Kruse James Lott Stephen Jordan Tom Probert Joe Abercrombie Cecil Cameron Jimmie Haines Elmer Lowery Sammy Stephens Thomas Taylor Kenneth Weatherford Allen Barton Travis Cross Cecil Miller David Silveus Paul Kelly Mark Kross Charles McLaughlin Location D1 D1 D1 D1 D2 D2 D2 D2 D3 D5 D5 D6 D6 D6 D6 D6 D6 D6 D6 D7 D7 D8 D8 D8 D8 D8 D8 D8 D9 D9 D9 D9 CO CO CO Years of Service 23 31 24 16 22 29 16 31 10 19 34 19 24 30 27 33 21 12 30 29 34 34 30 34 35 35 37 34 30 31 28 31 33 29 15

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30 Years Richard L. Baker Gerald W. Coy Timmy R. Houdyshell Jacqueline R. Claxton Malcolm G. Babb 25 Years Jerry W. McKenzie William B. Sales Theodore E. Fox Robert C. Gummersheimer John A. McCulloch Danielle L. Nester Terry B. Poucher Bill J. Schnell Phillip G. Walka David A. Watkins James W. Hartman Floyd W. Conway William L. Sentman Donald W. Edgar Stephen D. Johnson Joseph W. Schroer 20 Years S. Teresa Hall Carla J. Howard Joseph S. Ferrante Billy G. Billings Nancy L. Capps Dale G. Durham John K. Elliott

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In Memoriam
Retirees Leland D. Fletcher Robert “Bob” T. Epperly Leslie “Les” T. Miller John E. Roberson John E. Martin Charles “Charlie” D. Williams Gilbert F. McMahan Bobby G. Sutton Charles “Chuck” R. Craig Donald W. Phillips William F. Durham Harold J. Dulle Norris V. Wells Harold R. Colyer Carl E. Meng Daniel “Danny” D. Monroe Donald M. Stumpff Walter W. Eaton CO D2 D4 D3 D6 D6 D6 D1 D4 D8 D6 CO D5 D2 CO CO D7 D7 Jan. 2 Jan. 3 Jan. 4 Jan. 7 Jan. 7 Jan. 7 Jan. 11 Jan. 17 Jan. 17 Jan. 17 Jan. 18 Jan. 19 Jan. 19 Jan. 20 Jan. 21 Jan. 26 Jan. 26 Jan. 29

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March 2008

Connections

Ac r o s s t h e St a t e

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Back to Normal
by Kristi Jamison
Although construction to reinforce the Central Office Distribution Center roof wasn’t expected to be complete until March, it was finished by the end of December and reopened more than a month early on Jan. 22. Verslues Construction was able to finish the work well ahead of schedule thanks to our ability to temporarily relocate the staff and contents of the Distribution Center, as well as the pool vehicles and all shuttle and motor pool staff. Good weather during much of the construction period also helped speed the project along. “The construction on the Central Office Distribution Center’s roof has made this area much safer for our employees and our customers,” said Jack Huddleston, stockroom supervisor. “With the staff and contents moved back into place, we are back to filling orders and receiving deliveries just like we did before.” All shuttle and motor pool staff, along with pool vehicle operations, are now back to their permanent location at 830 MoDOT Drive, too. As a result, it will once again be much easier for Travel Services staff to maintain pool vehicles and for you to pick one up. “On behalf of General Services and Travel Services, I want to thank everyone for being patient and understanding during this project,” said General Services Manager Rebecca Jackson. “I realize this temporary dislocation was an inconvenience, but this project was a success because of how everyone worked together.”

CentralOffice

Kiss the Pig Contest Takes Smooching to New Heights
by Raymond Kinard
If you work at MoDOT long enough, you will build quite a collection of memories. March 7 will be one of those memory-making days. At 8:30 a.m. at 601 West Main St., several of our managers will kiss a pig – all in the name of charity. To accomplish a new “tangible result” titled Kiss a Pig Before It Becomes Bacon, a select group of MoDOT’s management team has agreed to square off in an event to raise money for the Samaritan Center. (Keep reading. This is a true story, and the pig will be tested for steroids and then sent to Congress to lobby for fewer pork barrel projects.) The contest will consist of five groups of two contestants. Plastic money containers bearing a picture of each contestant will be placed at the different Central Office locations. The person in each group who raises the least amount of money will have to kiss the pig on March 7. The contest will run through 3 p.m. on March 6. Updated results will be placed on the Intranet every few days throughout the competition. Participating contestants are: Pete Rahn vs. Mara Campbell Roberta Broeker vs. Kevin Keith Don Hillis vs. Dave Nichols Mike Miller vs. Machelle Watkins Jan Skouby vs. Debbie Rickard Remember to vote early and vote often for your favorites so they do not have to kiss the pig. All money collected will be donated to the Samaritan Center to help with their ongoing efforts to serve Jefferson City’s less fortunate citizens. It’s a win-win event for everyone except the chap-lipped pig!

It’s back to work as usual. but in a much safer work environment, for employees at the Central Office Distribution Center.

Motor Carrier Services Earns Record Satisfaction Scores
by DeAnne Rickabaugh
They try and they try and they try and… it gets noticed! In a recent survey, 96.2 percent of motor carriers described themselves as satisfied or very satisfied with the service they receive from MoDOT Motor Carrier Services. Just under half, 49.6 percent described themselves as “very satisfied.” “We’re thrilled!” said Jan Skouby, Motor Carrier Services director. “MCS works very hard to help motor carriers comply with regulations and stay financially successful. Our team is exceptionally bright and enthusiastic. I couldn’t be more proud.” Each month, opinion surveys are mailed to carriers who recently worked with MCS. The results are reported quarterly. Besides overall satisfaction, carriers score the division on timely response, issue resolution, satisfactory outcome, respectfulness and a host of other service factors. Each work group in MCS receives individual score reports. In an interesting twist, the MCS Safety and Compliance team, who enforce regulations and have the unenviable task of placing unsafe companies outof-service or delivering other bad news, are rated just as highly as other sections. Comments provided by survey respondents are taken very seriously. Managers read all compliments and complaints and celebrate the former as they address the root causes of the latter. “We do understand, of course, that as customers experience great service, they learn to expect more and more. That’s fine with us. The better we serve carriers, the more successful their businesses can be. That’s healthy for Missouri’s economy,” said Skouby.

Shawn Schmitz

Employees can use a clever Intranet page designed to track the results of the Kiss the Pig Contest.

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From left, District 6 Engineer Ed Hassinger, Dave Nichols, Don Hillis and Kevin Keith took part in a friendly competition at the recent MAPA Annual Conference. The quartet raced on tricycles as onlookers placed bets on who would win, receiving a chance to win a prize in return. The race raised$19,000 for the 10-33 Benevolent Fund.

for more info
Connections Editor Phone E-mail 105 W. Capitol Avenue P.O. Box 270 Jefferson City, MO 65102 Kristi Jamison 573.526.2482 [email protected]

March 2008

Connections

Ac r o s s t h e St a t e

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Northwest

by M. Elaine Justus /photos by Holly L. Murphy
“A grain of salt” might be a metaphor for skepticism, but there is no doubt about how history has been seasoned by salt, including MoDOT’s own history. Whether it was mined from below the surface of the earth or evaporated from salt “pans,” salt was scarce. Scarcity made it precious, so as civilizations spread, salt became a principal trading commodity. pay was cut if he “was not worth his salt.” During the middle ages, spilling salt was considered a very bad omen (in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, “The Last Supper” Judas is shown with a container of salt spilled in front of him). Only casting a pinch of the spilled salt over your left shoulder (where evil spirits were said to reside) could break the bad luck spell.

Salt and Snow

As you can see, our salt reserves in the Northwest District are getting extremely low. This year’s weather has put an increased strain on our usage.

Knowing all that, is it any wonder that MoDOT values salt so highly and why we begin to stress when we start to run low? This year’s return to significant snow fall has caused the Northwest District to take a long, hard look at our salt usage. Like other districts, we started the winter season with what we thought were sufficient quantities: 28,000 tons of salt, 233,000 gallons of brine, 358,000 pounds of choride, 89,000 gallons of liquid chloride and 27,000 tons of abrasives. Even though salt mines are in operation all year round, it can
In addition to the increased inches of snow we received this year, the blowing conditions added to our challenge by creating drifts. The freezing and thawing that followed left us with alternating conditions of slush and ice, too. Proof, once again, that there is no such thing as a simple “snowstorm.”

be challenging when you run low on quantities in a difficult winter such as 2007-2008. Salt quality can also be an issue, but our materials people keep a very close eye on that. As we (hopefully) approach the end of this winter season, we have approximately 4,200 tons of salt remaining in our domes, with another 4,000 tons on order. Even though it’s too early to give an accurate estimate, fuel, labor and material costs for this year in the Northwest District are approaching $3 million. A significant impact on anyone’s operating budget.

Salt routes covered the globe. The wealth of Venice, Italy was built upon salt, which they traded for exotic spices. As early as the 6th century, salt was traded ounce for ounce for gold and cakes of salt were even used as currency. Salt comprised a portion of the pay given to Roman soldiers. Known as “solarium argentum” it was the origin of the word “salary.” A soldier’s

It was high salt tax required by Louis XVI that contributed to the French Revolution. In 1930, it was salt tax imposed by the British on India that led Mahatma Gandhi to lead his people to make their own salt which broke the rule of the British.

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The snowfall of early February impacted even the Northwest District’s Office Complex parking lot.

for more info
Community Relations Manager Phone E-mail 3602 North Belt Highway St. Joseph, MO 64506-1399 M. Elaine Justus 816.387.2353 [email protected] For all of its historical significance, there is no fancy way to move salt. You scoop it. . . and then you dump it into a waiting truck.

March 2008

Connections

Ac r o s s t h e St a t e

D2

City of Kirksville May Partner Again with MoDOT “2 Continue Progress”
by Tammy Wallace
The citizens of Kirksville will soon have the opportunity to once again partner with MoDOT to expand the Route 63 corridor in north central Missouri. A project, known as Alternate Route 63, would construct an 8.5-mile, twolane roadway to the east side of the city of Kirksville. The possibility of this project moving forward came after a major project prioritization meeting last November, when the advisory committee’s scoring of statewide needs placed the project fourth on the list to receive Amendment 3 funding. “We are looking forward to having another opportunity to partner with the city of Kirksville,” said District Engineer Dan Niec. Alternate Route 63 would continue the upgrade of the corridor and provide much needed relief from congestion through the city of Kirksville, while reducing accident rates that are well above the statewide average. The estimated total cost of the project is $33.5 million. The district previously invested $5 million in right of way costs in 1996. To fund the remaining $28.5 million, a 75/25 cost-share proposal between MoDOT and the city of Kirksville is being considered. The city of Kirksville would provide an estimated $7.1 million towards the project. The funding for their portion of the cost-share would come from extending a current economic develop-

NorthCentral

Major Projects Brochure Gives Motorists a Heads Up
by Tammy Wallace
It’s never too early to start thinking about the upcoming construction season. District 2’s Major Projects brochure is made available to give motorists a heads up on construction projects in north central Missouri. The brochure is posted on the MoDOT District 2 Web site and copies are available through our Customer Service Center. Six of our major projects will be showcased with their own web page and three of these will be under construction this year. Like the Route 36 rehabilitation and the two Route 63 fourlane projects in 2007, customers can view detailed project status information, construction schedules, photos and more on these major projects once the construction season is up and running. Three future projects are being included to keep customers updated on the status of upcoming improvements. The featured projects are: n Route 36 Expansion n Route 63 Rehabilitation n Glasgow Bridge n Miami Bridge n Alternate Route 63 n Safe & Sound Bridge Program All roadwork in our district, both construction and maintenance, is listed by county on the web site. Information on our roadwork site is updated daily, and once the construction season gets under way our major projects will be updated as changes occur.

ment tax for an estimated period of six years. The current tax was passed overwhelmingly by voters in 2002, when the city entered a 70/30 cost-share with MoDOT to help fund the expansion of Route 63 to four-lanes from Kirksville to Macon. On April 8, the citizens of Kirksville will have the opportunity “2 Continue Progress” by extending the current tax to fund the project. If the tax is passed, it will be the second time the city has cost-shared a major project of statewide significance with MoDOT. Visit the District’s Web site to print a copy of “The Facts” brochure, and to watch the progress of the project. Laclede Mayor Karen Collier brought the issue to MoDOT’s attention and Sen. Brad Lager worked with the railroad and MoDOT to provide this improvement to the area. “I am glad that we were all able to work together to make this improvement, said Sen. Lager. “The city has worked toward the removal of the bridge span for some time and I am grateful for the efforts of MoDOT and BNSF to get the project completed.” The removal of the span will allow larger trucks to travel Route 5 without having to detour around the area as they had in the past.

A Little Off The Top Please
by Tammy Wallace
Sometimes seemingly small projects can give big benefits to motorists. District 2 recently completed improvements to a section of Route 5 in Linn County near Laclede by removing the center span of an overhead railroad bridge over Route 5. The bridge, no longer in use by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway who had removed the track quite some time ago, had a low vertical clearance of 13’9”. To upgrade the low clearance, which prohibited many larger vehicles from traveling this route,
The crane carefully removes a section of the old bridge.

MoDOT crews removed four 35-foot long concrete panels of the bridge weighing 97,000 pounds each. A 90ton crane, a wrecker with two 35-ton hoists and a dozer were used to move the heavy concrete beams. Bridge Engineer Scott Stephens oversaw the project while Regional Maintenance Supervisor Scott Thompson coordinated all the crews in the field. It took the efforts of the bridge crew, concrete crew, special equipment operators, Brookfield Maintenance, Chillicothe Construction and a hired crane service to complete the project.

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for more info
Community Relations Manager Phone E-mail Route 63 P.O. Box 8 Macon, MO 63552 Tammy Wallace 660.385.8209 [email protected]

In just three days the work was complete and the road reopened to traffic. Now, large trucks have no problems clearing this section of roadway on Route 5 in Linn County. Here comes one now.

March 2008

Connections

Ac r o s s t h e St a t e

D3

Celebrating the Number 0
It’s not too often the number “0” is hailed as strong. Since the Northeast District was one of only two districts who had 0 loss-time incidents in 2007, management felt it was time not only for a smile, but a reward to go along with it! All employees were rewarded for their efforts by receiving a 20 oz. Coke Zero and a congratulatory message from District Engineer Paula Gough and Assistant District Engineer Dave Silvester. “Our employees have worked hard to reach this achievement, and while we can’t top that number for 2008, we will continue to work toward another zero this year,” Paula said.
Tom Threlkeld and April Fohey load Coke Zero sodas into his car for distribution to his employees.

Northeast

No Boundaries in Plowing Snow
In the traveling publics’ eyes, there is no border among districts. Now, there is no border within the district superintendent boundaries. “When the need is somewhere other than our area, we need to make sure we can respond,” explained Maintenance Superintendent Rodney Osbourne. This is why Rodney, working closely with Maintenance Superintendent Rick Ellison, sent some of his snow plow team from the north to the south. “We weren’t getting the weather they were, so I was asked to help out,” said Bobby Newman of the Memphis maintenance facility, located only 10 miles from the Iowa border. Bobby said he enjoyed having a change of scenery, yet he and co-worker Dale Yearns were on a mission. “We did what we were supposed to do and went home,” he said. Along with the two trucks from Memphis, Wayland crew members Bill Nobles and Mark Sisson also made the trip to help out. Tom Threlkeld, another maintenance superintendent, sent assistance to Rodney’s area just a few weeks ago. “We did some shifting to cover for one of our trucks that had caught fire and appreciated the help,” Rodney said.

The sodas were served with a WOW of a smile.

Several Recognized for Solutions
With eight entries submitted in the Tool and Equipment Challenge, the team of judges took to the road to actually see how the entries worked and visit with those who came up with the ideas. “It was tough to narrow it down to three, and we really appreciate everyone’s desire to improve efficiency,” said Assistant Maintenance and Traffic Engineer Jason Shafer. The three winners pictured were showcased in Sedalia March 4. Winners of the showcase are being featured at the State Maintenance Superintendent meeting in April.
Terry Burris and Randy Grote, from the Bowling Green maintenance facility, show off a sign installation template that makes it easier to put up the telspar posts. Joe Collins was also on the template team.

Memphis crew workers Bobby Newman and Dale Yearns traveled south to help plow snow.

Hermann Bridge is Coming Down
While the new, wider Bond Bridge is being enjoyed by the many travelers on Route 19 near Hermann, the old bridge looms within arm’s reach of the new structure. Not to worry, though. It is slated to be removed by July 1. According to Resident Engineer Martin Lincoln, the contractor is removing the deck as weather allows, and he expects they’ll begin imploding the trusses sometime in late March. “We are anxious to see the results since the old bridge is so close to the new one,” he said. A ‘Let’s Have a Blast’ tailgate party is being planned for those employees who spent tireless hours keeping the old bridge functioning until the new bridge opened in the summer of 2007.

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Bruce Bryson and David Powell are pictured here with the ‘horse rut filler’ they and Jon Brown, all from Centralia maintenance, developed to fill in grooves left on the road by our Amish transportation and heavy trucks.

MoDOT photographer Cathy Morrison took this picture of the deck removal from the new Bond Bridge without a telephoto lens! The contractor expects to begin imploding the structure in the spring.

for more info
Community Relations Manager Phone E-mail Route 61 South P.O. Box 1067 Hannibal, MO 63401 Marisa Brown 573.248.2502 [email protected]

Tony Grote, Scott Miller, Pat Luebrecht and Rob Grummel proudly display their laydown machine with a retrofitted auger. The auger keeps the treatment mixed and flowing so there is more progress on the road.

March 2008

Connections

Ac r o s s t h e St a t e

D4

KansasCityArea

Collaborated Effort Makes Bridge a Reality
by Kerri Lewis
After months of collaboration and planning among MoDOT, the Chamber of Commerce, and area businesses, one of the Independence area’s most significant bridges is being rebuilt. The Noland Road Bridge is the main north-south artery for the city of Independence and carries more than 28,000 vehicles per day. At more than MoDOT proposed two options for the reconstruction of the bridge to the interested parties. The first option required partial closure of the bridge, or staged construction. This would require limiting traffic to single lanes across the bridge and partial ramp closures, causing significant congestion and traffic delays along Noland

Demolition begins on the more than 40-year-old Noland Road Bridge. Traffic along Interstate 70 was rerouted to the entrance and exit ramps while crews began taking down the bridge.

traveling public, MoDOT closes bridges at Condition 2 levels. MoDOT could replace up to five Condition 3

open for access to the interstate. Bridge construction will take no more than 90 days to complete. After reviewing each option, city officials and business owners came to an agreement with MoDOT. They found that bridge demolition and complete replacement would be the best alternative. And what goes up must come down: demolition took place on Feb. 16. Traffic along I-70 was rerouted to the exit and entrance ramps at Noland Road from Saturday to Monday morning to ensure the safety of those traveling along the interstate during demolition. The Noland Road Bridge has been removed and construction of the wider and safer bridge has begun, scheduled to be completed no later than May 18. Thanks to the cooperative efforts made by the city of Independence, much of the community was notified about the upcoming bridge closure. Several public meetings were held to answer questions and provide updates about the project. Collaboration and cooperation among the local community, businesses and city officials proved to be eminent during the design process and has provided a positive outcome for all involved.

Interstate 70 is buried beneath the rubble as crews bring down the bridge piece by piece.

40-years-old, the bridge has begun deteriorating; therefore, creating the need for complete bridge replacement. The decision to replace the bridge was easily agreed upon, as the need was evident; however, deciding what course of action to take to build the new structure took a little time and cooperation with city officials and business owners. MoDOT met regularly with the city of Independence and businesses over the past year to come to an agreement. Due to the amount of commercial property along this stretch of roadway, including car dealerships, restaurants and a high school, many were concerned about the affects replacing the bridge would have on the area.

Road. Also, Interstate 70 would be affected with reduced lane widths and some possible lane closures. Construction would take up to 20 months to complete, creating a cost of more than $12 million. The second option, MoDOT’s preferred option, would close the bridge completely for demolition and construction. This method would be much safer and efficient. It would provide less impact to the 120,000 daily Interstate 70 motorists, creating less I-70 congestion and protection for construction crews. It would reduce the costs to $9.5 million, increasing taxpayer value. Approximately 200 Kansas City-area bridges are in Condition 3 (serious) or Condition 4 (poor). For the safety of the

rural bridges with the funds saved if construction is completed under full closure. Traffic would be required to bypass the bridge completely, limiting access to Noland Road from the north and south of I-70. However, during construction, the ramps would remain

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for more info
Community Relations Phone E-mail 600 NE Colbern Road Lee’s Summit, MO 64086 Kerri Lewis 816.622.6328 [email protected] An empty space remains where the bridge once stood. Even the wicked winter weather couldn’t keep crews from completing demolition on time. Interstate 70 opened as scheduled on Feb. 18.

March 2008

Connections

Ac r o s s t h e St a t e

D5

Central

by Holly Dentner

New Alternatives Presented for Whitton Expressway
told me we had some good ideas, but our consultant is still gathering all the comments to get an overall consensus of their thoughts.” The study team will continue to evaluate each alternative and work toward determining a single preferred alternative. They have to undertake a more detailed analysis of the impacts and costs for each alternative and work with the advisory committee to find the alternative with minimal impacts. “We hope to develop the preferred alternative by summer 2008,” said Dusenberg. “At that time we’ll have a public hearing to present the public our recommendation and take their comments on it.” The environmental study does not guarantee funding for the Whitton Expressway. In fact, it will take further discussions between the county, city and MoDOT to determine where and when funding might be available. No MoDOT funding has been set aside at this time for the project. The study area extends along the Ex-

About 100 people attended a public meeting on Jan. 29 when MoDOT, Cole County, and the city of Jefferson, working with HNTB Corporation, unveiled the reasonable alternatives for the Whitton Expressway Environmental Impact Statement. The public got its first look at the alternatives that would address connectivity for travelers on the Expressway, also known as U.S. Route 50/63, through the downtown area. The environmental study’s purpose is to safely and reliably improve mobility, reduce traffic congestion and enhance access to the Missouri State Penitentiary redevelopment site. The seven reasonable alternatives vary from a viaduct over a section of the existing highway to new overpasses, roundabouts and extensions of certain city streets. The study team has a lot to consider with each alternative, though. “Many of these alternatives may have an impact to the downtown area and the southside businesses in Jefferson City,” said Mike Dusenberg, district planning manager. “Most people at the meeting

A snowy evening didn’t stop 100 people from attending the latest Whitton Expressway public meeting. Senior Historic Preservation Specialist Karen Daniels talks with a few locals about the Expressway study purpose and need.

pressway from just east of the U.S. 54/63 tri-level interchange to east of the Eastland Drive interchange. It also extends to McCarty Street on the north and approximately Dunklin

Street to the south. Maps of the alternatives and information from the public meeting are available on the district’s Web page, www.modot.org/central.

by Holly Dentner

Special Team to Focus on I-70 Upkeep
MoDOT has reorganized the way we manage Missouri’s interstates by creating a new team of interstate corridor engineers. Effective April 1, the engineers will be responsible for making sure our interstates ride smooth and look good. There are six interstate engineers across Missouri and each one is responsible for all interstate highways in his or her region. Erik Maninga assumed the central Missouri position and now works out of the Columbia maintenance facility in District 5. He is responsible for Interstate 70, from Oak Grove to Foristell. That’s an approximately 180-mile stretch.

Around the District
Area Engineer Alan Trampe uses Buckle Bear to teach seat belt safety to preschoolers at Trinity Lutheran in Jefferson City.
Holly Dentner

Kristin Gerber

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Intermediate Construction Technician Randy Lamons and Senior Construction Inspector Doug Thomas look over plans at the Route 50/63 City View Drive Interchange project in Jefferson City.

special crew will only focus on pavement repair. “Other maintenance issues will be handled by the regional maintenance crew that normally covers that part of the state,” said Maninga. “Things like mowing, trash pick up, and snow removal are still their responsibility.” Jobs that are too big for the pavement repair crew will be assigned to an “oncall” contractor. The bid letting for oncall contractor was scheduled for the first of March. The contractor will also work on a timeline to address whatever repair is necessary. Erik will also be involved in the State Transportation Improvement Program, or STIP, planning for future interstate improvements. “It’s all about meeting and exceeding our customers’ expectations for how the interstate operates,” said Erik.

“My primary duty is to drive the corridor on a regular basis and identify items that need attention,” said Maninga. “I am responsible for consistency along the I-70 corridor in our level of service, maintenance needs, incident management or anything involved with the interstate.” Erik will manage a special pavement repair crew that specifically works on I-70 pavement work. When he spots something that needs work, he assigns it to the pavement crew and they’ll have a set timeline to resolve the issue. While his job is to keep an eye on anything involving the interstate, the

for more info
Community Relations Manager Phone E-mail 1511 Missouri Boulevard P.O. Box 718 Jefferson City, MO 65102 Kristin Gerber 573.522.3375 [email protected]

Cathy Morrison

March 2008

Connections

Dwane Vandelicht

Ac r o s s t h e St a t e

D6

Daniel Boone Bridge Repairs Underway
by Andrew Gates
MoDOT maintenance crews closed westbound Interstate 64/Route 40 between Long Road in St. Louis County and Route 94 in St. Charles County to complete bridge repair work on the Daniel Boone Bridge on March 1 and 2. The entrance ramp from Chesterfield Airport Road to I-64/Route 40 was also closed during those times. Work may require the road and bridge to be closed March 8 and 9 as well. “The recent inspection revealed some issues that need to be addressed and we are taking precautionary measures,” said Karen Yeomans, MoDOT’s West County Area Engineer. “MoDOT is being very cautious with our actions to keep our bridges as safe as possible. We want to ensure motorists that MoDOT’s number one priority is the safety of the people who travel on our highways.” The work allowed crews to complete the maintenance work scheduled for the bridge late last year. This work was required to ensure the bridge remains serviceable as the inspection revealed further deterioration in the steel structure of the 73 year-old bridge. The scope of the work was determined when bridge inspectors, using the under-bridge inspection truck, inspected the Daniel Boone Bridge in August 2007.

St. LouisArea

Congrats to Tool and Equipment Winner
by Kara Price
District 6 is proud to announce its winner of the 2007 Tool and Equipment Challenge. Rick Schneider, Franklin County maintenance superintendent, is the district’s winner for his best practice of a wing plow mounting cart. This solution at work is made out of an old arrow trailer and needed around $100 in hardware, which took one day to fabricate. It had a ring welded at the center of gravity on the wing plows. Schneider will compete in the statewide competition at the March Innovation Challenge Showcase in Sedalia. Each of the first-place winners will receive $10,000 for their district’s maintenance budget. All other entries will be sent to Solutions at Work, an employee-recognition program designed to collect, evaluate, document and communicate best practices that are delivering improved results within MoDOT.

A wing plow mounting cart wins the district Tool and Equipment Challenge.

Vehicles driving westbound on Interstate 64/Route 40 on the Daniel Boone Bridge over the Missouri River..

The wing plow mounting cart picks up the balanced plows allowing one person to handle the plow easily to align the mounting pin. It will also allow plows to be mounted or dismounted anywhere and was first implemented in January 2006. This best practice benefits MoDOT in making the task of working with these plows safer by not using a loader or forklift. This keeps personnel from getting between trucks and equipment as well as out from under loader buckets or forks. The wing plow mounting cart also saves time where mounting or dismounting a plow can be done in half the time because it is much easier to align the mounting holes.

The maintenance department applauds Schneider for his best practice and wishes him good luck in the statewide competition. District 6 thanks all participants helping find better, faster or cheaper ways to get work done and for helping make MoDOT the best it can be. Look forward to the 2008 Tool and Equipment Challenge where your best practice may qualify for an award and be used throughout the state. More information is soon to come. Thanks for helping make MoDOT a world-class organization!
A look at the Daniel Boone Bridge in West County.

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for more info
Community Relations Manager Phone E-mail 1590 Woodlake Drive Chesterfield, MO 63017 Yvonne Elliott 314.340.4524 [email protected]

March 2008

Connections

Ac r o s s t h e St a t e

D7

Southwest

Taking It in the Face for a Good Cause
by Wendy Brunner-Lewis

Pie Throwing Raises Additional $250 for MSECC

The last of the pies were thrown Feb. 1 as part of a District 7 Missouri State Employees Charitable Campaign (MSECC) fundraiser. District Engineer Becky Baltz and Assistant District Engineer Dan Salisbury got their pies thrown before Christmas, but due to illnesses and a change in plan on who would throw pies at the remaining MSECC committee members, the rest were postponed until February. Committee members were Baltz, Salisbury, Support Services Manager Patti Radley, LeAnn Hagee in Traffic, Tracy Tate in Administration and Kim Watson in Risk Management. Some employees who weren’t on the committee volunteered or were volunteered to get pies thrown in their faces. District Safety and Health Manager Gary Clinton was volunteered, and Community Relations Manager Lori Marble and Senior Right of Way Specialist Mendi Allgood agreed to have pies thrown at them if Clinton raised $100. Casey Fairchild in Design upped the ante by saying he’d join if Clinton raised $200. Employees raised $250.

• Casey Fairchild, Design, was pied by Keith Martin, Design, and Scott Bachman, Planning • Patti Radley, Support Services, was pied by Gary Clinton, Risk Management • LeAnn Hagee, Traffic, was pied by Tracy Tate, Administration • Tracy Tate, Administration, was pied by Jason Stewart, Traffic • Kim Watson, Risk Management, was pied by Scott Bachman, Planning • Mendi Allgood, Facilities, was pied by Andy Ellsworth, Right of Way • Lori Marble, Community Relations, and her flying monkey were pied by Daryl Weinkein, Traffic Of course, there’s a story behind Daryl Weinkein and Lori Marble’s flying monkey. It’s a stuffed monkey slingshot that screams when it flies. Weinkein doesn’t like screaming, flying monkeys. So the monkey got a pie in the face too. Thanks for helping us raise an additional $250 for the MSECC with the pie throwing!

Becky Baltz, Dan Salisbury, Gary Clinton and Patti Radley get “pied.”

Here is the pie list: • Becky Baltz, district engineer, was “pied” by Jim Eagles, Signing and Striping • Dan Salisbury, assistant district engineer, was pied by James

Renfro, Joplin Maintenance • Gary Clinton, Risk Management, was pied by Patti Radley, Support Services, and Andy Ellsworth, Right of Way

Employees Become Transportation Advocates
by Wendy Brunner-Lewis
Because our employees are our best public relations representatives, District Engineer Becky Baltz challenged all employees to spread the word about how many lives could be saved if everyone wore safety belts. This also familiarized employees with one of MoDOT’s Tangible Results: Advocate for Transportation Issues. It means to speak out in favor of transportation issues that have the potential to improve the safety and efficiency of our highways and multi-modal transportation options. “As a way to ‘break the ice’ and become used to advocating for transportation issues,” Baltz said, “This winter I’m asking every D7 employee to advocate for a key safety issue - using safety belts. “You may recall MoDOT’s Blueprint for Safety, created in 2004, challenged us to reduce our fatalities in Missouri to below 1,000 by the end of 2008,” Baltz year early. But did you realize 90 more lives could be saved each year with a primary safety belt law? That’s information we need to share.” District 7 employees told 225 people that safety belts save lives. Some The second and final task was for employees to spread the word about MoDOT funding. Baltz asked every employee to share with at least one person outside MoDOT the fact that while MoDOT has the 7th largest highway system in the United States, the funding we receive to maintain it is 44th among all the states. Employees contacted 200 people in February, and most thought MoDOT was doing a good job with the money it has. Comments were both positive: ”For the miles we have and the dollars we get, we’re doing a good job,” and negative: ”Next you will be asking for more money. The price of gas and groceries keeps going up and everyone has their hand out for more money.” “It’s not easy advocating for issues that aren’t always popular,” Baltz said. “I hope this helped our employees realize they are MoDOT to their families and neighbors, and that they can help spread the word on important issues.”

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“Tangible Results are what MoDOT’s customers expect the department to accomplish. These are the tangible things that MoDOT’s customers will see as the department fulfills its mission.”
continued. “At the time I remember thinking there is no way. Well, fortunately, I had to eat those words. With our total at 974, we’ll meet our goal a employees faced stubborn people who don’t want to wear a safety belt or they don’t want to be ordered to do so. Comments ranged from “Do you think I’m stupid? I always wear it!” to “I wear my seat belt and I think parents should have their children buckle up. But this is a free country and the government shouldn’t have the right to tell you whether to wear it or not.”

for more info
Community Relations Manager Phone E-mail 3901 E. 32nd Street Joplin, MO 64804 Lori Marble 417.629.3329 [email protected]

March 2008

Connections

Ac r o s s t h e St a t e

D8

SpringfieldArea

D8 at Work
Preparing to put up a new stop sign (above) at Sunshine Street (Greene County Route D) and Sieger Avenue in Springfield are Sunshine Maintenance Worker Ben Arnall, left, and Seasonal Worker Brandon Gates.
Bob Edwards

Balancing a tire while servicing a vehicle (top right) is District Garage Service Attendant Marlene Hale. Discussing drainage issues with a resident along Laclede County Route J in Conway (bottom right) is Land Survey Supervisor Rick McCallister.

New I-44 Corridor Engineer: Teamwork Will Be Crucial
by Bob Edwards
Districts along Interstate 44 in February established a “corridor engineer” under a new statewide interstate highway system maintenance plan. Five other corridor engineers have been put in place. They will cover interstates in the St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas as well as I-70, I-29/I-35/I229 and I-55/I-57/I-155. Becker The plan has been developed by a statewide team headed by District 2 District Engineer Dan Niec. The goal, with consistency and high quality in mind, is to build on MoDOT’s Smooth Roads Initiative and keep Missouri’s interstates smooth, safe and visually appealing. “It’s going to take teamwork to meet that goal,” said District 8’s Bob Becker, the first-ever I-44 corridor engineer. His role is of a big-picture nature, not
“Talkin’ Transportation” Call-In Radio Show KWTO 560 AM, Springfield 10-10:50 a.m. Wednesdays radiospringfield.com

micro-management, he said. The key to success is cooperation and coordination, from district engineers to local maintenance crew workers, he said. Becker started his duties in midFebruary as he wrapped up his work as Southern Area engineer, a post he’s held for 4-1/2 years. The 15-1/2-year MoDOT veteran will work out of Springfield in conjunction with districts 7, 9 and 6 to oversee maintenance and repairs, construction and traffic issues along 239 miles of I-44 between the

Missouri-Oklahoma line and Route 30 at St. Clair. In District 8, Central Area Engineer Burt Pitchford has taken over from Becker the responsibility for Christian, Stone, Taney, Douglas and Ozark counties and will work out of Branson. Northern Area Engineer Jim Blackburn, continuing to work out of Buffalo, has taken over Greene County from Pitchford. “We will not be adding any new management positions (in District 8) to

support the corridor engineer concept,” said District 8 District Engineer Kirk Juranas. That’s because Blackburn and Pitchford are increasing their own workload as Becker shifts to take on the corridor duties. “The AEs are stepping up.” One of the first tasks the new corridor engineers were called upon to perform was to set priorities for interstate system work to add to the next Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.

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Snow Duty
Bob Edwards 417.895.7713 [email protected] Among District 8 workers battling snow and ice in January and February are (clockwise from left) Roadside Senior Maintenance Worker Toby McHaffie plowing Route 65 out of the Ozark shop, Fair Grove Senior Maintenance Worker Gary Mawhiney plowing Route 125 near Strafford and Ozark Senior Maintenance Worker Tom Hayes refueling between runs.

for more info
Community Relations Manager Phone E-mail 3025 E. Kearney P.O. Box 868 Springfield, MO 65801

March 2008

Connections

Bob Edwards

Ac r o s s t h e St a t e

SouthCentral Three Innovations Rise to Top in Tool and Equipment Challenge
Three South Central District innovations recently were submitted to the statewide Solutions At Work Tool and Equipment Challenge. These submissions came from around the district and, according to General Services Manager Jacky Traw, were impressive. ted a wing attachment for a tractor blade. The attachment is designed to funnel material from the road to the edge rut. It fell under the fleet innovations category with a shoulder work emphasis. This innovation reduces the need for backing up while performing work. Less material is wasted as it is placed in the edge rut as opposed to the ditch or in the grass. Benefits include the creation of an attractive, uniform roadside, and a reduction in down time, labor and wasted materials.

D9

Building Revenue Online
Putting Gov Deals to Work
The days of spending hours preparing for conventional auctions are in the past for the South Central District. These events, while popular with the public, required extensive planning and cost associated with organizing all of the equipment and materials to be sold. In 2005, when Gov Deal accounts were set up for the districts, auction organizers in the South Central District were unsure how this new idea would go over with their customers. Only $267 were collected that year. Much has changed. In 2007, more than $149,000 was added to the district budget thanks to the sale of items no longer in use. Everything from a non-functioning push mower selling for $1 to a three-bedroom home to be moved from right of way for a whopping $4,300 has been posted. The revenue continues to grow with more than $45,000 in goods already sold in January of this year. Procurement Supervisor Gloria Perkins and her staff have worked hard to build awareness of the site. They began by introducing the concept at the final public auction and worked with Community Relations staff to alert interested individuals of postings through the E-Updates system. “We were looking for a way to drive people to the site as we posted items they may be interested in,” Perkins said. “By leaving it to them to check the site periodically, they might miss an item and we might miss a sale. The E-Updates system has made it easy to notify all subscribers with one e-mail that a new item they may want or need has been posted.” Perkins said she has been surprised by the sale of some of the items such as a large quantity of drafting paper and the three-bedroom house. Equipment items of particular interest have included trailers, loaders and tractors. Other best sellers, wood posts and on-site scrap metal piles. The range of items posted is broad and employees

Category: Non-Fleet Innovation Emphasis Area: Signing
Rolla Maintenance is credited with creating a sign-mounting system that greatly decreases highway worker exposure to high-speed traffic. The system was submitted under the nonfleet category with an emphasis in signing. It utilizes mile markers, spaced every two-tenths of a mile, to space work zone signage without having to measure. This placement also enhances visibility and mobility throughout the work zone. They are far less likely to succumb to strong winds, which is typical with the conventional systems that sit on fold-up stands and have to be sandbagged. A second version of this innovation can be attached to guardrail or guard cable posts. This allows for needed flexibility. Both systems are noted for time and money savings, simplification of work and improved on-the-job safety.

Category: Hand Tool Innovation Emphasis Area: Pavement Maintenance
Submitted under the hand tools category with emphasis in pavement management was an oil distributor wand developed by the Salem Maintenance Crew. This innovation is particularly beneficial in performing the maintenance function of crack sealing. Employees have used hot oil pots during operations in the past. These heavy, cumbersome pots often resulted in shoulder strain. Another effective, but time consuming method involved attaching a single wand to a distributor. The innovation developed by the Salem Maintenance Crew allows for three wands to be connected to the distributor. It saves time and improves safety for employees. All three innovations currently are being evaluated statewide.

are beginning to realize many items that have been taking up valuable storage space have value to someone. For instance, non-functional items are many times purchased for parts. Posting is a quick process. Perkins said an item could be put on Gov Deals the same day her office is notified. “Surplus auctions are worked in with other procurement activities,” she said. “At times, we may need to delay for contract development or bid openings but we strive for fast service.” When asked what lessons have been learned through this process, Perkins responded the effort is worth it. “Posting items is always worth our efforts since it brings revenue back to our district,” she said. “You never know the needs of others.”

Category: Fleet Innovation Emphasis Area: Shoulder Work
Maintenance Crew Leader Jonathan Estes, Houston Region, and Senior Maintenance Crew Leader Leonard Miller, Willow Springs Region, submit-

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District 9 Recognized for Environmentally-Friendly Bridge Design
District Design Engineer Mike Wake recently attended the American Council of Engineering Companies of Missouri (ACEC) awards banquet to jointly accept an award for the Route 17, Texas County bridge project. He joined Kevin Eisenbeis of Harrington and Cortelyou, Inc., and MoDOT Bridge Liaison Engineer Joyce Foster at the event. According to information shared by the emcee of the event, the project showcased innovative engineering in an essential highway safety improvement while preserving precious natural resources. Replacement of the bridge over the Jacks Fork River involved realignment in an area designated by Ozark National Scenic Riverways. Large rock cuts were required and in order to preserve the deep earth fill and trees at the top of the excavation, a 30-foot high wall of gabion baskets filled with rock was installed. The wall was carefully designed to blend in with the natural landscape. In addition, the bridge design included arched, steel beams with ornamental piers and railings. ACEC said through innovative engineering and client-assisted design, safety was improved and disruption to parkland was minimized. Requirements for public involvement were met while preserving the integrity of the surrounding natural environment.

for more info
Community Relations Manager Phone E-mail 910 Old Springfield Road P.O. Box 220 Willow Springs, MO 65793 Ann Marie Newberry 417.469.6203 [email protected] Pictured, from left: Eric Neprud of Harrington and Cortelyou, Inc., District Design Engineer Mike Wake, Bridge Liaison Engineer Joyce Foster and Kevin Eisenbeis and Josh Tarbell, both of Harrington and Cortelyou, Inc.

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Ac r o s s t h e St a t e

D10

Southeast

Wayne County Man Donates Money, Time and Energy to Clean-up Roadways in Southeast Missouri
Most people do not think picking up trash is fun. But for Richard McAllister of Piedmont, cleaning up litter is his passion. McAllister first adopted a two-mile stretch of highway along Route 49 in Wayne County in 2002. Since then, the retired McAllister has continued to adopt and now cleans almost all of northwest Wayne County. McAllister picks up approximately 100 miles of roadway every two weeks—that’s roughly eight miles a day. “When you drive into the northern part of Wayne County, you don’t see glass bottles and trash along the roads,” said Maintenance Superintendent Butch Anderson. “Richard’s work is very evident. To clean 100 miles of roadway every two weeks is quite an achievement.” McAllister isn’t all alone, however. In 2006, he hired Kerry Deckard to assist him in picking up litter along Wayne County’s roadways. He also created Citizens Against Trash, a non-profit group, to raise money and help clean up Missouri, although some of the funding comes from McAllister’s own bank account. Because of his devotion, McAllister received the Adopt-A-Highway Appreciation Award. He was honored at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Piedmont in January. “We’re proud of Richard’s contributions,” said Anderson. “We were honored to present him with an award of appreciation for all his hard work in the Southeast District.” McAllister has become one of the top adopters in the state, but still has loftier goals. He says he would like to eventually pick up all of western Wayne County.

(l-r) Maintenance Supervisor Larry Nicholson, Maintenance Superintendent Butch Anderson, Area Engineer Lindell Huskey, Roadside Manager Mark Aufdenberg, Kerry Deckard (assists with Adopt-A-Highway efforts in Wayne County), Roadside Management Supervisor Stacy Armstrong, Richard McAllister (Adopt-A-Highway Appreciation Award recipient for Wayne County Adopt-A-Highway efforts), Trooper Richie Ayers

Local Youth Center Recognized for 20 Years of Adopt-A-Highway Service
An award presentation ceremony was held Jan. 16 to recognize the AdoptA-Highway efforts of the W.E. Sears Youth Center in Poplar Bluff. The W.E. Sears Youth Center is one of only four groups who have been cleaning up Missouri through the Adopt-AHighway program since its beginnings in 1987. The youth center has picked up their 3.1-mile stretch of Route 67 in the Poplar Bluff area since 1987 and are still very active. The youth center was recognized with a service plaque for 20 years of Adopt-A-Highway dedication. To help reinforce the anti-littering message, MoDOT employees conducted interactive activities for the W.E. Sears Youth Center students prior to the award presentation.

Safety Awards Given in D10
Employees without a lost time accident were recently honored in District 10 with the MoDOT Long-Term Safety Award. Awards were presented to 15 District 10 employees at the district office in Sikeston. The district had a total of 285 years of combined service without a lost time accident.

20 Year Award Recipients: (l-r) Maintenance Crew Leader Gary Sager, Area Engineer Stan Johnson, Regional Maintenance Supervisor Don Riley (not pictured: Field Mechanic Tony Burrow).

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Maintenance Superintendent Butch Anderson, Roadside Manager Mark Aufdenberg and Roadside Management Supervisor Stacy Armstrong attended an award ceremony to recognize the Adopt-A-Highway efforts of the W.E. Sears Youth Center in Poplar Bluff. The youth center has been active with Adopt-A-Highway for 20 years.

15 Year Award Recipients: (l-r) Regional Maintenance Supervisor Ed Parsley, Senior Construction Inspector Ron Robertson, Intermediate Construction Inspector Lynn Smith, Resident Engineer Brian Holt; Senior Materials Technician Brian Frazier, Area Engineer Jeff Lambert (not pictured: Maintenance Supervisor Jerome Henson and recent Retiree Joe Steward).

30 Year Award Recipient, left, Maintenance Supervisor Roger Moyers (not pictured: Senior Maintenance Worker Dennis Benefield). 25 Year Award Recipient, right, Regional Maintenance Supervisor Gary Vaeth.

for more info
Community Relations Manager Angie Wilson Phone 573.472.6632 E-mail [email protected] 2675 N. Main Street P.O. Box 160 Sikeston, MO 63801

Recent Retiree in D10
Jerry Evans retired Feb. 1 after 12 years with MoDOT. Evans was a Senior Maintenance Worker in Sikeston Striping.

March 2008

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Connections
The mission of Connections is to be a monthly source of Missouri Department of Transportation news and feature articles that connect employees statewide. It is distributed to MoDOT employees and retirees. Missouri Department of Transportation P. O. Box 270 Jefferson City, MO 65102 573.751.2840 www.modot.org
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Doors Open to kcICON Project Office
story and photo by Joy Wasendor, kcICON Project
MoDOT staff members and the designbuild contractor for the kcICON project have joined together under one roof to fine-tune design plans in anticipation of starting construction on the Interstate 29/35 corridor this spring. “Having the designers and contractor in the same building with us has made it much easier to communicate and address the critical issues that need to be resolved before construction begins,” said kcICON Project Director Brian Kidwell. The 2,900-square foot kcICON Project office opened its doors in North Kansas City in late January and at peak activity will hold about 100 people, including representatives of Paseo Corridor Constructors – the joint venture partnership of Clarkson Construction, Massman Construction and Kiewit Construction. Design efforts are being led by Parsons and TranSystems Corporation. Although the official groundbreaking and start of construction are still a few weeks away, minor preliminary work to date has included utility relocations and geotechnical borings beneath the river and along the roadway to extract and test rock and soil samples. In February, the PCC team worked on finalizing its first design package, which will include roadwork both north and south of the existing Paseo Bridge. Construction of the new Christopher S. Bond Missouri River Bridge could begin as soon as this May or June. This new bridge structure is being built immediately east (downstream) of the existing bridge to maintain traffic flow during construction. In addition to this cable-stay, signature river bridge, the kcICON project includes upgrades to the Interstate 29/35 corridor from just north of the Route 210/Armour Road interchange to the northeast corner of the downtown loop, reconstructing the Armour Rd. interchange, building a collector-distributor road between Bedford Ave. and Levee Rd., constructing a single-point urban interchange at Front St. and rebuilding the Paseo on-ramp and off-ramp bridges over the highway. “Even though the existing bridge will remain open during construction, the amount of work to be done will mean significant impacts to the traveling public,” said Kidwell. These impacts will include intermittent interchange and ramp closures, highway lanes narrowed to 10-feet, lane closures during nonpeak travel times and traffic switches that will at times put both directions of Interstate 29/35 traffic in a head-tohead configuration on the same side of the highway. Look for more information on the progress of construction on the Web site, www.kcicon.com, or call the information hotline at 816-841-8888.

kcICON Project Director Brian Kidwell (left) and PCC Project Manager Bryan Wilkerson stand outside the new kcICON Project office.

Staying Sharp into the Golden Years
by Lauren Gress
As people age, they may experience changes in vision, limited mobility, slower reflexes, delayed reaction time, drowsiness and trouble judging distance or speed. It’s important to understand that growing older does not always mean giving up driving, but it may mean making changes in how and when you drive. To help senior citizens know how to stay sharp while driving, MoDOT is partnering with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Society on Aging to focus on older driver safety and community mobility. Cape Girardeau, Columbia, Kansas City, Springfield and St. Louis are home to a core set of new programs that address older driver safety. Trainings that have taken place this past year include: NHTSA Law Enforcement Module – This course should be taught by law enforcement to law enforcement. The course includes video, handouts, a simulated traffic stop and a group exercise to engage participants in this important topic.
Cathy Morrison

workshop for physicians and health care professionals co-sponsored by the Older Driver project of the American Medical Association. The program provides physicians and other health care professionals with the tools they need to assess and counsel older patients on medical fitness-to-drive. More than 625 people have already participated in educational programs in the last year. Other projects include:
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DriveWell Toolkit – The toolkit provides comprehensive information for planning, promoting and presenting public information events on older driver safety and community mobility. CarFit – This program is designed to give older drivers a quick but comprehensive check of how well they fit in their vehicle.

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Display creation for exhibits/fairs Ads created for local communities to promote older driver safety Fit to Drive brochure created in conjunction with Washington University Older Driver Workshop

Roadwise Review – This is a CDROM based program that older drivers can use to check their driving abilities – like visual, mental and physical responses – in a convenient and confidential fashion. Assessing and Counseling the Older Driver – This is an evidence-based

With these new programs in place, Missouri can work toward creating safer roadways as a larger percentage of its population begins to enter their golden years. For more information regarding Missouri’s older driver safety and community mobility program, visit www. modot.mo.gov/safety/OlderDriver.htm.

March 2008

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