Technical Specialties Award

Illinois Department of Transportation
Property Management

Team photo This award recognizes the Illinois Department of Transportation's (IDOT) use of technology to create a new and improved property disposal process.

The IDOT property disposal program reached a point where the costs of property disposals were excessive. The disposal program required keeping lists of persons and companies requesting notification of excess sales and demolition contract offerings. These lists were frequently outdated with many mailed notices returned as undeliverable. The process also required IDOT to advertise in local and state newspapers; this shotgun approach often failed to meet the interested parties needs. Further complicating this process is that IDOT is divided into nine highway districts with each district maintaining separate mailing lists and carrying out their own property disposal activities.

The IDOT reviewed their program and determined that improvements were necessary.

The solution was to create an Internet subscription service for IDOT property disposal. The first step was gathering all of the names and address of interested parties from the district lists and notifying them of the new method to continue receiving notices. The new subscription service provided customers e-mail notifications of excess property sales and disposals tailored to their interests. The service also allowed IDOT to maintain one centralized list instead of nine district lists and provided existing customers with the opportunity to update their own record to indicate address changes or changes in notification preferences. New customers were able to subscribe to future notices by simply entering information. The new and improved system be operational for more than two years and has over 350 subscribers. Customers access the system via IDOT's catalog pages, which constitute part two of IDOT's Internet expansion and development process.

The catalog is a list of properties available statewide and is divided by districts. The new catalog is dynamic and updated as properties are sold and new properties are made available. Each listing in the catalog provides the user with text information on property location, photographs, and a user-friendly map of sites and contact information for district office personnel who can provide additional information. The new catalog provides the public with a searchable record of previous IDOT property disposals that contains sales prices and related information and can also be used to research IDOT demolition contracts.

The new system has cut IDOT's costs for disposing of excess property, reduced IDOT man-hours, paperwork, created a centralized listing of property disposal information and provided customers with a database of sales and historical sales information. The system has also helped move excess properties back to local tax rolls as quickly and efficiently as possible. Additionally, the IDOT has used readily available technology to create a customer friendly system that not only allows it to more efficiently and effectively market and sell excess properties but it also provides the public with an available record of all past and present sales.

Contributors:

Illinois Department of Transportation | Zachary Taylor

Technical Specialties Honorable Mention Award

South Dakota Department of Transportation
Appraisal/Appraisal Review

Team photo This Honorable Mention Award recognizes the South Dakota Department of Transportation's Right of Way Program Appraisal Section for process improvement. The Appraisal Section responded to an agency challenge asking employees How can you do the work faster, better and cheaper?

The Appraisal Section considered their process for appraisal and appraisal review and identified several areas that would yield process improvement. A five pronged strategy was adopted by the Appraisal Section to improve their processes by:

Implementing an updated electronic appraisal and appraisal review software program,
Initiating problem solving sessions to identify and implement techniques to improve the appraisal/appraisal review process,
Implementing of performance measures to track timeliness and costs
Using of activity based storyboarding, and
Increasing use of team work as part of the process.

The process improvements resulted in an average workload increase of 50 percent that each appraiser/ reviewer handles during the year, a reduction in cost of each staff appraisal by $480, reduction in the cost of each fee appraisal by $570 and a reduction in the cost of each appraisal review by $123.

The appraisal section of the South Dakota Department of Transportation's Right of Way program has used technology and teamwork to reduce program costs, improve efficiency and improve accuracy.

Contributors:

South Dakota Department of Transportation Appraisal Section - Right of Way Program

Missouri Department of Transportation Outdoor Advertising Control

This Honorable Mention Award recognizes the Missouri Department of Transportation's (MoDOT) Outdoor Advertising Inventory and Permit System.

Digital photos of signs MoDot developed a new and improved computerized system for outdoor advertising control that implores the management of all outdoor advertising and junkyard control. The new system includes the following benefits:

An inventory of signs and junkyards with physical information and digital photos,
Provides sign and junkyard location information precisely on the state road system,
Allows signs and junkyards to be displayed on GIS system map applications,
Provides individual sign and junkyard information storage and retrieval capabilities,
Tracks new sign and vegetation permit applications and automatically generates letters, permits and other necessary documents,
Controls the billing process and interface with State Financial Management Systems, and
Tracks invoice delinquencies, enforces collections and makes reporting data available through Oracle software.

The new system also allows the MoDOT to:

Generate a monthly inventory of permits due for renewal in the counties with the route and location sequence, along with physical characteristics information, checked during inspection,
Provide detailed and summary reporting on all aspects of outdoor advertising and junkyard control,
Produce reports on business activity revealing such details as the distribution of renewals across the biennial renewal cycle, which allows MoDOT to balance and direct personnel resources, and
Control outdoor advertising and junkyards on regulated routes more effectively and efficiently.

Contributors:

Missouri Department of Transportation | Terry Sampson | Mark Schmidt

Florida Department of Transportation
Transportation Enhancement

Image of poster This Honorable Mention Award recognizes the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District Seven Right of Way Office for creative use of right of way skills and resources in the Ybor city acquisition, relocation and rehabilitation.

FDOT's District Seven Right of Way Office participated in a unique socioeconomic enhancement project when the Master Plan for improving the Tampa Interstate System directly impacted seventy structures eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Through innovative thought and coordination with a multitude of public and private agencies, the Right of Way Office became developer, investor and renovation specialist in a culturally and historically significant area. This project contributed to the revitalization and preservation efforts of the Ybor City National Historic District, the West Tampa National Register District, and the Tampa Heights National Register Historic District. The Project also created economic opportunities in a declining urban area and supported tourism development. To be successful, creative use of the Department's Right of Way resources and development of strong working relationships with various agencies was imperative. The regulatory coordination, cultural preservation techniques, processes, and creative use of FDOT resources developed for the project are exemplary.

FDOT faced many challenges requiring creative use of right of way skills and resources. The processes developed to support this endeavor were proactive, innovative, practical and positive for the community and agencies involved. The right of way staff's creativity, teamwork and innovation were key ingredients in making the Ybor City acquisition, relocation and rehabilitation a success for the FDOT and the community.