June 15, 2023

EDC-6: e-Ticketing

In 2019, the Georgia DOT (GDOT) partnered with industry to pursue the use of e-Ticketing. Unlike traditional paper tickets, e-Tickets allow contractors and inspectors to prepare for material arrival, helping contractors better predict delivery times and ensuring the paving operation doesn’t stop. It also improves ride quality because there are fewer joints where paving stops and starts. Over the past 4 years, GDOT and contractors have developed, piloted, and modified processes that have led them to the successful practice used today.

GDOT inspectors, like the one pictured here, can use their phones to accept e-Tickets for Hot Mix Asphalt and other materials being delivered. (Credit: GDOT)

GDOT’s use of e-Ticketing provides multiple safety benefits by removing DOT inspectors from harm’s way and reducing driver distractions. e-Ticketing also improves agency efficiency, providing real-time estimates of arrival and project yields. Additionally, GDOT can collect load shipment identification, placement, and associated bid item information in real-time. The automated process reduces documentation time by nearly one hour per paving day. Finally, e-Ticketing improves accuracy by fully integrating with other software, showing GPS location, times, and load material details.

The pilots began with asphalt, with the intentions of integrating the innovation with aggregates and concrete products in the future. GDOT met with representatives from contractors to work through draft e-Ticketing specifications before they were released, which helped avoid implementation issues. The result was an e-Ticketing system that met both GDOT and contractors’ needs.

Since 2021, GDOT has required e-Ticketing for all projects installing asphalt—one of only a handful of states to do so. Because a typical asphalt project can use up to 15,000 tickets, e-Ticketing can provide significant savings, both in time and in the ability to reallocate inspectors to work other than ticket verification. To date, GDOT has approved four e-Ticketing systems—one of a few States to approve multiple vendors. This flexibility helped ease the transition to e-Tickets Statewide for contractors, as they may select any system that meets GDOT’s specification.

To learn about GDOT’s accelerated deployment of e-Ticketing, please contact John Hancock, GDOT State Construction Engineer. If you would like to learn more about or participate in FHWA efforts in deploying e-Ticketing please contact Kathryn Weisner, FHWA Construction and Contracts Administration Engineer.

Maryland Department of Transportation Video Sharing Project

The Maryland Department of Transportation Coordinated Highways Action Response Team (CHART) has installed cameras on most of their safety service patrol (SSP) vehicles, enabling the traffic operations center to gain insight into incident scene conditions from the streamed camera images that was otherwise not possible. Operations center staff have found the SSP camera images to be beneficial for supplementing fixed-location intelligent transportation system camera along select roadways.

PTZ cameras like this are installed on MDOT CHART vehicles. (Credit: MDOT CHART)

Cameras are securely affixed on top of the CHART vehicle and housed in weatherproof structures, enabling images from traffic incident scenes to be sent real-time to traffic management centers (TMCs) via high-performance cellular technology. Cameras are controlled from the TMC, so service patrol operators are free to focus on mission and safety. Pan, tilt, and zoom are simplified by 100 presets and the cameras themselves are powered from the vehicle.

The images allow operators to observe on-scene vehicle damage, infrastructure damage, traffic congestion, and other conditions. They also help operators anticipate the potential need for resources and to have them prepared to respond when requested by on-scene personnel. Images also help provide insight into anticipated incident duration, enabling better traveler information.

To learn more about Next-Generation Traffic Incident Management, please contact Paul Jodoin or James Austrich, FHWA Office of Operations.

2023 STIC Excellence Award Nominations

Nominations are open for the 2023 State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) Excellence Award. FHWA and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Innovation Initiative partner in sponsoring the award to promote innovation and recognize excellence within the STICs. Nominations may be submitted to FHWA through June 30, 2023. Visit the STIC Excellence Award webpage to read about past recipients.

Discover Home-Grown Innovations from Around the Country

Are you interested in homegrown innovations being used by your peers in other parts of the country? Check out the National STIC Network Showcase, a component of the EDC-7 Virtual Summit. Registering for the event allows you to access all the content through February 2024.

The showcase prominently features several innovations focused on traffic incident management. Learn about the Florida Department of Transportation's efficient traffic rerouting and agency coordination (eTRAC) application, which allows law enforcement agencies to auto-identify detour/diversion routes with all necessary information on their phones or laptops. This helps the agency save time and make informed decisions efficiently.

Celebrate the ingenuity of your peers and read about these innovations — developed and deployed in-house at transportation agencies nationwide. Additionally, we invite you to watch the one-hour presentations on-demand that feature many of these and other innovations.

Stay Up to Date on the EDC Innovations That Interest You Most

EDC teams are always on the move! If you blink, you could miss out on important webinars, case studies, tools, videos, and more. To never miss information for the EDC innovations that interest you most, visit the subscription page and select the topics you’d like to receive updates on directly from the teams that coordinate them.

Recent bulletins:

Project Bundling 6/9/2023
CHANGE 6/6/23
TOPS 6/6/23
Local Aid Support 6/1/2023

About EDC

Every Day Counts, a state-based initiative of the Federal Highway Administration's Center for Accelerating Innovation, works with state, local and private sector partners to encourage the adoption of proven technologies and innovations to shorten and enhance project delivery.

EDC News is published weekly by the FHWA Center for Accelerating Innovation.

Notice: The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers‘ names appear in this presentation only because they are considered essential to the objective of the presentation. They are included for informational purposes only and are not intended to reflect a preference, approval, or endorsement of any one product or entity.

Recommended Citation:
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration
EDC News; June 15, 2023
Washington, DC
https://doi.org/10.21949/1521752