January-February 2007, Vol. 73, No. 1
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All in the Family
Special Report | Commissioner's Column | Share Your Thoughts | News Briefs | Career Moves | All in the Family
Special Report:
Reshaping the business
With changing technology, equipment, outsourcing and the incorporation of new business practices, VDOT continues to cast a critical eye at existing service-delivery structures recognizing that organizational boundaries should not control how we do things. We have seen significant shifts to reflect these trends and changing business models.
Consolidating area headquarters
In 2006, after significant business analysis and field input, staff concluded that sustained levels of service, emergency response capabilities and a safe highway network can be provided from fewer maintenance sites across the state. Consequently, a consolidation from 335 to 248 maintenance facilities has begun and will be completed by July 1, 2008.
The plan was approved after VDOT leaders conducted 13 public meetings across the commonwealth to explain the consolidation plan and to hear comments of citizens living in areas where facilities would be consolidated. The plan was modified in various locations as a result of the public comments and additional business review.
Of the 87 maintenance facilities consolidated statewide, 32 have staffed operations. Most employees working in these operations are being relocated to other positions. VDOT will also eliminate 157 positions with the outsourcing of interstate maintenance by July 1, 2009. The consolidations will reduce the number of supervisory teams in maintenance facilities from 214 to 181, which will span of control for area superintendents to an average of 1:15. In some areas, the span of control was as low as 1:8.
Q. How has the area headquarters consolidation made you rethink the way we deliver services?
A. “You have to consider the consolidation along with the fact that we are no longer maintaining the interstate system. You must look at how many employees and what kind of employees we will need to maintain our two remaining components, the secondary and primary systems. You also must look at the different configurations of where people can be housed who do this work. The goal is to get the most efficiency and productivity, deliver the most service we can, and be ready to respond to critical emergencies.”
Q. What is the biggest impact of the consolidation?
A. “The big advantage I see is that by consolidating locations, we can increase the crew sizes at the locations remaining. A superintendent will have a little more flexibility to do multiple assignments on a given day. That efficiency increase will be offset somewhat by the additional travel time within a larger geographical area, but I think that disadvantage will be outweighed by the flexibility we gain.”
- Tom Hawthorne, P.E., has been administrator of the Richmond District since 1999. Recently he guided his district through the area headquarters consolidation. He also has been maintenance engineer in Richmond District, resident engineer in Sandston Residency and assistant resident engineer in Rocky Mount Residency.
Systems operations
In a major reorganization in 2006, systems operations broke out of traditional VDOT district confines. Instead of managing traffic and incidents along district boundaries, the department’s systems operations were better divided around operational boundaries based on major traffic corridors.
New Smart Traffic Centers were added with advanced traffic monitoring capabilities, and five regional operations directors were hired to implement this new approach. These regional centers, along with strengthened safety service patrols, pavement sensors and nearly 500 traffic cameras, are helping reduce incident duration and congestion.
Q. How successful has the transition been in working along five regions versus nine districts?
A. “To make the organizational shift into five operational regions has been a major change for how we deliver services. Other states are just talking about making operations a core function and we have done it. I’m quite proud to be a part of that process. We are six months into it and we have made tremendous progress. We are continuing to focus on improving customer service and making organizational changes without external customers having to know about it. We have set up a statewide organizational structure to focus on strategic issues within every part of the operations organization and achieve not only statewide consistency, but great customer service in improved mobility and traveler information.”
Q. What has changed in terms of service delivery?
A. When we were operating within district boundaries, Albemarle and Augusta counties for example, were in two different districts. Now, they are within one region, so when we have a snow event or incident, we make sure we don’t have a different response for Charlottesville, in Albemarle County, from that in Augusta County. We have a teleconference once or twice a day so that everyone is communicating and coordinating better than before. We have a lot of people commuting from Waynesboro to Charlottesville, and there is much more consistency in road conditions, travel information and the travel experience for them.”
- Dean Gustafson, P.E., has been the Regional Operations Director of the northwestern region since February 2006. He manages a staff of 77 and the Staunton Smart Traffic Center. He had been the ITS Program Manager for Staunton District since 2002. Prior to joining VDOT, Gustafson worked for the New York State Department of Transportation in the construction, planning, and traffic engineering sections for eight years. He was VDOT’s first Professional Transportation Operations Engineer.
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