By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

The principles behind the Arizona Management System (AMS) are being implemented on a daily basis at the Arizona Department of Transportation. AMS is Gov. Doug Ducey’s initiative to transform state government as a results-driven enterprise and to add value in addressing customer needs. I have written about the improved customer experiences at our Motor Vehicle Division offices with reduced wait times and expanded online services. I’ve shared how ADOT has incurred operational savings when our employees have designed and implemented solutions with graffiti shields, repairing guard rail and refilling an herbicide truck; and offered safety and training programs at our international ports of entry that translate to safer trucks on our roads.  Now I would like to share our success in collaborating with other state and local agencies that have resulted in meeting customer needs and saving taxpayer dollars.

The Arizona Department of Corrections needed to improve a dirt track at the Perryville Prison. This track is used for food delivery, prisoner transport and other vehicle traffic within the prison complex. Corrections personnel contacted ADOT to see if we had any extra asphalt millings that could be used to create a more durable surface for this track. Rather than spend millions of dollars in dump fees to dispose of this type of material, our Central District and Avondale Maintenance crews worked closely with Corrections personnel to deliver 18 dump trucks and 650 cubic yards of material, along with personnel to help repair the dirt track. It’s a win-win situation for both agencies. There is a more durable track at the Perryville Prison and ADOT has saved big bucks in dump fees.

When forest fires erupt in Arizona, there is a lot of coordination that must take place among state and local agencies to fight fires, evacuate residents and visitors, and protect structures and wildlife.

Few people may realize that ADOT is one of those agencies called upon to provide emergency management services. We have crews that help with traffic control to ensure public safety personnel (firefighters, first responders, etc.) can do their jobs safely and residents/visitors can evacuate and travel to safe areas.

Our emergency management teams can provide services at a moment’s notice when time is of the essence.

ADOT has collaborated with Arizona’s Game and Fish Department for many years. We have worked together to protect wildlife like bighorn sheep, deer, and other desert creatures with animal crossings on US 93 in Mohave County, State Route 260 near Payson and State Route 77 near Tucson.

Recently, one of our maintenance crews assisted Game and Fish in relocating a brown bear near the Salt River Canyon rest area in Gila County. Needless to say, this bear realized this rest area wasn’t Jellystone Park.

Besides being problem-solvers, ADOT employees are collaborators.

I am very proud of the efforts our employees have demonstrated in finding solutions and addressing customer needs, and saving taxpayer dollars while working with state and local agencies. It is indeed a winning combination.

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.

By David Woodfill / ADOT Communications

What do lines at the MVD, international commerce and freeway lighting have in common?

They're all areas where Arizona Department of Transportation's commitment to continuous improvement has spurred innovation and savings of time and-or taxpayer money.

When Governor Doug Ducey took office, he challenged state agencies to look for ways to solve problems while eliminating wasteful processes. This commitment to continuous improvement is lived out at ADOT through the Arizona Management System.

The video above shows how the Arizona Management System has every ADOT employee, everywhere, solving problems every day.

The Motor Vehicle Division has introduced myriad ways to get people out of line and safely on the road. Wait times have been dramatically reduced through steps including opening many offices an hour earlier and making sure those in line have their documents in order before reaching a customer service window.

ADOT's Border Liaison Unit has cut delays at commercial ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border while improving safety by sending trainers to Mexico to show commercial drivers how to prepare for safety inspections – the first time any state DOT has done so. By freeing inspectors to focus more on vehicles that present a higher risk, they've found more violations while conducting fewer inspections.

ADOT workers found a way to save money by developing a retrofit kit to upgrade rather than replace older freeway message boards that provide travel times, warn motorists of delays and closures, and provide safety information.

All of these solutions came from employees across ADOT who are catalysts for change. And these stories are just part of ADOT's continuous improvement journey.

We've established a website so you can share the journey with us. Visit azdot.gov/AMS to learn about many other continuous improvement successes at ADOT.

EDITOR'S NOTE: During National Engineers Week, which calls attention to the importance of engineering and career opportunities in engineering, blog posts are featuring different aspects of engineering at ADOT.

By Doug Nintzel / ADOT Communications

So here’s a chance to take you a little bit deeper into ADOT’s world. In fact, we’re going to tell you about one of the “Deep Dive” efforts that ADOT engineers and other members of the agency’s team have been involved in to improve delivery of highway projects.

Turns out that ADOT had run up against a challenge. Way too much time was being spent on finalizing task orders (you might call them contracts) for consultant engineering firms to start work on the important designs for highway improvement projects.

In many cases it was taking about 150 days for that task order process to be finished. That’s way too long. Time is money, and it was frustrating for both ADOT and the engineering companies who do the necessary designs, or technical construction plans, for upcoming projects.

It was also keeping ADOT from its goal of evenly spreading out the project design and delivery process during the year. It’s known as the 20-30-30-20 target, taking care of 20 percent of projects during the first quarter of the year, 30 percent during the second quarter and so on.

Which brings us back to that Deep Dive, launched by ADOT’s Infrastructure Delivery and Operations Division. A committee of ADOT engineers and other employees, joined by consultant engineers, went to work with a goal of reducing the task order approval process to less than 50 days.

Although there were thoughts that the time problem would focus on ADOT’s Engineering Consultants Section, which administers the procedures for managing the agency’s professional services contracts, that wasn’t the case.

One private engineer on the committee says it was indeed enlightening to learn that the consulting firms often slowed down the process.

The good news is that ADOT used the Arizona Management System championed by Governor Doug Ducey to assemble the committee, which ultimately improved the task order process.

Checklists were developed, forms were simplified and people moved beyond “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

As a result of diving deep, this collaboration has indeed reduced the time needed to issue a project-design task order to an average of 50 or fewer days. Some of the participants detail this effort in the video above.

This improvement will play a key role in ADOT’s mission to keep many accelerated projects on schedule. That includes the widening of I-10 between Verrado Way and State Route 85 in the West Valley and the widening of Loop 101 between I-17 and Princess Drive in the north Valley. Both projects are slated to start next year, along with many other highway system improvements.

By Dani Weber / ADOT Communications

Since ADOT has embarked on its journey of continuous improvement, employees all over the agency have found ways to do business safer, faster and more efficiently. The Equipment Services team in Phoenix even found costs savings in a car trunk.

Typically, vehicles from the ADOT fleet that have been replaced are sold at auction. Some of those vehicles had spare tires that have never been used.

To be able to repurpose unused spare tires, the first thing that had to change was ADOT’s Tire Policy. Previously, tires were replaced based on age. By changing the policy to allow using tires based on their condition instead, Equipment Services has the ability to repurpose unused spare tires.

Equipment Services Fleet Coordinator James Geering said, “We’ve already paid for the tires. Why send them to auction when we haven’t gotten any use out of them yet?”

As anyone who’s owned a vehicle probably knows, replacing tires can be expensive. Just one sedan tire can cost more than $100; for heavy-equipment vehicles, the bill is much steeper.

Using spare tires that are still in good condition takes advantage of resources that ADOT already has available, rather than buying something new. While the annual total cost savings is still being calculated, the Equipment Services team is finding they can do their jobs in a more cost-effective manner.

“It was a team effort,” Geering said. “We came together and we realized we could use those tires elsewhere.”

By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

We live in a digital world. This is ever so true at the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division. A recent analysis of MVD customer traffic for the 2017 fiscal year showed an upsurge in online usage at ServiceArizona.com and at kiosks. This uptick in customer traffic equaled the same level of traffic as we’d expect at two large urban “brick and mortar” MVD offices. In other words, more MVD business is being conducted in cyberspace, reducing the need to build more physical offices.

In fiscal year 2017, ServiceArizona.com and kiosk traffic accounted for a combined 7.9 million customer transactions such as vehicle registration renewals, ordering specialty license plates and updating insurance information. That’s an increase of about 286,000 online transactions compared to the previous fiscal year, which is approximately how many transactions two typical physical locations in Phoenix or Tucson will handle.

I commend our MVD employees who have embraced the Arizona Management System, a system designed to problem solve and improve customer service. I have written about the reduced wait times at MVD offices, which customers now can expect to spend 25 minutes less time in our urban offices. We have instituted online appointments for road tests, installed the means to update crucial auto insurance information and allowed veterans’ specialty license plates to be ordered online. Coming next year is the introduction of electronic title registration. Customers won’t have to come to a MVD office to conduct vehicle title registrations; such transactions can be done at home or office settings through a secure, electronic portal. We want people out of line and safely on the road.

All of these improvements ensure our customers, Arizona taxpayers, are receiving quality services and we are using resources efficiently.

It is indeed a digital world. The more online services MVD can provide ensures we are meeting our customers’ needs and on their schedule. It’s making transportation personal.

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's
LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.

By John Halikowski / ADOT Director

Transportation is a key component of commerce, especially at our international ports of entry. If there are delays at the ports, it can cost businesses time and money to move products to their final destinations. At the Arizona Department of Transportation, we are making great strides in improving efficiency at our international ports of entry, making our state an attractive route for commercial carriers.

While safety remains our top goal, we want to be as efficient as possible at helping commerce move across our border and into Arizona’s economy. By working closely with international trucking interests, we are supporting commercial traffic and boosting the economy not just in Arizona but along the Interstate 10 corridor and across the nation.

ADOT enforcement officers have identified system changes that are improving operations at our international ports in San Luis, Douglas and Nogales. By being consistent with our inspections, educating Mexican trucking companies and drivers on what to expect during these inspections, coordinating inspections with our federal partners, and employing the latest technology during the inspection process -- all of these efforts are bringing commerce back to AZ. Commercial truck traffic is up 7 percent at the San Luis port in just two months.

I am proud of our agency’s efforts to streamline processes and identify innovative ways to better serve our customers, all part of the Arizona Management System. The system improvements we are making at our international ports of entry mean business for our state. While still maintaining safety, reducing inspection times and lowering company costs, we are encouraging trucking companies to use Arizona as a key commerce state. Transportation is indeed a key component of commerce.

This post originally appeared on ADOT Director John Halikowski's
LinkedIn page. He has led the agency since 2009.

By Steve Elliott / ADOT Communications

ADOT's culture of continuous improvement has every employee, everywhere, solving problems every day. Under the Arizona Management System championed by Governor Doug Ducey, we're constantly looking for ways to improve our value to customers including you.

The video above explains how one employee's suggestion has paid big dividends at our Equipment Services shops, which maintain and repair ADOT vehicles as well as vehicles from other agencies.

Justin Mein, a technician at the Tucson shop, looked at all the bottles of wiper fluid used at his operation and suggested an alternative: tablets that can be dropped into water in a vehicle's reservoir to create wiper fluid.

The benefits begin with taxpayer dollars – using tablets costs 71 cents less per gallon than relying on bottled wiper fluid – but involve much more than that. The tablets eliminate the waste of employees having to lug around gallon jugs of wiper fluid. The change also has greatly reduced plastic waste and the storage space that must be devoted to wiper fluid.

Previous ADOT blog posts have shared videos highlighting employee ideas that have improved how we upgrade overhead message boards, protect highway signs from graffiti and repair street sweepers, among other subjects. We'll have many more to share in the coming months.