PHOENIX – To make the most efficient use of taxpayer dollars and provide more consistent and reliable customer service, the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division is examining all aspects of its operations, including whether to consolidate certain offices, to better serve Arizonans.

As a result, MVD is closing its Colorado City office, which is only open two days a week, and expanding service at its Littlefield office from three to five days a week. Employees of the Colorado City office will be stationed at the Littlefield office, increasing MVD availability in that region.

“By merging our resources, we can increase staffing at remaining MVD offices and enhance services to our customers in the northwest region,” Motor Vehicle Division Director Eric Jorgensen said.

The changes, which take effect Monday, May 23, will allow MVD to provide more reliable customer service to residents of the Arizona Strip and to operate more efficiently by reducing facility costs.

Those living anywhere in Arizona can conduct more than 20 motor vehicle transactions online at ServiceArizona.com, which is available via smartphones and tablets as well as desktop and laptop computers. They also can visit an increasing number of Authorized Third Party businesses offering services including driver licenses and vehicle titles.

Those who currently use the Colorado City office will continue to have access to full-service MVD offices in Littlefield and Page for transactions that require an office visit.

MVD is continuously evaluating its operations for potential consolidation and looks at factors including location, lease agreements and what MVD services are used at that particular location.

“We continue to explore ways to best serve our customers in the northwest region and are working to provide efficient, convenient services to our customers across the state,” Jorgensen said.

For more information, visit azdot.gov/mvd.

PHOENIX ‒ The Tucson facility where the Arizona Department of Transportation repairs and maintains its vehicles has significantly reduced the amount of trash it generates by recycling scrap metal, batteries, automotive fluids, paper and more. Converting to LED lighting has reduced energy use.

Along with ADOT’s repair facility in Springerville, the Tucson operation has been recognized through the agency’s Green Shop program, which seeks to minimize environmental impact, cut waste and increase recycling at 22 ADOT Equipment Services locations.

“We’re reducing the cost to the state because we’re keeping waste down,” said Nathan Carroll, the fuel, scales, environmental and training manager for ADOT Equipment Services. “The end result is increasing productivity. For the taxpayer, that’s a good thing.”

The Green Shop program began in 2006 with a best-practices manual offering guidelines on subjects including keeping shops clean and organized for efficient operations and properly containing spills. It has become an important part of daily operations at all ADOT service shops.

More than 40 government agencies contract with ADOT Equipment Services, including the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Arizona Department of Public Safety, police departments and school districts. The shops perform preventive maintenance and major repairs on light trucks, snowplows, watercraft, snowmobiles, school buses and more.

Every two years, one full-service shop and one satellite location are honored following three inspections, one of which is unannounced, to see how operations are following the Green Shop guidelines.

An event to honor the Tucson operation was held April 8. An April 18 ceremony is scheduled at the Springerville facility.

PHOENIX – As traffic demands continue to grow across the state, the Arizona Department of Transportation is becoming more efficient and innovative in operating and sustaining a transportation system that touches the lives of nearly every Arizonan.

In streamlining its overall structure, ADOT is shifting several core functions into the Transportation Systems Management and Operations Division (TSMO). The move allows ADOT to better manage current infrastructure while looking ahead to the use of emerging technologies that can enhance the mobility of people and products.

The TSMO Division includes a variety of traffic safety and operational programs, including roadway-safety improvements, traffic-signal systems, pavement conditions and crash response. It also includes technology used to manage congestion, such as ADOT’s growing network of highway traffic-flow sensors, overhead message boards and closed-circuit cameras operated from the agency’s Traffic Operations Center in Phoenix.

“Governor Ducey has challenged state agencies to adopt practices for daily improvement and this is one of our answers,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “By proactively maximizing the capacity of our entire system, our efforts stretch the investment taxpayers are making in transportation. By focusing on the whole system, rather than individual corridors, movement and safety are optimized along today’s and tomorrow’s highways, especially with emerging technologies that will move us into the future.”

Today’s safety improvements can be relatively simple. An example is adding large freeway-number decals along a travel lane to help guide drivers when they’re approaching another freeway. Synchronized traffic signals are another example. Tomorrow’s technological innovations likely include electronic variable speed limit signs that adjust to traffic conditions.

TSMO Division employees also are involved in coordinating agency resources when ADOT prepares and responds to winter storms like the recent ones that impacted much of the state. ADOT partners with other safety agencies to reopen any closed highways and get traffic moving again as quickly as possible.

The focus on efficiency includes ADOT’s recent move to consolidate the number of its engineering districts around the state from 10 to seven. The agency also has reduced its number of full-time employees from more than 4,500 in 2008 to fewer than 3,900 today. In an age of making the most of limited transportation funding, ADOT has joined the short list of state transportation departments that have made transportation system management and operations part of their organizations.

“We’ve understood for some time that you can’t just build your way out of congestion,” said ADOT Assistant Director Brent Cain, who leads the TSMO Division. “We’re evaluating all of our functions, as well as safety and operational processes, to determine new approaches and efficiencies to maximize the capacity of our existing highways and other infrastructure. We’ll be better prepared for the future, while working even more closely with the Department of Public Safety, local police and fire departments, emergency-response agencies as well as counties, cities and towns. The goal is to bolster the reliability of the current system while we add efficient future improvements.”

One of ADOT’s other divisions also is involved in the agency’s transition. It has taken on a new name. The former Intermodal Transportation Division, which designs, constructs and maintains the state’s highway system, is now the Infrastructure Delivery and Operations Division (IDO).

“Providing system reliability, while developing strategic improvements to our infrastructure is critical to Arizona’s economy,” Assistant Director for Infrastructure Delivery and Operations Steve Boschen said. “This name more accurately describes what our employees do on behalf of our customers. We focus on those who depend on our work to get them where they need to go. It really is about infrastructure delivery and operations.”