RELEASE: CONTACT:

IMMEDIATE Jeffrey Caldwell (804) 786-2715 Jeffrey.Caldwell@vdot.virginia.gov Cell (804) 337-7264

CO-0801 Jan. 16, 2008

VDOT COLLECTS 51 TOP AWARDS FOR ENGINEERING, BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT IN 2007

RICHMOND — As Hollywood kicks off awards season to recognize last year’s best in entertainment, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is clearing space on its mantel for 51 top honors received in 2007 from industry, government and professional associations.

The awards recognize individual and team accomplishments in business improvement, highway system innovation and research, and in professional achievements for members of the VDOT staff around the commonwealth.

VDOT Commissioner David. S Ekern reported to the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) at its Jan.16 meeting, “These awards demonstrate the stellar professional achievements and innovation that have established VDOT as a premier transportation agency in this country and around the world. The staff members recognized for these achievements are improving the experience of every motorist who travels on Virginia’s highways. In many cases, these awards represent the highest levels of professionalism in their respective fields, and we are very fortunate to have earned these top honors.”

More than 50 award recipients of the hundreds who were part of awards teams or received individual accolades were recognized before the CTB for notable 2007 achievements.

The awards recipients recognized were part of seven project teams or activities that received the highest possible awards in their particular fields, including:

• The Center for Digital Government’s Digital Government Achievement Award to VDOT’s Information Technology Division for the creation of its Integrated Project Management system. The Web-based software system helps users better manage transportation projects and better address our needs to efficiently manage limited resources, the need for accountability and government transparency.

• A VDOT Commissioner’s Award for Excellence for Innovation and Quality Improvement to recognize a team that improved the way VDOT contracts for federal-aid paving projects. This activity has already saved VDOT $9.4 million and could save VDOT $100 million annually if the system is implemented by all nine districts

• Gov. Tim Kaine’s Governor’s Award for Team Work to the Route 5 Chickahominy Bridge Project Team for using innovative concurrent design and for expediting the development of a project to replace the Route 5 bridge near Williamsburg, cutting the development time from 3 years to 18 months and saving $5.3 million.

• A National Partnership for Highway Quality Making a Difference Achievement Award to the Route 33 West Point Bridge Replacement team for developing formal partnering agreements and working closely with the community to deliver a context-sensitive and innovative bridge replacement project on time and on budget.
  
  
• The James River Green Building Council’s Green Leadership Award for the Interstate 64 West New Kent County Safety Rest Area design and construction, which resulted in the Commonwealth’s first LEED-Gold Certified environmentally friendly state-government building and a facility 75 percent more efficient in energy consumption than its predecessor.
  
  
• Gov. Kaine’s Governor’s Award for Workplace Safety to Langston T. Williams, the assistant district equipment manager in VDOT’s Staunton District, for developing a national alert campaign to increase awareness about a fire-safety issue with a particular tractor model and worked with the manufacturer to get a replacement $36,000 tractor free of charge after the first machine caught fire.
  
  
• Federal Highway Administration’s Strive for Excellence Team Award for VDOT’s first-of-its-kind Wounded Veteran Internship Program that provides transportation industry training and job opportunities for military veterans who are injured or unable to resume their former jobs when retuning from service.
  

“The professionals here today are but a small number of the hundreds of dedicated VDOT employees who were recognized in 2007 for making a significant contribution to the engineering, business management, workplace safety and other activities that make VDOT a recognized leader among state departments of transportation,” said Secretary of Transportation Pierce R. Homer. “Around the county and throughout the world, achievements such as those we highlight today are transforming the transportation industry and finding new and improved ways to Keep Virginia Moving every day.”

For a complete listing of VDOT’s 2007 awards, visit .http://www.virginiadot.org/news/resources/2007_VDOT_Awards.pdf

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