Alas, poor Yorick.Human Resources’ Mark Villavicencio considers the flamingo.

See related story, page 4

July 2017July 2017

You are really asking two questions: Providing electric vehicle chargers could be

considered in the future if there is demand for it. In addition, our facili-ties people would have to evaluate the chargers on the market to ensure that ODOT did not pay for the elec-tricity. We would have to find a way to charge the vehicle owner for the electricity.

As for an electric ODOT snow and

When will ODOT provide electric vehicle chargers at Central Office? This is an easy first step prior to considering an electric ODOT fleet.

ASK THE DIRECTOR

ice fleet, we don’t believe the technol-ogy is there yet. A lot of infrastructure is involved. When you think of our department’s mission, snow and ice control is one of the most important things we do. During the winter our trucks can be operated between 12 to 24 hours a day. Pulling them off the road to charge them for hours would be impractical.

We’d also have to consider the expense an electric fleet could cost.

If it costs more than our current gas-powered fleet, we would have a tough time convincing legislators and tax-payers that it would be worth doing. That said, as technology continues to improve, it could be something worth considering in the future.

Lean and CleanRhonda Pees, District 1

Wally Westrick of Ayersville, just turned 90 in March. He takes only supplements (no medications) and he walks often. He’s the oldest member of the ODOT Adopt-A-Highway group from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local #8 in Defiance.

The group joined the program in 1993 and is one of the longest standing Adopt-A-Highway groups in District 1. Westrick has been a participant in the program for 24 years, and has missed only one or two group outings in that time.

“It’s good camaraderie to work with people to clean up the highway. I just enjoy helping out,” said Westrick.

“It gives you something to do and I get to see the fellows a few times a year.”

The group picks up a two-mile stretch of State Route 66 north of Defiance which has been their adopted route for the duration of their time with the program. There have been no unusual finds for Westrick. He says he has picked up a lot of pieces of rubber tires, and is bothered by deliberate littering and the lack of respect some show for Ohio’s highway landscape. He also says he plans to keep on working with his group.

“I’ll do it as long as I can,” he said. “I do a lot of walk-ing. I stay in pretty good shape. I’m blessed, I guess.”

90-year-old Wally Westrick still picks litter with his

Adopt-A-Highway group.He’s been participating inthe program for 24 years.

PHOTO BY MARK BAKLE, DISTRICT 1

2 • TranscripT, July 2017 TranscripT, July 2017 • 3

Ron Poole, Central Office

Kelly Nye and Caraline Griffith with State-wide Planning had family members at work with them for several weeks this spring. They were the proud mama birds to 150 inflatable pink flamingos that appeared and disap-peared in cubicles and offices throughout West Broad. The flamboyance was all part of this year’s Operation Feed campaign.

“I knew people did this to yards, so I thought, why not desks?” said Nye. “For a donation, we populated a targeted cube or office with our adorable pink offspring. There were a little or a lot, based on the size of the donations. The victim could keep the little visitors for two days, or make a second donation to have them removed sooner.”

According to Nye and Griffith, their tiny hoards were well-received everywhere they went. It helped that those ordering the at-tacks were allowed to be anonymous from those targeted—sort of:

“We could be bribed,” Griffith admitted candidly. “For another donation we would reveal names. Then it would be their turn. Heck, some people payed to have their own cubes visited—for charity, of course.”

Statewide Planning raised just over $1,200 for the campaign.

CHARITY ROUND-UP

Kelly Nye, left, and Caraline Griffith surrounded by their ‘children.’PHOTO BY LAURYN MUNIZ

Jobs & Commerce Deputy

Director Glenda Bumgarner

poses with her surprise flock.

PHOTO BY LAURYN MUNIZ

Recipients of the flamingo flocks received friendly instructions for how

to pass on the support of ‘Operation Feed.’

4 • TranscripT, July 2017 TranscripT, July 2017 • 5

Pieter Wykoff, Central Office

Recently, 35 Central Office employees volunteered to pick up litter for two hours at four interchanges along Interstate 70 in Columbus. The occasion was the launch of a springtime kickoff of the Keep Ohio Beautiful Program.

District 6 Safety Consultant Jason Upp gave safety instructions, advising volunteers to form a line and al-ways face traffic while working. At the interchanges, the volunteers were surprised by how much litter there was.

“I wanted to help clean up highways,” said Stephanie Marik, a data analyst in the office of Traffic Operations. “There was more trash than I expected. Still, it was good to get away from the computer for a couple of hours.”

Ron Poole, Central Office

Another volunteer, radio communication manager Kenny Brooks said he really enjoyed the kickoff.

“I’m always happy to go out and clean up the environment. We’re trying to help beautify the State of Ohio,” he said.

Highway Beautification Program Administrator Joel Hunt, who organized the kickoff, said ODOT spends $4 million annually dealing with highway litter. Public awareness campaigns like this are a solution to the litter problem.

“Cleanup events like this give people a better idea of what ODOT does beyond just building highways,” he said.

THIS COULD CHANGE EVERYTHINGFIRST IN A SERIES

In 2011, Central Office began work on a master plan to better use its services in all corners of the state; it quickly grew into more than that.

“Our facilities master planning pro-cess started gathering and analyzing information statewide to make more logical decisions about what kind of facilities would be constructed in what areas of the state, then let that guide the kinds of upgrades and re-placements we would need,” Deputy

Director of Facilities and Equipment Management Steve Masters.

Based on the master plan, the department is using an allotment of $200 million in bond money to make improvements in facilities in more than 25 locations across the state. Since 2011, ODOT has either completed or will complete more than 40 major projects costing nearly $350 million.

At the same time Facilities was working on its planning approach, maintenance sections in districts 1, 2, and 10 started working on a concept for improving winter maintenance. The districts sponsored a research study using digital data collection to determine the optimal routes and fleet sizes needed to better service their counties during snow and ice events. The study is still under way, but it could mean work crews will be allowed to clear snow from routes across county boundaries because it is more efficient and effective to do so.

Masters started to speak to the districts about his facilities planning and learned about the route optimiza-tion efforts and study. The two ideas were combined, and it is clear that this growing initiative has the power to change how all work at ODOT is approached: effectively match-ing facilities, equipment, materials, funding, work-force and routes to the needs of specific areas.

“The changes caused by the mas-ter plan can be pretty dramatic,” said Rod Nuveman, highway manage-ment administrator with District 1. “But this is not about telling anyone how to do their job day to day. It is about providing them exactly what they need where and when they need it.”

Next Up: A deeper look at the new facilities in a future issue of Transcript.

A

B

C

Keep it Clean

Pictured below:A District 11 Columbiana

Maintenance Facility, 2012B 2014, after demolition of existing

structures.C New Full Service Maintenance

Facility after completion in 2015

Excellence inGovernment

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Economic Growth PermittedPieter Wykoff, Central Office

Thanks to Ohio’s burgeoning economy and the development of the oil and gas industry in the past six years, ODOT’s Division of Operations’ Permit Office is issuing more freight permits than ever before. Recently, they broke a record by issuing over $4 million worth of permits in one month.

The ten-member staff is now averaging 300,000 permits for oversize and overweight vehicles and loads every year. The staff is issuing nearly 1,500 permits daily and nearly 24,000 a month.

“Our people are taking 800 telephone calls a day. They are going home tired,” says Permits Supervisor Mike Moreland.

Moreland says Ohio has a very healthy trucking economy with over-size loads moving daily from and through the state. Thanks to the Rover Pipeline interstate natural gas project which moves from West Virginia to Michigan, the number of permits have skyrocketed in eastern Ohio.

FACILITIES COMPLETES EXTENSIVE RENOVATIONSAT NEWCOMERSTOWNSteve Limbacher, District 11

Access to the garage area at this facility was not pos-sible due to the garage door being inoperable. The brick facade and the concrete block wall on the inside of the building had been compromised, causing the garage door opener and rails to become unattached from the concrete block interior wall to the extent that portions of that interior block wall were knocked out, and debris was laying on the floor.

Such was the condition of the Newcomerstown Out-post by June of last year. District 11’s Facilities staff saw the need to make repairs as an opportunity to make some needed renovations as well.

A contractor was brought in to move the entry door from the front of the building to the side, and make two

larger garage door openings. At the same time the building reno-vation was under-way, the underground fuel storage tanks were removed, and the Above Ground Fuel tank was moved from the Dennison Outpost to the Newcomerstown Outpost. The ODOT members spent nearly 15 weeks on this project, including the installation of insulation and metal siding on three of the exterior walls.

The recently completed extensive repairs and renova-tions at the Newcomerstown Outpost cost $221,724.00.

BEFORE

AFTER

PHOTOS BY STEVE LIMBACHER, DISTRICT 11

8 • TranscripT, July 2017

OHIO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION1980 W. BROAD ST. • COLUMBUS, OHIO 43223

Phone: 614-466-7170 • Fax: 614-644-8662

John R. Kasich, Governor Jerry Wray, Director

ODOT IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER and PROVIDER OF SERVICES

www.transportation.ohio.govwww.OHGO.com

Transcript is produced bythe Ohio Department of Transportation

Division of Communications.Please direct comments or inquiries to

Transcript@transportation.ohio.gov