The rainy season is approaching and hurricane season is ... · worship shifted to professional athletes. Over the years, I matured and realized that albeit great to idolize these

April 2017 Issue 111

The rainy season is approaching and hurricane season is right behind it! Be sure to check out Dee Dee Johnson’s

tips inside so you can be prepared!


NOTES FROM THE DISTRICT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT & OPERATIONS (TSM&O)PROGRAM MANAGER

This month’s newsletter was slightly delayed sothat I could reflect on an achievement well worththe wait. When I was a little kid, Spiderman,Batman and Superman were my heroes. As Ientered my teenage years the focus of my heroworship shifted to professional athletes. Overthe years, I matured and realized that albeitgreat to idolize these professional athletes thereal heroes were normal individuals thatovercame life’s challenges by going the extramile to achieve their lifelong goals. Yeah, it’simpressive to hit a 95 mile-an-hour fastball overa 420-foot fence, but try burning both ends of acandle for years while dealing with thechallenges of life to achieve your goals.

This past Saturday I had the opportunity toattend Dee Dee Johnson’s graduation ceremonyat Flagler College in St. Augustine. I’d never setfoot on this campus until then, even though Iused to work at St. Augustine Maintenance forthree years. The grounds were beautiful and thearchitecture was quite impressive. It was hard toimagine that the main building was over 120years old. I am sure it took a huge amount ofdetermination to build a rock solid facility in thelate 1800s that’s survived the test of time. Thiscould have only been accomplished with a focuson the end result while overcoming the hurdlesprobably encountered in that era.

So, where am I headed with this storyline? Inshort, Dee Dee is a real hero who deserves theaccolades normally bestowed upon aprofessional athlete. She was a single mother,raising two girls, when she decided to return toschool to earn her Bachelor’s degree. Keep inmind that she was doing this while working full-

time. To make it more challenging, she alsohad to cope with an ailing father who passedaway near the mid-point of her educationaljourney. Likewise, her focus had to shift sinceshe then had to insure that her elderly momhad the love and support needed during thesetrying moments.

Dee Dee lives in Macclenny, about 80 milesfrom the Flagler College campus. This was a160-mile round trip to campus that sheprobably had to take hundreds of times atnights and on the weekends! During thegraduation ceremony the President of theCollege even made mention that cumulatively,Dee Dee drove over 32,000 miles to earn herdegree. I can’t even imagine how she kept upthis pace while trying to deal with the daily “life”demands placed upon her. Needless to say,there were moments at the RTMC when I couldtell her tank was almost empty, but ironicallyshe never let us down in keeping up with herwork tasks.

At the graduation, Matt and I had a chance tosit with her two daughters and mother. Youcould tell they were very proud of heraccomplishment as they reflected on thechallenges encountered by Dee Dee duringher journey. She never lost track of her firstpriority (family) and she sacrificed a ton to getthat degree. There were those rough patchesalong the way but she always seemed to “suckit up to get it done!” That’s when I realized shewas not only my new hero but a role model forher daughters as well. Congratulations to DeeDee on earning her Baccalaureate of Sciencein Public Administration!

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NOTES FROM THE DISTRICT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT & OPERATIONS (TSM&O)PROGRAM MANAGER continued

On another note, it’s sad to say that mycolleague in District Three has decided to leavethe Department for the greener pastures ofTennessee. District Three is located west ofDistrict Two, from Jefferson County to Alabama.Mr. Lee Smith notified the Statewide ITS groupthat he has taken a position with a private firm inNashville. His last day with the Department willbe June 6th. Lee took the position just prior tothe massive growth of the District Three ITSprogram. Over the years, the running joke wasthat District Three’s ITS program wasn’t neededsince the only vehicles on their roadway systemwere horses and buggies! Just before Lee gotto District Three they discovered a huge surplusof funds and decided to utilize it all on an ITSdeployment along I-10. Well guess what!?!?This project led to District Three being thelargest ITS deployment in the entire State ofFlorida!

When Lee arrived he was overwhelmed with theimmensity of this deployment and soughtguidance from District Two since there waslimited documentation to reference. Our groupfelt bad for him and stepped up to assistwhenever called upon. Slowly, but surely, Leebegan to get a handle on what needed to bedone. As time progressed you could see hisconfidence growing to the point that hisboisterous nature was on full display at anyStatewide ITS meeting. Lee was known to be a“Devil’s Advocate” at many of these meetings ashe pondered the repercussions of our decisions.Any policy or procedure developed at thismeeting would have a greater effect on hisprogram due to the vastness of his I-10deployment.

Over time, he was comfortable enough withall of us that he began to sing his thoughts atour meetings. I don’t think I’ve ever met ahappier ITS Engineer than Mr. Lee Smith. Atour last meeting I should’ve known the timewas near for his departure. At the end of the“last supper” he walked around the roomgiving everyone a hug. Mind you, Lee weighsin at about 320 pounds, so he’s a big oldcountry boy with the heart of a child. Oncehe lifted Ryan Crist’s 240 pound mass ofmuscle off the ground I knew I had to head forthe hills because I was next. He would haveCRUSHED me if I’d been caught, so hesettled for a handshake from across the table.

I know I’ll be seeing Lee down the road atsome conference but at least I am acclimatedwith the ever changing world of ITS.

Pete Vega, District 2TSM&O Manager

NOTES FROM THE DISTRICT 2 ITS PROJECT MANAGER

Hurricane Awareness Week is May 7th -13th.I know everyone is thinking – Dee Dee haslost her mind. We are in a drought withwildfires and burn bans, but the rainy seasonis on its way and hurricane season beginsJune 1st.

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NOTES FROM THE DISTRICT 2 ITSPROJECT MANAGER

With that being said, below are some tips we all need to think about when driving in severe weather and during hurricane evacuations.

Severe Weather Driving Tips• Stay put – Avoid driving in heavy storms, and

stay in a safe place until after the stormpasses. Be prepared to remain where you arefor an extended period of time. Often, injuriesand deaths occur in the aftermath of storms.Sightseers impeding roadways causeobstacles for emergency personnelresponding to those in need.

• Slow down –The roads remain slick after thestorm so if you have to drive, decrease yourspeed to avoid hydroplaning.

• Buckle up – When it is finally safe to ventureout, take the extra time to buckle yourseatbelt. It is the law in Florida, and statisticscontinue to show that seatbelts save lives.

• Be cautious of high winds – Windyconditions adversely affect all vehicles,particularly high profile vehicles, such asbuses and trucks, as well as motorcycles.Gusty wind makes driving difficult, especiallywhen it is rapidly changing speed anddirection.

• Turn around; don’t drown – Prepare forstanding water. Never drive through floodedareas, even if you are familiar with the roads.The area of roadway you cannot see beneaththe water may be washed out or the watermay conceal debris, tree branches or evenpower lines.

• Pay attention – You may come up on anintersection that is no longer controlled by atraffic control device. If a police officer isdirecting traffic, follow their directions.Otherwise, treat the intersection as you wouldtreat an intersection governed by a four-wayStop sign.

• Flooding safety – Never drive into movingwater. If you cannot see the roadwaybeneath the water, do not drive through it!The water may be deeper than it appears,and the road may be washed away.

HURRICANE EVACUATIONS

• Make sure your vehicle is fueled up andwell serviced before you hit the road. Fuelavailability may be questionable and whatis available is sure to generate extremelylong lines at fuel pumps.

• Carry a supply of food and water for eachmember of the traveling party.

• Be sure you have a supply of allmedications needed for an extendedperiod of time.

• Be sure to have cash on hand due topower outages and no accessibility toATMs and banks.

• Do not necessarily wait to evacuate untilafter the announcement is made. It issafer to leave before mandatoryevacuation orders which may come onlyafter the threat of a hurricane is imminent.Leave early when traffic is much lighter.

• Have a specific destination in mind and theroute planned well in advance of yourdeparture. When you travel, be sure tocarry any appropriate maps along insideyour vehicle.

• When possible evacuate tens of milesinstead of hundreds of miles. Have aplanned destination with lodgingarrangements, if possible.

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NOTES FROM THE DISTRICT 2 ITSPROJECT MANAGER continued

• Please pack a lot of patience and be preparedfor delays. Significant traffic delays areinevitable in a state as densely populated asFlorida. Again, it is important to try and avoidthe rush and depart earlier rather than later.

These are a few things to think about beforehurricane season begins.

Dee Dee JohnsonDistrict 2 ITS Operations

Project Manager

NORTH FLORIDA TPO

Last week I had the opportunity to share somegreat news with the North Florida TPO. ITSFlorida has chosen Jacksonville to be the host ofTranspo 2018. The only caveat is that this eventhas been rebranded with the title SoutheasternRegional ITS Meeting. Attendees will bemembers of ITS Florida, ITS Georgia, ITSTennessee, ITS Carolina and the Gulf Region ITS.It is anticipated that 800 will be in attendance atthis event scheduled for the week of October 7 –10, 2018.

The timing couldn’t have been better since it willbe around our 3 year anniversary at the RTMC.By the time this event arrives the operations staffshould be humming along like a well-oiledmachine. Just about every seat should be filledon the RTMC floor, Express Lanes should beoperational, State Road 23 should be open fortolling, and our Integrated Corridor Managementeffort should have ironed out the kinks by then.

Likewise, we expect to have an adaptive trafficsignal system in place along Mayport Roadand connected vehicle technology deployedalong various corridors.

My hope is that when the tours begin they willsee our success story with interagencycoordination on the RTMC floor betweenFDOT, FHP, COJ, JSO, FWC and JFRD. Ourgoal is to show that collaboration,communication and coordination can besimplified by putting the operations group forall these agencies under one roof. Each day itamazes me to personally witness how quickthe troops jump into action as soon as a 911call arrives. At times, I couldn’t havechoreographed it better than what I witnesseach day.

I would expect that by the time this eventarrives, the connected and automated vehicleindustry will be mature enough whereby theycan participate in the lectures anddemonstrations. The manufacturers in thisindustry are at an accelerated pace to get theirproduct out to the market and with the lessrestrictive regulations in Florida we are primedto have many who want to showcasetechnology. My goal is to have at least fiveautomated vehicles on display for test drivesand several corridors equipped with connectedvehicle technology.

On another high note, Mr. Terry Shaw (HNTB)will be representing Jacksonville at the ITSWorld Congress being held in Montreal theweek of October 29, 2017. The title of thepaper is The Nation’s First Coast, theNation’s First Smart Region. I am prettycertain Terry will be highlighting the efforts ofthe North Florida TPO as they assisted thisregion with the expanded use of technology



NORTH FLORIDA TPO continued

along our roadway corridors. The reality is thatbeginning in 2005, every one of us worked inpartnership with the NFTPO to develop adeployment plan that is primed for use. Inessence, “we were smart before smart wascool!” Let’s hope that Terry doesn’t hype us uptoo much or else we’ll need to fit the talk showcircuit into our busy schedules!

Pete Vega, District 2TSM&O Manager

MAINTENANCE

Several things have happened this month andI’d like to highlight a couple of them. First, joinme in welcoming Rashawn Woods, with MetricEngineering, to the Team. Although this may ormay not be temporary he has already proven tobe an asset to our team. Rashawn worksTuesday through Thursday as he commuteseach day from Kissimmee, Florida. He hasstepped in and provided support in areas wherewe needed assistance the most.

Our FDOT staff has been busy, with not onlyadministering the ITS Maintenance contract, butalso starting to prepare for the end of our fiscalyear purchasing. This year we are focusing onreplacing the core network switches, as well asreplacing the remaining analog CCTVs (ClosedCircuit Television cameras) with digital CCTVsas well as replacing all the devices that we havebeen constantly repairing. I have also beenworking with Central Office, our Network staff,and the vendor on the continuing FLIR CCTVissues and hope to have a resolution soon. Weare also currently working with another vendoron a product that was on a recently accepted

project to find out why we are having issues withthe device and to determine whether the issuesare with the configuration, or the product.

TCD’s crews have been stretched thin with allthe work we have asked them to do. They havebeen trimming trees in St. Johns County toimprove the sight line for the CCTVs, performingtheir normal maintenance duties, as well asother special projects. They have had to bring inadditional crews, as well as subcontractors, tohelp with fiber installation and devicereplacement work. We recently received newcabinets that I ordered to replace some brittleplastic cabinets, as well as DMS (DynamicMessage Sign) cabinets that are too small andovercrowded. TCD is working on installingthese cabinets, as well as additional upcomingtasks.

Metric has been assisting with the inventory ofboth ITS and FDOT equipment. Metric continuesto assist me by performing mock audits ofinvoicing for me to be assured that ourprocesses are in place and correct should we beaudited.

In closing the ITS Maintenance group would liketo say congratulations to Dee Dee Johnson forgraduating from Flagler College on April 29th.Way to go!!

Matt HarbertITS Maintenance Manager

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CONSTRUCTION

The I-75 ITS Device Installation Project isinstalling ITS devices on I-75 from SR 24 inGainesville going north to the Georgia State Line.The contractor is currently installing drilled shaftfoundations for the DMS, ITS device poles for theCCTVs and MVDS, and conduit and pull boxesfor both the fiber optic and power cables. Thecontractor has currently used approximately 30%of contract time and is on schedule with anestimated completion timeframe of the Summer of2018.

The Contractor for the I-10 Fiber InstallationProject is installing conduit and pull boxesthroughout the project limits with most of the workconcentrated in the area around I-75. To date,over 95 percent of the conduit has been installedand most of the remaining conduit involvesdirectional bores or mounting to bridges. Thecontractor is hoping to complete all conduit andpull box installation in the next few months andbegin fiber installation in June. The contractor hascurrently used approximately 30 percent ofcontract time and is ahead of schedule with anestimated completion timeframe of the Spring of2018 and a contract completion date in June

2018.

Kevin JacksonITS Construction Liaison

ROAD RANGER UPDATE

Road Rangers are an extremely valuable asset toincident management and are put to the testevery time they respond to a scene. The trucksare also equipped with variable message signsand cones, which are of great benefit to warnmotorists of an incident that they might beapproaching. This alerts the motorists to slowdown or use an alternate route and thus improvessafety at the incident scene.

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Data shows that not only is the incident scenesafer but also that the incident is clearedmuch quicker. This improves safety since theinvolved motorists and responders are on theroad for less time, but it also improves trafficflow since the impediment of traffic isremoved quicker. For incidents so far in themonth of April, the roadway clearanceduration has averaged about 16 minutesshorter for events that had a Road Ranger on-scene. The Road Rangers assist with suchevents as providing fuel, assisting with tirechanges, minor emergency repairs andproviding short term maintenance of traffic.They are utilized along all major interstatecorridors here in District 2 and make a hugedifference for the motorists they assist.

The Rangers held their monthly safetymeeting at the FDOT Urban Office TrainingCenter at 11:30 A.M. on April 5, 2017 wherethey reviewed lessons learned and boostedthe morale of the Rangers. These meetingsare critical for the TEAM to understand theimportance of safety and to promote a generalunderstanding of regulations while out on theroadways.

The following charts show all event types thatthe Road Rangers have responded to upthrough April 24th and some of the mainactivities performed when responding to these

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ROAD RANGER UPDATE continued

events. Notice that the Road Rangers primarily respond to Crashes and Disabled Vehicles. For theiractivities, they primarily provided MOT and the use of their VMS along with assistance to otherresponders such as maintenance and law enforcement. We also see a 21 percent decrease in theiraverage roadway clearance duration time as well as a 19.4 percent increase in the abandonedvehicles, 23.3 percent increase in crashes and 23.4 percent increase in disabled vehicles. Fromthese numbers we can definitely say that the Road Rangers have been extremely busy but havealso been efficient in clearing the roadway even with the increase in activity.


Project Manager

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RISC – RAPID INCIDENT SCENECLEARANCE - UPDATE

The Florida Department of Transportation(FDOT) in conjunction with the Florida HighwayPatrol (FHP) created the Rapid Incident SceneClearance (RISC) program to support Florida’sOpen Roads Policy and established a 90-minutegoal for the clearance of motor vehicle incidentson Florida’s roadways. The RISC programstrives to quickly secure and restore highwayfacilities for public use and has proven itself to bea major component of Florida’s Traffic IncidentManagement TEAM. Our RISC programencompasses nine counties and assists withmajor incidents along our interstates. Luckily,District 2 has not had a RISC event so far for themonth of April but our TEAM stands ready forsuch a need if it arises.

ALACHUA BRADFORD TRAFFICINCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE

The Alachua-Bradford Traffic IncidentManagement Team held its bi-monthly meetingon April 12, 2017 at the Gainesville OperationsOffice – 5301 N.E. 39th Ave., Gainesville at10:00 A.M. After taking a moment forintroductions, the TEAM kicked off the meetingwith updates from the Emergency OperationsCenter. Mr. Ed Ward informed that group thatthere has been a significant increase in wildfiresin the state. He advised the TEAM to be cautiousand to keep checking their surrounding areas.He also shared with the group that the initialhurricane predictions came out and that thedocuments are currently being reviewed. TheEmergency Operations Center is also avidlypreparing for this hurricane season based onlessons learned from Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

The TEAM then moved on to the ITS/511/RTMCupdates where Mr. Craig Carnes had thepleasure of informing the group of several

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projects occurring in the area. The ITS deviceinstallation project from SR 24 to the GA line iscontinuing to progress and is expected to becompleted in the Fall of 2018. On that project,they are currently installing CCTV poles andDMS foundations. The installation of thesouthbound DMS on 441 near Paynes Prairiehas also been completed and is available forTMC use. Mr. Carnes also discussed somediscrepancies within the 511 app andencouraged the group to inform the softwarevendor if they encounter any issues or haveany ideas for the new app. They are workingfeverishly to get all the bugs resolved. TheFlorida Regional Arterial Management(FRAME) Project is underway and will takeplace on I-75, CR 441 and into Marion County,to help with signal timings and assist withoverall improvement of our arterial networks.

Mr. Steve Scanlan gave the group an overviewof the construction updates. He noted thatthere are currently 3 resurfacing projects whichcan possibly have an impact on traffic over thenext few weeks; one of which is on US 301from the railroad overpass to the BradfordCounty line. He also stated that the NW 23rdAvenue construction project to the AlachuaCounty line is currently underway and has anestimated completion date of Summer 2017.

We are currently in the process of updating theTIM Team meeting process and stronglyencourage all TIM members to send insuggestions for agency topics to be discussedduring the meeting. All ideas are welcomedand can be sent [email protected].



ALACHUA BRADFORD TRAFFICINCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATEcontinued

PLEASE NOTE: If anyone is interested in theSHRP2 Incident Management TrainingCourse, please contact Craig Carnes [email protected] or Misha Gonzales [email protected], or 904-260-1567. Craigis available to work with any agencies’schedule; including nights and weekends tomake sure the course is available for groupsof ten or more trainees.

ANNOUCEMENT: There is an upcomingTrain-the-Trainer Course being held at theIndian River County Emergency OperationsCenter - 4225 43rd Avenue, Vero Beach, FL32967 on May 9, 2017 from 8:00 AM to 5:00PM. If anyone is interested please contactBattalion Chief Ron Angelone, Indian RiverCounty Fire Rescue, at [email protected] (772) 226-3909.

The next Alachua-Bradford Traffic IncidentManagement Team meeting will be held on June14, 2017 at the FDOT Gainesville OperationsOffice – 5301 N.E. 39th Ave., Gainesville at10:00 A.M. Please mark your calendars to attendthis meeting. If you are unable to attend, pleasefeel free to send someone else who couldrepresent your agency. We look forward toseeing you there!

FIRST COAST TRAFFIC INCIDENTMANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE

The next First Coast Traffic IncidentManagement Team meeting is scheduled forMay 16, 2017 at the Regional TransportationManagement Center (RTMC) – 980 N JeffersonSt., Jacksonville, Florida at 10:00 A.M. Please

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mark your calendars to attend this meeting aseach agency’s participation is important for thegood of the group. If you are unable to attend,please feel free to send someone else whocould represent your agency. We thank you foryour participation.

TEAM MISSION:The Florida Department of TransportationDistrict Two’s Traffic Incident ManagementTeams through partnering efforts strive tocontinuously reduce incident scene clearancetimes to deter congestion and improve safety.The Teams’ objective is to exceed the OpenRoads Policy thus ensuring mobility, economicprosperity, and quality of life.

TEAM VISION:Through cooperation, communication andtraining the Teams intend to reduce incidentscene clearance times by 10% each yearthrough 2017.


Project Manager


OPERATIONS

District 2’s quest for Express Lanes and prepwork continues. It seems every month there is anew milestone hit and we don’t even have theExpress Lanes yet! Things will really get rollingwhen they open. This month included somesoftware break throughs, SunPass School andthe start of interviews. This month flew by but asthe opening of the Express Lanes draws closertime is only speeding up.

The Operations Task Manager Software that wasinstalled in the beginning of the year has madesome real strides. The Express Lane Module iswaiting on a traffic simulator from Central Officeso it is now in a holding pattern. Once we can geta set of ITS Device Plans and the TrafficSimulator, things should pick up. The FL-ATISand Operator Quality Control (OPQC) Moduleshave now been configured as extensively aspossible on the test server and will soon bepushed over to Production. Once on theProduction Server, final testing and tweaks willbe made before complete implementation. TheOPQC Module is a cross check on theOperator’s performance that can be utilized inreal-time or historically. It will help Operationsremain focused when traffic is the most hecticand help with training and standardization. TheFL-ATIS Module consists of numerous 511platform tests that will verify information andimages are accurate and timely when beingdisseminated. These will be the first two Modulesto reach the Production Server.

The month concluded with SunPass School.Since we will be operating the Express Lanesand they REQUIRE a SunPass it was logical tosee the ins and outs of their Operation.Personnel from the Florida’s Turnpike (FTE)came to Jacksonville to administer the courseand I came away impressed. They recentlyreached their 18th anniversary of the SunPassand you can tell how the FTE has ironed out their

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processes. From collection, to customerservice, account support tools, to the evolutionof the tolls themselves, the course had a ton ofinformation.

The District 2 RTMC has essentially been heldafloat by two people. Jason Summerfield hasbeen the Network Administrator since day one.A few years ago, we realized Jason couldn’twork around the clock and remain sane, so,enter Tanesha Sibley! Tanesha is our NetworkTechnician and translator of Jason’s overlytechnical ramblings. In the next few years, ourITS Device deployment will almost triple; twoExpress Lane Projects will open and the FirstCoast Expressway will be complete. I think weneed another person. After sifting through 50some-odd resumes, calling ten people andmeeting with six our list has shortened.Hopefully by the next newsletter our new jack-of-all trades Network Technician will be onboard. At that time, Jason’s wife might starttalking to me again as Jason won’t be on callfor his 13th year in a row.

March set records for total events, travel laneblocking events and crashes. So yes, theRTMC was very busy. Compared to the busieststatistics of 2017, March had 375 more events,125 more travel lane blocking events andalmost a 25 percent increase in crashes. Arecord of 4,362 events were managed thismonth. Of those, over 1,600 were crashes,1,070 lasted longer than 90 minutes, almost600 had a travel lane blocked and 50 percentof the events were in areas where DMS wereutilized to inform motorists. Knowledge ispower. Remember to use 511 to avoidbecoming part of those statistics. 511:Connect. Know. Go.

Ryan CristRMTC Manager


MARKETING

Most of us are creatures of habit, taking thesame routes to and from work every day, our trekinto the office as predictable as the MonarchButterfly’s exodus from North America intoMexico. But every now and again, life throws usa curveball, forcing us to part with the familiarand head into the great unknown. All it takes isone roadblock (crash, construction, debris,abandoned vehicle) to send us into a tailspin.Did you know that the new 511 app allows you toprogram up to three door-to-door routes on yourmobile device? Each with turn-by-turnnavigation? And that the app will suggest analternate route (if there is one) when yourpreferred route is, shall we say, less thandesirable?

This is just one of the many features of the 511app we love sharing with motorists when weattend Health and Wellness Fairs around theFirst Coast. And this month our calendar hasbeen filled to overflowing! The first week of April,we spoke to a high school gymnasium full ofstudents at Bishop Kenny (somewhere in theneighborhood of 1,000 students) and then wemade our way over to St. Johns County for theirannual Employee Benefits Fair. We spent tenhours inside a parking garage talking to over 300motorists! Next up, were visits to LandstarTrucking and Miller Electric, where we spoke to acombined total of over 200 commuters! That’s alot of foot traffic (and road traffic). You know theone thing they all have in common? Thatdreaded daily commute.

But it’s not all about the daily grind. There’s alsoa little fun to be had. Weekend road trips are thebest, are they not? And let’s not forget aboutTHE PLAYERS. Get ready to tee off May 9-14th

for some of the most spectacular golfing this side

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of the Atlantic. And there are beach weekendsto consider, as well as overnight camping tripsand visits to theme parks. It’s as simple asclicking “Drive Mode” to get your adventurestarted. https://fl511.com/App

One of the things we have to do when visitingvenues we’ve been to before is “reeducate”motorists. As in “reintroduce” our app. Forinstance, we’ve been attending Landstar’sEmployee Health Fair for over a decade now!Their employees have weathered all thechanges to our 511 system (phone, website,app) right along with us. This year, some oftheir employees approached us and said, “Ihave your app, but it’s not working anymore.”At that point, we helped them download thenew app and even demonstrated some of itsfiner features. On the flip side, when we attendevents that are new to us, like our upcomingtrip to Community First Credit Union nextmonth, we find that we usually have a brandnew audience to work with. Either way, it’s awin for us!

Bishop Kenny students learning about 511



St. Johns County Employees learning about 511 during their annual Health Fair

You can try using 511 on your daily commuteinto the office or for that special weekend tripyou have planned. Dial 5-1-1, visitwww.FL511.com or download one of our free511 Traffic Apps available for Apple andAndroid. When it comes to relevant trafficinformation, we’ve got you covered!

Connect. Know. Go!

Sherri ByrdMarketing Manager

PERFORMANCE MEASURES

It feels like 2017 is just flying by as I look at thecalendar and realize that we are already at theend of April. Last week I did something that Ihaven’t done in a little while and went on aRide Along with a Road Ranger named TraceyHale. As I put on my safety vest and steppedinto the vehicle, little did I know what wasawaiting us on the roadways. The first eventthat we were called to right after I got into thevehicle was on JTB close to the I-95 overpass.When we arrived on scene lo and behold therewas a definite mess as we spotted about ninedisabled vehicles, of course, all within aconstruction zone. Mr. Hale immediatelysprang into action as he maneuvered the RoadRanger truck up to the scene, within theconstruction barrels, put up his VMS board,turned his wheels away from the incidentscene, notified TMC and proceeded to get outof the vehicle to assist. Onward he went. It wasa sight to see as we discovered that a hugepothole opened up on JTB and several carswere severely disabled due to this. This is justone incident of many that occur on ourroadways daily; of course they aren’t all assevere but each incident is treated with equalimportance by our incident managementTEAM.

Our TEAM has been extremely busy handlingover 3,800 events over the past five weeks. Inthe charts provided below, we can see thatthere has been a 19% increase in abandonedvehicles and a 25% increase in the number ofcrashes on the roadways when compared tothe yearly average. The average clearanceduration times for the past 12 months havestayed well under the goal duration times aswe can see in the charts following. District 2has averaged approximately 49.8 minutes forour Open Roads Duration time, 58.2 minutes



PERFORMANCE MEASURES continued

for our roadway clearance duration time and 85.8 minutes for our Incident Clearance duration time inthe month of April. This is all well within the open roads goal of 90 minutes.

Sherrell LallMetric Engineering

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SPOTLIGHT ON…AYODELE GILPIN, ATKINS

Talk about your upbringing – where wereyou born / raised?I was born in Edison, NJ. Lived there until Iwas 8 when my father was transferred withJohnson and Johnson to Jacksonville, FL.

Where did you go to college and what didyou study?I attended the University of South Florida andmy major was Math and then a couple of yearslater I received my Civil Engineering degree. Ialso have a Masters in Supply ChainManagement from Florida Institute ofTechnology.

Early Career and/or brief job history: (beforeFDOT)While finishing up my Engineering degree Iworked for Ford Motor Credit for about fouryears, then shortly after leaving Ford in 2005 Iworked for a construction company as anestimator. After I got my Civil Engineer degreeI decided to move to Atlanta in 2006 where Istarted working at the Ga DOT for five years inthe Roadway Department as a DesignEngineer. In 2012 I left Ga DOT and movedback to Jacksonville. I worked for Wells Fargoand Ally Financial between 2012 and 2015.The last two years I taught high school mathwhile pursuing my Masters.

Job description - your current role inTransportation.While Alex Varela is on deployment I will becovering his duties such as repairreimbursement claims, compiling informationfor end of year purchase, vehicle purchases,and anything else that Pete decides I need todo. Currently working on performancemeasures to see the change pattern for rushhour during the morning and afternoon times.

What is the most rewarding transportationproject you’ve worked on to date?My most rewarding project was also my mostdifficult, SR 99 located in Glynn County(Georgia). It was the most difficult becausethis was a bigger project compared to the otherones I had and my first major project. For thisproject I was responsible for completing mostof the aspects of it - from geometric, pavement,drainage and cross sections to creating theplan sheets. With it being a bridge project, ifBridge Design wanted to change anything onthe bridge (which of course they did), itaffected everything I did; not really difficult butannoying, especially after you feel like you’realmost done and you have to go back and redoeverything you’ve worked on for weeks. I evenwent on a 4-month maternity leave thinking itwould be completed when I got back. Well, Ithought wrong. I don't even think anyonemoved any of the files or preliminary plansfrom my desk.



SPOTLIGHT ON…AYODELE GILPINcontinued

The most rewarding part was knowing that I wasable to complete it, have it go to FFPR and comeback with minimal changes compared to all thechanges that needed to be made during thedesign phase.

If you could snap your fingers (like magic) andbring about any change in the Transportationindustry, what would it be?If I could snap my fingers like magic I would havethe roads automatically expand to more laneswhen there is drastic change to the normal trafficflow pattern.

What advice would you give to a youngwoman who might be considering a career inthe Transportation industry?I would tell any young lady today interested in theTransportation industry that the sky is the limit. Inthe Transportation industry you are not limited tojust construction or design. If you love to solveproblems or technical issues you would be aperfect fit. There is always a need intransportation for fresh new ideas or pushing anew technology.

Do you have a role model or a mentor?Someone who helped shape your career path?I have quite a few people that molded me anddirected me throughout my education, sports, andcareer path. My biggest cheerleader andadvocate would be my father. Before I decided Iwanted to pursue Engineering, I wanted to be adoctor so he had me going to lectures, doing minirotations in hospitals where high school juniorsand seniors could learn about different fields inmedicine. Even when I decided I no longerthought I wanted to be doctor he was verysupportive. Now that I think about it he was

probably very happy I chose Math then decidedon Civil Engineering because my father has amath degree and a Masters in Statistics andretired as a Quality Engineer. He would be theperson I would call at midnight to help with anassignment (most likely due that morning) towalk me through Excel or help solve difficultmath problems that most people never heard ofunless you decided to major in Mathematics. Hemay not know anything about Civil Engineeringbut his real world advice goes a lot further thantechnical advice can. He’s always the person tocall me out on things that maybe I was notaware of at the time.

Do you have any funny stories relating toyour career? Such as a foot-in-mouthmoment or a bad day at the office story?I don’t really have any funny stories relating tomy career. When I worked part time at CircuitCity as a Loss Prevention associate maybe11/12 years ago, it wasn’t funny at the time (wellit was funny but I didn’t laugh when mysupervisor was yelling at me) but I tackled someguy stealing CDs. I have no clue what I wasthinking, but I jumped on him and tackled him tothe ground.

Any job related awards or specialrecognition you’ve received?I have received several email recognitions suchas top producer award at Ford Motor CreditCompany. As far as sports go, for soccer 4-timeAll district, 2-time All-Conference ( I probablywould have gotten 4 but the conference startedgiving awards out to girls soccer my Junior yearin high school) and 1 time All-City. 7-lettermanaward for participating in cross county, track andsoccer.



SPOTLIGHT ON…AYODELE GILPIN continued

Describe a ‘defining moment’ in your career orpersonal life.Most defining moment in my personal life wouldbe getting my Master’s in Supply ChainManagement. It was hard finishing up my CivilEngineering degree and working 40 hours at thesame time but to get my Masters I was working 40hours and had my son for the ride this time.Definitely taught me to prioritize even more tomake deadlines and multitask many activities atonce, like practices/games for sometimes twosports at a time. Just to be able to submit thatfinal 14 page paper was a huge relief to be doneand an accomplishment that cannot be takenaway.

Best job ever / worst job ever… or both?Best Job/Worst Job ….Teaching

The worst part of teaching was that I wonderedsome days how some of my students made it intoAlgebra II Honors without knowing how to addfractions or round decimals. Also regardingteaching in general, teachers have a lot on theirplates that’s just not about teaching. For instance,preplanning for our classes we had to follow acurriculum that must be followed and there are alot of aspects that go into it. Just believe mewhen I say a lot and we weren’t given enoughtime to complete it all during the day especially ifyou had more than 2 classes. Things needed tobe done at home which could take up to a wholeday of our weekend.

Best part is when I received random emails fromstudents that just wanted to say they appreciatedme and were happy I was teaching them thatyear.

16

Tell us a little about your family.I’m the youngest out of four siblings, I have twobrothers and one sister. Both of my parentswere born and raised in Sierra Leone (WestAfrica). Sometime in the 60’s my grandfatherput my father on a plane and told him he wasgoing to college in the US. Later, my dad sentfor my mom. He attended the University ofOregon while she was in New York.

I have an eight year old son but if you saw himyou would probably think he was 11 or 12. I’mpretty sure he will be taller than me in the nextcouple of years if not sooner. He’s 4’10” andI’m only 5’2”. He loves all sports but hispassion of course is soccer.

You’ve just been gifted with 48 hours ofuninterrupted freedom, what would youchoose to do and why?I love to vacation. If I received a gift of 48 hoursof uninterrupted freedom I would be on asecluded beach reading a book, maybe takinga nap, maybe taking a run on the beach, anykind of activity I could possibly do or justrelaxing and enjoying my time.

Anything else you’d like to add…I’m grateful I have been given the opportunityto get back into the Transportation industryafter a four year break. ITS is very differentfrom design but I am looking forward tolearning from everyone in this department.

April 2017 Issue 111Traffic Incident Management

2017 Meeting Schedule

FDOT DISTRICT 2 ITS STAFF

17

Alex VarelaITS/TMC Program Manager

Currently Deployed inDefense of our Country

Kevin JacksonITS Construction Liaison

[email protected]

Dee Dee JohnsonITS/TMC Project Manager

[email protected]

First Coast TIM TeamRegional Transportation Management Center

980 N. Jefferson St., Jacksonville, FL904.903.2000

May 16, 2017 July 18, 2017September 19, 2017 November 21, 2017

Alachua/Bradford TIM TeamFDOT Gainesville Operations Office5301 NE 39th Avenue, Gainesville

352.381.4300

June 14, 2017 August 9, 2017October 11, 2017 December 13, 2017

Matt HarbertITS Maintenance Manager

[email protected]

Peter Vega, District 2Transportation System Management

& Operations Program Manager904.903.2020

[email protected]

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The rainy season is approaching and hurricane season is ... · worship shifted to professional athletes. Over the years, I matured and realized that albeit great to idolize these