West Virginia Department of Transportation
10/08/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/08/2024 09:22
Inside Roads to Prosperity: Changing culture within the WVDOT made roadwork influx possible
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"Back in the days before Roads to Prosperity," said Wriston, "if you knew how to do something, it was job security to keep that information or that skill to yourself, then you had more value."
"Now we invest in each other," said Wriston. "The true value is how many people can I pass it on to and that means it just multiplies it exponentially so that know-how is going out all over the state."
In March of 2020, COVID-19 had an impact on not only the health of the country, but on the economy and workforce. While departments of transportation all across the country were laying off workers, the WVDOT kept its workforce active. During the first few critical weeks, Human Resources designed training for part of the workforce at a time to reduce the number of employees in vehicles and working close together. Then, employees were brought back, they wore masks, staggered shifts, monitored health, and set up a taskforce to work safely.
The mission remained important during the height of the COVID shutdowns because to stop in the midst of such a rare opportunity to actually gain ground might have meant letting the program fall off track entirely. Employees were driven to keep the roads open and safe, so that first responders could get through and Roads to Prosperity and the Secondary Roads Initiative were kept moving by a dedicated workforce.
In West Virginia right now, it is difficult to drive without encountering work zones of all sizes. All potholes patched before Memorial Day, 500 plus acres of tree canopy cut during the winter season, interstate widening for safety and rehabilitation of aging bridges have become the norm. List after list of paving projects are moving forward today, but there was a time in the not distant past when some counties had to decide which road to pave - just one road.
The secret to the WVDOT's success lies in a shift in looking at the massive task of catching up years of underinvestment; to see it as no longer impossible, but simply something to break up into data driven goals and supply what is necessary to get it done.
Governor Justice himself visited the WVDOT's District 6 in the northern panhandle to deliver a Gradall on a flatbed truck, driven by the Governor! And as equipment rolled into the Equipment Division in Buckhannon, it was more bright yellow equipment that the division had witnessed.
Meeting equipment and training needs of its workforce helped move the WVDOT forward, but the other needs met were less tangible. Implementing the Classification and Compensation Career Plan to create manageable career steps made it possible for employees to earn a living wage while the agency looked at ways to manage overtime appropriately; as staffing and hiring efficiencies filled vacant roles employees had time to rest and recharge between shifts. Productivity continued to increase.
"We did it with a little different approach," said Wriston. "Everybody wants to be treated fairly, and everybody should be treated fairly. Our system gives opportunities for everyone to progress. You can come in at an entry level and go though a job class and progress in steps throughout your career. You can change course. You can come in just like Arlie Matney as a flagger and end up managing a district. Those are the kind of things that this plan allows for and allows for it as a matter of process."
Capabilities were also stretched through training and mentoring which allowed employees to grow more useful in their job roles by meeting challenges previously sent to contract. The increase in work meant contractors and consultants still had plenty to do, which the WVDOT's own employees took on projects such as the rehabilitation of the Carrollton Covered Bridge, a historic timber bridge destroyed by arson.
Purchasing drills allowed for the WVDOT's own crews to drill and build pile walls, shrinking the number of road slip and slide projects backlogged from 1,282 in 2022 to 868 in 2024 - and the number continues to shrink. Crews also trained on the WVDOT's newly purchased pavers. With the pace of projects increasing, it did not take away from jobs sent to purchase order paving or contracts, it simply allowed the WVDOT to reach more roads that were long overdue for paving. These projects continue.
"Now we have a plan where individuals can go through and increase not just their income, but increase their responsibility, and increase the contribution that they're making to the agency and to the citizens by going through these steps," said Wriston.
Equipment training excellence also became a point of pride for WVDOT's operators. In 2023, the WVDOT won its first Southeastern Equipment and Training ROADeo in twenty years. In 2024, it placed fourth in the region in a competitive competition. The training creates operators who strive for precision in their work, and share that motivation with the incoming employees they mentor while raising safety awareness among the workforce.
The WVDOT began to measure and manage performance metrics and created and improved upon databases set up to have the greatest impact on the entire system. The Bridge Management System, Pavement Management System, Landslide Reporting Database, Guardrail Inventory Database, Performance Management Reporting Portal, Highway Budgetary Dashboard, and other data management systems organized the work. The WVDOT also replaced the legacy system REMIS, in use since the 1980s, and began a systematic approach to updating policies which had long been overlooked.
"You don't turn the page overnight," said Wriston. "You won't come in one morning and say 'Wow, everything's perfect.' And it's dynamic on top of that. There's not one road paved in the last 8 years that I won't have to pave again. There's not one ditch the guys have pulled and cleaned that they're not going to have to do it again.
"That's what I'm talking about when I talk about data-driven, and procedures put in place, and planning these things," said Wriston. "We know that we have 39,000 miles of road. We know that we can literally take care of the ditches, in the whole state, in a three-year cycle. That's a three year maintenance cycle for that particular activity."
To keep the public aware of where road projects are occurring, the WVDOT designed an interactive roadwork map, available on the transportation.wv.govwebpage, where citizens can view projects by area. The Safety With Action Today (SWAT) citizen helpline was established, where citizens could call 833-WVROADS to receive information on specific roads and projects of concern to them.
In addition, the spirit of partnership between WVDOT agencies (Division of Highways, Division of Multimodal Transportation Facilities, Division of Motor Vehicles and Parkways Authority) continued to increase efficiencies. Smaller agencies such as the Division of Multimodal Transportation Facilities State Rail Authority benefited from projects such as the Trout Run Bridge project on which West Virginia Division of Highways crews rebuilt a railroad bridge washed out by flooding in 1985 along the Cass Scenic Railroad, which also benefited other state programs including West Virginia Tourism. Another partnership between the WVDOT and Tourism was the Mountain Rides scenic routes program, in which some of West Virginia's most beautiful curvy roads were mapped with signage to welcome motorcycle riders, sports car enthusiasts and other tourists to ride through some of the most breathtaking countryside on smooth roads.
What's next?
"We're moving more and more to use technology to be able to track stuff, to be able to plan things and where to allocate resources toward," said Wriston. "All these things are going to help us. What it does is make all our efforts that we've put in over the past years made possible by the Roads to Prosperity program, and the Governor's vision, this is going to allow it to be sustainable. This will allow us to, not just this year do this, but next year do this, 10 years from now do this, and not only just do it, but build on it, improve on it, increase the efficiencies, still get more with less and just keep moving in that direction."
Growth and efficiency within the WVDOT to meet the demands of Roads to Prosperity are now in place as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act projects begin. The changes made to the WVDOT remain even as Roads to Prosperity program projects are wrapping up all around the state.