AASHTO Honors Outstanding Transportation Professionals
PALM DESERT, Calif. - The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials honored the achievements of transportation professionals from around the country this week at its 2009 Annual Meeting.
Thomas H. MacDonald Memorial Award
Pamela Hutton, Chief Engineer
Colorado Department of Transportation
Hutton has provided exemplary leadership of the department's comprehensive safety program. She serves as the governor's representative for highway safety. She has taken a particular focus on motorcycle safety, implementing Colorado's "Live to Ride" public-safety campaign. She is actively leading an effort to employ innovation and new technology to provide real-time, accurate information so that motorists can make the best possible decisions.
Alfred E. Johnson Achievement Award
Linea Laird, State Construction Engineer
Washington State Department of Transportation
Laird took on in 1999 directing the $849 million design/build construction project for the third Tacoma Narrows Bridge - the largest design/build contract in state history - and eight years later delivered the project on time and under budget. She has proven skillful at guiding the department along a smooth and unwavering road toward improved project design and delivery, and expanded public involvement. Her leadership has improved highway development in Washington state, a legacy with lasting impact.
Francis B. Francois Award for Innovation
Washington State Department of Transportation
The WSDOT Communications Team, under the leadership of Communications Director Lloyd Brown, initiated the agency's first blog in November 2006. Since then, the team has actively pursued the use of a variety of social-networking sites to not only hear from the public but to also provide real-time information to the community. The department now uses the blog, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and SlideShare to communicate with the public and media. WSDOT's focus on social-networking tools has been unique and ahead of the pack.
President's Special Award of Merit
Paula Hammond, Secretary
Washington State Department of Transportation
In her 30 years at WSDOT, Hammond has worked in all areas of the department's capital delivery, operations, and policy programs. She was selected as transportation secretary in 2007. Since then, she has served as a great communicator for her department, for AASHTO, and for transportation. She has served as chairwoman of AASHTO's National Transportation Marketing Campaign, which has delivered dramatic results in informing the public about transportation needs and benefits. She also leads the AASHTO Subcommittee on Public Affairs and the Steering Committee on Climate Change.
President's Transportation Awards
These awards recognize individuals or teams who have performed exemplary service that benefits transportation regionally or nationally. Recipients are selected by the presidents of AASHTO and the four regional associations of state highway and transportation officials.
Administration
Ruthann Vercher, Director of Facilities and Records
Mississippi Department of Transportation
Vercher spearheaded the agency's efforts to find an environmentally and socially responsible way to dispose of outdated cellphones.
Aviation
Aeronautics Commission Staff
Wyoming Department of Transportation
The commission published a "Wyoming Air Service Handbook" to help promote the 10 commercial airports in the state. The commission works with Wyoming communities to develop and market air service. It has used a federal grant to conduct a statewide marketing campaign called "Fly Wyoming."
Environment
Environmental Compliance Division
Maryland State Highway Administration
The division implemented a comprehensive compliance-focused environmental management system, which has led to the administration approaching its goal of 100 percent compliance with all environmental compliance laws and regulations.
Highways
Katy Freeway Reconstruction Team
Texas Department of Transportation
The team worked over the past five years to rebuild 23 miles of Interstate 10 in the Houston metropolitan area. This $2.8 billion megaproject was completed ahead of schedule and within budget, giving the traveling public an aesthetically pleasing freeway with additional capacity, including two High Occupancy/Toll lanes in each direction.
Highway Traffic Safety
Teen Driving Task Force
Utah Department of Transportation
To combat the growing concern over crashes caused by teenage drivers, UDOT joined 11 other organizations to create a Teen Driving Task Force. The task force adopted a goal of zero fatalities and named its campaign with a message that spoke directly to teens: "Don't Drive Stupid." With an edgy look and in language teens understand, the campaign has promoted getting the message across from teens to their peers. After the task force's first year, traffic deaths among teenagers in Utah dropped 42 percent.
Intermodal Transportation
Tami Griffin, GIS Project Manager
Washington State Department of Transportation
Griffith has stepped up to the challenge of implementing the Washington Transportation Framework. The framework is a new statewide GIS-based transportation database whose goal is to create a seamless set of intermodal data that is consistent, connected, and continuous. She has built a flexible, functional system; gained the support of potential partners; grown interest in and support for the framework; and moved the project from concept to implementation.
Performance Management
Emergency Operations Team
Washington State Department of Transportation
Washington state experienced devastating winter storms in December 2008 and January 2009 that brought record snowfall, extremely cold temperatures, and record rains that impacted every county in the state. WSDOT's Emergency Operations Team achieved its goals for maintaining open roads during extreme snow and ice conditions by providing quality and timely travel advisories; reopening 125 of 138 roads closed due to flooding, landslides, debris, and avalanches within 72 hours of the event; and assisting local jurisdictions with crews and equipment.
Planning
Megan Beeby, Tribal Liaison
Washington State Department of Transportation
Beeby has been instrumental in managing the department's 2009 update of its Centennial Accord Plan, which coordinates transportation needs with the 35 federally recognized tribal governments in Washington state. Through her leadership, the update was completed ahead of schedule and reflects the department's current best practices for communicating and consulting with tribal governments about transportation projects and planning.
Public Transportation
Alfredo Gonzales, Odessa District Public Transportation Coordinator
Texas Department of Transportation
Gonzales has worked tirelessly to extend service into five counties that had no mass transit. He worked to secure more than $2.2 million in local funding commitments for new transit facilities in Fort Stockton, Marfa, and Presidio. He has also overseen development of the EZ Rider transit system in Odessa and Midland, as well as established real-time communication among transit providers in the West Texas region.
Rail Transportation
Joe Kyle Jr., Rail Programs Division Manager
Oklahoma Department of Transportation
Kyle has supervised a massive effort to inventory more than 6,000 railroad crossings across the state to allow the department to target crossings in need of safety improvements. His group has provided ODOT with a comprehensive database of up-to-date crossing conditions including an inventory of controls, automobile and train traffic conditions, and a comprehensive set of digital photographs.
Research
Kathy Lindquist, Research Manager
Washington State Department of Transportation
Lindquist has directed the production of several reports examining climate change initiatives of state transportation departments, financing strategies for transportation and climate change, international and municipal vehicle miles traveled reduction policies, emissions and speed limits, and transportation and sustainability. These reports have provided up-to-date information that enhanced the WSDOT Climate Change Executive Team's participation in statewide advisory and working groups dealing with critical climate change and transportation policy.
Water Transportation
Paul Brodeur, Director of Vessel Maintenance, Preservation, and Engineering
Washington State Department of Transportation
Brodeur has implemented a strategy to reduce fuel consumption by the state's 25 ferry boats. He has led a fuels work group that has tackled a broad spectrum of fuel conservation and emission-reduction strategies. Through his proactive public outreach, he has carried the message in the media about the significance of cleaner fuels, including use of biodiesel to power ferries.
More detailed information on the award winners is available at transportation1.org/awards.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is the "Voice of Transportation" representing State Departments of Transportation in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. AASHTO is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association serving as a catalyst for excellence in transportation.
