district 3 employee news the legend...project manager, as well as the design engineers. entirety and...
TRANSCRIPT
4 The Legend—August 2013
District 3 Employee News
Dates to Remember
9/2 Labor Day
(ODOT Closed)
9/11 Team Up ODOT &
Director’s Cup Roadeo
9/22 Autumn Begins
New Hires
Derek Dittman, Highway
Technician 1 in Huron County
(pictured).
HT Series News
Jason Slagle, Crawford County, obtained
HT 2 status.
Pretesting will be held August 27 at 8AM,
and no one will be permitted to enter the
computer lab after 8:15AM. Scheduling
will be on a first come, first served basis.
Contact your County Manager or Trans-
portation Manager to schedule your pre-
testing. HT Manuals can be found online.
Internal Communications Update
A team in Central Office is working on a
total transformation of ODOT’s Intranet
page to provide a more valuable and
user-friendly resource for employees. No
timetable has been set for a full deploy-
ment of the site; however, look for future
announcements on the progress of the
Intranet in The Legend.
John R. Kasich
Governor
Jerry Wray
Director
Allen C. Biehl, P.E.
District Deputy Director
August 2013
What’s inside…
DDD Corner
Customer Kudos
Spotlight on ERI-6
Getting to know…
Day in the Life of the Design Team
The Legend District 3 Employee Newsletter
In this month’s banner:
The new railroad grade
overpass in the City of
Sandusky.
Get to know…
Laura Speer Laura Speer is an Account Clerk 2 in Huron
County. Prior to becoming an Account Clerk,
Laura spent 11 years as a highway worker.
She is very dedicated to her job, rarely miss-
ing a day of work unless she is vacationing
with her family in some far location. She is a
tremendous resource for all the Huron Coun-
ty employees with assistance for Kronos,
benefits or any other questions. The manage-
ment staff in Huron County also utilize Laura
as a sounding board for bouncing ideas off
as well as her savvy computer skills.
Family: Husband, Terry; son, Nick; son, Brian
& Daughter-in-law, Katie; 3 Grandchildren
Pets: Dog Boone Piggy, a German shorthair
pointer; 2 cats, George & Gracie
Hobbies: love to travel with family, reading,
crafts, watching the hummingbirds in my
backyard, movies
Book last read: Anne Frank Remembered by
Miep Gies & Alison Leslie Gold
Favorite TV show: Castle
Favorite movie: The Mummy
Favorite restaurant: Red Lobster—love
those cheddar bay biscuits!
Favorite vacation spot: Hawaii (Big Island is
AWESOME) & France
Favorite
website:
Pirates Bay
The best CD
album is: anything Bob Seger
Ringtone on my cellphone is: Let me out of
here
Talent or superpower I wish I had: I wish I
could beam from place to place
Least favorite chore: Anything cooking
(Hate it, hate it, hate it)
If I could change one thing about myself it
would be: I would be more tolerant of peo-
ple that irritate me and not so judgmental
My pet peeve is: People that drive below
the posted speed limit in the passing lane
Favorite sports team: Not at all in to sports,
but I did love the Cleveland Browns when
they were known as the Kardiac Kids
First job: Secretary at CE Ward in New Lon-
don; they made graduation caps & gowns
Best advice ever received: Stay out of other
people’s business (from my parents)
Who, living or dead, would you most like
to have dinner with? John Wayne
By Joyce Miller
Each summer, ODOT is in the business of
rebuilding highways, restoring pavement
conditions, and maintaining our system
in what many term ‘orange barrel sea-
son.’
While driving through a construction
zone, probably one of the last things you
are thinking is ‘how did this project get
to this point?’ But, maybe you have
thought ‘why are they doing this?!’
Recently, I set out to find a little more
about where these pro-
jects come from and how
certain aspects of a pro-
ject are determined. Ven-
turing all the way up to
the second floor of the
District Office, I found the
team of Design Engineers
working on plans for fu-
ture construction where I
asked them to explain,
from start-to-finish, how
a project is developed.
Scope
Once a project is initiated
and programmed by the
Planning section of the
Planning & Engineering
Department, it is handed
over to the Design sec-
tion during a project
scope meeting. These meetings include
all stakeholders in a project from the
Planning Engineers, County Managers,
District Bridge Engineer and most likely
Real Estate Administrator, Utility Coordi-
nator and Environmental Coordinator,
Project Manager, as well as the Design
Engineers.
Together, they discuss the project in its
entirety and determine what will ulti-
mately be included in the construction
plans. Prior to the scope, the pavement
treatment has already been selected,
pavement repairs estimated and any
structure repairs needed have been de-
termined.
Field Reviews
After the Design team knows exactly
what should be included in the plans and
the scope is finalized, they will set out to
review the proposed project in the field.
Usually at least two members of the
Design team will drive the project, and
look at anything that may become an
issue or needs addressed in the plans.
For example, on a typical resurfacing
project, the team will look at the guard-
rail, structures, driveways, mailboxes, in-
tersections and encroachments as well as
take measurements that will later help
define the amount of pavement repairs
needed in the plans.
If it is determined in the project scope
that right-of-way may need purchasing
or mapping is necessary, the team of Dis-
trict surveyors will survey the project pri-
or to the field review.
Scheduling
With the knowledge of what will be in-
volved in the project plans, the team in
Design will set a schedule for the project.
The schedule is set within Ellis and allows
the team to meet deadlines at the vari-
ous stages of plan development.
See DESIGN on Page 3
From left: Mike Schafrath, Planning Engineer, and Marlin
Wengerd, District Bridge Engineer discuss a future project
on Interstate 90 in Lorain County during a project scope
meeting with Design Engineers Mike Peters and Karla
Bohmer. The Design section is managed by Dustin Vousden,
and also includes Engineers Dave Baraty, Craig Devore, Nick
Foster; Transportation Technician Specialists Jerry Schlett
and Craig VanHorn, EIT Craig Goodnight; Interns Ken Knapp
and Errol Scholtz; and Surveyors Ray Foos, Scott Hawkins,
Jonathan Keller and Survey Intern AJ Kolbeck.
3 The Legend—August 2013 The Legend—August 2013 2
Construction Project Update:
US 6/SR 101 Railroad
Grade Separation The US Route 6 (Venice Road) and State Route 101 (Tiffin
Avenue) railroad grade separation project in the City of
Sandusky is nearing completion.
Start Date: September 2, 2011
Completion Date: July 31, 2014
Current Contract Amount: $8,435,021.01
Paid to Date: $6,959,072.31
Contractor: Mosser Construction of Fremont, Ohio
The project includes construction of an overpass over the
Norfolk Southern railroad tracks on a new alignment of US
6 and SR 101 on the west side of Sandusky. The project was
originally selected for former Governor Bob Taft’s Railroad
Grade Separation program over a decade ago.
Due to a quicker than anticipated settle-
ment period for the bridge overpass’ em-
bankment and the ability to work through
the winter months, the contractor for this
project is nearly eight to nine months
ahead of schedule. In late August, traffic
will be able to use the new bridge and
roadway alignment to help alleviate train
traffic congestion. Upon opening of the
new alignment, work on the side street
intersections will begin reconstruction.
The project team consists of Manager &
Engineer Randy Patti as well as Highway
Technicians Brian Balduff, Tex Ooten and
Chris Mees. Co-Worker &
Customer Kudos
At a recent
bridge dedication
ceremony I attended
with Construction Ad-
ministrator Bob Weaver, I
listened as Huron County En-
gineer Joe Kovach commented on
how well District 3’s staff worked with
him on the complexities of the bridge
project. The project restored an original
1926 truss bridge, which was dismantled and
restored; then re-erected on new bearings.
The message Joe Kovach sent was that the project
could have easily been turned down by ODOT since it
was such a unique project. As Joe thanked Chris Brown,
Marlin Wengerd, Steve Shepherd and Central Office’s Tim
Keller for their assistance in the project, it dawned on me
what he was really saying in his speech.
After scrapping the speech I was prepared to give, I was
up next and decided to piggyback off what Joe had just
stated. So, my speech became ‘at ODOT, we need to learn
how to say yes more often,’ even if it means more work,
more research, and more ways to explore how we can do
something—instead of how we cannot.
As long as it is legal and ethical, every District 3 employ-
ee has my permission to find creative
ways to say yes more often. That might
mean we are able to say yes to the prop-
erty owner that would like his ditch improved for drainage
or the business owner that wants to install signage that the
road is open to their business.
Saying yes might mean that we need to collaborate
more with our colleagues in Central Office or investigate
the situation a little further. Saying yes means that we do
not throw FHWA under the bus as an excuse to say no.
It has become very easy to just say no to our customers.
When we say no, it means no more research on our part;
we won’t have to worry about violating a policy; it is less
work and allows us just to brush their concerns under the
rug without delving in to it further.
Sure saying yes takes more effort. I appreciate that
members of District 3’s team said yes to making the effort
to assist the Huron County Engineer’s office with the newly
renovated Standardsburg Road truss bridge. The bridge
was dedicated to Wade Harvey, a 39-year veteran of MS
Consultants who passed away during the planning stages
of the unique project.
At the end of the day, we were able to say yes to this
project and were acknowledged in a very positive way by
the County Engineer.
Stay safe.
Al
Ashland 71
Crawford 173
Erie 20
Huron 180
Lorain 36
Medina 265
Richland 13
Wayne 36
District 41
*thru August 1
*
From
the
Dis
tric
t
Dep
uty D
irec
tor
Bob,
The folks from Huron County appreciate your good work and customer service, and so do I! Thank you for the extra effort
Jerry Wray
Directory Wray,
The Huron County Commissioners Office wanted to extend a word of thanks to your District 3 office. This year, D3 has a
number of highway improvement projects in Huron County for which we very much embrace. However, we had a conflict
with planting season for the local farming community and highway improvements. The area of SR 61 just south of Nor-
walk was being closed along with South Norwalk Road, which is heavily used during planting seasons. With both roads
being closed, all the farm equipment, including anhydrous tanks would have to travel through downtown Norwalk. Obvi-
ously, we were very concerned!
We expressed our concerns with District 3. Allen Biehl and Bob Weaver both went right to work with our suggestions. Mr.
Weaver contacted the contractor doing the work and was able to work out a solution in a quick and effective manner.
Shortly after planting season, the roads were closed and work is proceeding.
The Huron County Commissioners Office would like to extend a word of thanks to District 3 for their attentiveness to our
local needs. You have some good people at District 3, and we would like to acknowledge their hard work and dedication
to our county.
-Gary Bauer, Joe Hintz, and Tom Dunlap, Huron County Commissioners
Dear Judy (Plato),
I just want to thank you personally for your help with discussing our
culverts and ditchlines at Findley State Park.
You easily could have said ‘no’ on behalf of District 3 Deputy Director
Biehl, but you did not. You were so professional, but really shared
concern for our situation. Thank you!
-Bridget Derrick, Findley State Park, 7/24/13
Design Team (continued from Front Page) Design engineers use the Microstation CADD software to
begin preparing and designing the plans (Craig Devore is
pictured at left using the software
to design a project on SR 3 & US
224 in Medina County).
Plan Review
Many sets of eyes look at the
project as it is designed to ensure
it is accurate according to the
project’s scope. While the team in
Design will look at the project from a design perspective,
Construction looks at the project from a bidability stand-
point. The ultimate goal of any plan is that it can be suc-
cessfully bid, built, managed and enforced.
Project Filing
Once plans are finalized, a plan package is submitted to
Central Office to prepare to sell the job to a contractor for
construction. The Design team must submit the project
plans as well as documentation on the environmental, right
-of-way, utility impacts and cost estimates. Even after the
plans are advertised for sale to a contractor, there is a time-
line for pre-bid questions that the Design team must an-
swer to allow the contractor assistance with bidding the
project.
Once the project is officially sold to a contractor, the De-
sign team coordinates with the Construction project and
area engineers by having a hand-off meeting to officially
provide the plans to construction to build and answer any
questions they may have.
Within ODOT’s Strategic Plan, goals are outlined for the
projects to be filed on time at 95% and awarded at 90%. In
Fiscal Year 2013, the District 3 Design Team filed 47 total
capital projects, of which 45 were filed on time, meeting
the goal, and 38 of their 40 projects were awarded on time,
exceeding the goal at 95%.
3 The Legend—August 2013 The Legend—August 2013 2
Construction Project Update:
US 6/SR 101 Railroad
Grade Separation The US Route 6 (Venice Road) and State Route 101 (Tiffin
Avenue) railroad grade separation project in the City of
Sandusky is nearing completion.
Start Date: September 2, 2011
Completion Date: July 31, 2014
Current Contract Amount: $8,435,021.01
Paid to Date: $6,959,072.31
Contractor: Mosser Construction of Fremont, Ohio
The project includes construction of an overpass over the
Norfolk Southern railroad tracks on a new alignment of US
6 and SR 101 on the west side of Sandusky. The project was
originally selected for former Governor Bob Taft’s Railroad
Grade Separation program over a decade ago.
Due to a quicker than anticipated settle-
ment period for the bridge overpass’ em-
bankment and the ability to work through
the winter months, the contractor for this
project is nearly eight to nine months
ahead of schedule. In late August, traffic
will be able to use the new bridge and
roadway alignment to help alleviate train
traffic congestion. Upon opening of the
new alignment, work on the side street
intersections will begin reconstruction.
The project team consists of Manager &
Engineer Randy Patti as well as Highway
Technicians Brian Balduff, Tex Ooten and
Chris Mees. Co-Worker &
Customer Kudos
At a recent
bridge dedication
ceremony I attended
with Construction Ad-
ministrator Bob Weaver, I
listened as Huron County En-
gineer Joe Kovach commented on
how well District 3’s staff worked with
him on the complexities of the bridge
project. The project restored an original
1926 truss bridge, which was dismantled and
restored; then re-erected on new bearings.
The message Joe Kovach sent was that the project
could have easily been turned down by ODOT since it
was such a unique project. As Joe thanked Chris Brown,
Marlin Wengerd, Steve Shepherd and Central Office’s Tim
Keller for their assistance in the project, it dawned on me
what he was really saying in his speech.
After scrapping the speech I was prepared to give, I was
up next and decided to piggyback off what Joe had just
stated. So, my speech became ‘at ODOT, we need to learn
how to say yes more often,’ even if it means more work,
more research, and more ways to explore how we can do
something—instead of how we cannot.
As long as it is legal and ethical, every District 3 employ-
ee has my permission to find creative
ways to say yes more often. That might
mean we are able to say yes to the prop-
erty owner that would like his ditch improved for drainage
or the business owner that wants to install signage that the
road is open to their business.
Saying yes might mean that we need to collaborate
more with our colleagues in Central Office or investigate
the situation a little further. Saying yes means that we do
not throw FHWA under the bus as an excuse to say no.
It has become very easy to just say no to our customers.
When we say no, it means no more research on our part;
we won’t have to worry about violating a policy; it is less
work and allows us just to brush their concerns under the
rug without delving in to it further.
Sure saying yes takes more effort. I appreciate that
members of District 3’s team said yes to making the effort
to assist the Huron County Engineer’s office with the newly
renovated Standardsburg Road truss bridge. The bridge
was dedicated to Wade Harvey, a 39-year veteran of MS
Consultants who passed away during the planning stages
of the unique project.
At the end of the day, we were able to say yes to this
project and were acknowledged in a very positive way by
the County Engineer.
Stay safe.
Al
Ashland 71
Crawford 173
Erie 20
Huron 180
Lorain 36
Medina 265
Richland 13
Wayne 36
District 41
*thru August 1
*
From
the
Dis
tric
t
Dep
uty D
irec
tor
Bob,
The folks from Huron County appreciate your good work and customer service, and so do I! Thank you for the extra effort
Jerry Wray
Directory Wray,
The Huron County Commissioners Office wanted to extend a word of thanks to your District 3 office. This year, D3 has a
number of highway improvement projects in Huron County for which we very much embrace. However, we had a conflict
with planting season for the local farming community and highway improvements. The area of SR 61 just south of Nor-
walk was being closed along with South Norwalk Road, which is heavily used during planting seasons. With both roads
being closed, all the farm equipment, including anhydrous tanks would have to travel through downtown Norwalk. Obvi-
ously, we were very concerned!
We expressed our concerns with District 3. Allen Biehl and Bob Weaver both went right to work with our suggestions. Mr.
Weaver contacted the contractor doing the work and was able to work out a solution in a quick and effective manner.
Shortly after planting season, the roads were closed and work is proceeding.
The Huron County Commissioners Office would like to extend a word of thanks to District 3 for their attentiveness to our
local needs. You have some good people at District 3, and we would like to acknowledge their hard work and dedication
to our county.
-Gary Bauer, Joe Hintz, and Tom Dunlap, Huron County Commissioners
Dear Judy (Plato),
I just want to thank you personally for your help with discussing our
culverts and ditchlines at Findley State Park.
You easily could have said ‘no’ on behalf of District 3 Deputy Director
Biehl, but you did not. You were so professional, but really shared
concern for our situation. Thank you!
-Bridget Derrick, Findley State Park, 7/24/13
Design Team (continued from Front Page) Design engineers use the Microstation CADD software to
begin preparing and designing the plans (Craig Devore is
pictured at left using the software
to design a project on SR 3 & US
224 in Medina County).
Plan Review
Many sets of eyes look at the
project as it is designed to ensure
it is accurate according to the
project’s scope. While the team in
Design will look at the project from a design perspective,
Construction looks at the project from a bidability stand-
point. The ultimate goal of any plan is that it can be suc-
cessfully bid, built, managed and enforced.
Project Filing
Once plans are finalized, a plan package is submitted to
Central Office to prepare to sell the job to a contractor for
construction. The Design team must submit the project
plans as well as documentation on the environmental, right
-of-way, utility impacts and cost estimates. Even after the
plans are advertised for sale to a contractor, there is a time-
line for pre-bid questions that the Design team must an-
swer to allow the contractor assistance with bidding the
project.
Once the project is officially sold to a contractor, the De-
sign team coordinates with the Construction project and
area engineers by having a hand-off meeting to officially
provide the plans to construction to build and answer any
questions they may have.
Within ODOT’s Strategic Plan, goals are outlined for the
projects to be filed on time at 95% and awarded at 90%. In
Fiscal Year 2013, the District 3 Design Team filed 47 total
capital projects, of which 45 were filed on time, meeting
the goal, and 38 of their 40 projects were awarded on time,
exceeding the goal at 95%.
4 The Legend—August 2013
District 3 Employee News
Dates to Remember
9/2 Labor Day
(ODOT Closed)
9/11 Team Up ODOT &
Director’s Cup Roadeo
9/22 Autumn Begins
New Hires
Derek Dittman, Highway
Technician 1 in Huron County
(pictured).
HT Series News
Jason Slagle, Crawford County, obtained
HT 2 status.
Pretesting will be held August 27 at 8AM,
and no one will be permitted to enter the
computer lab after 8:15AM. Scheduling
will be on a first come, first served basis.
Contact your County Manager or Trans-
portation Manager to schedule your pre-
testing. HT Manuals can be found online.
Internal Communications Update
A team in Central Office is working on a
total transformation of ODOT’s Intranet
page to provide a more valuable and
user-friendly resource for employees. No
timetable has been set for a full deploy-
ment of the site; however, look for future
announcements on the progress of the
Intranet in The Legend.
John R. Kasich
Governor
Jerry Wray
Director
Allen C. Biehl, P.E.
District Deputy Director
August 2013
What’s inside…
DDD Corner
Customer Kudos
Spotlight on ERI-6
Getting to know…
Day in the Life of the Design Team
The Legend District 3 Employee Newsletter
In this month’s banner:
The new railroad grade
overpass in the City of
Sandusky.
Get to know…
Laura Speer Laura Speer is an Account Clerk 2 in Huron
County. Prior to becoming an Account Clerk,
Laura spent 11 years as a highway worker.
She is very dedicated to her job, rarely miss-
ing a day of work unless she is vacationing
with her family in some far location. She is a
tremendous resource for all the Huron Coun-
ty employees with assistance for Kronos,
benefits or any other questions. The manage-
ment staff in Huron County also utilize Laura
as a sounding board for bouncing ideas off
as well as her savvy computer skills.
Family: Husband, Terry; son, Nick; son, Brian
& Daughter-in-law, Katie; 3 Grandchildren
Pets: Dog Boone Piggy, a German shorthair
pointer; 2 cats, George & Gracie
Hobbies: love to travel with family, reading,
crafts, watching the hummingbirds in my
backyard, movies
Book last read: Anne Frank Remembered by
Miep Gies & Alison Leslie Gold
Favorite TV show: Castle
Favorite movie: The Mummy
Favorite restaurant: Red Lobster—love
those cheddar bay biscuits!
Favorite vacation spot: Hawaii (Big Island is
AWESOME) & France
Favorite
website:
Pirates Bay
The best CD
album is: anything Bob Seger
Ringtone on my cellphone is: Let me out of
here
Talent or superpower I wish I had: I wish I
could beam from place to place
Least favorite chore: Anything cooking
(Hate it, hate it, hate it)
If I could change one thing about myself it
would be: I would be more tolerant of peo-
ple that irritate me and not so judgmental
My pet peeve is: People that drive below
the posted speed limit in the passing lane
Favorite sports team: Not at all in to sports,
but I did love the Cleveland Browns when
they were known as the Kardiac Kids
First job: Secretary at CE Ward in New Lon-
don; they made graduation caps & gowns
Best advice ever received: Stay out of other
people’s business (from my parents)
Who, living or dead, would you most like
to have dinner with? John Wayne
By Joyce Miller
Each summer, ODOT is in the business of
rebuilding highways, restoring pavement
conditions, and maintaining our system
in what many term ‘orange barrel sea-
son.’
While driving through a construction
zone, probably one of the last things you
are thinking is ‘how did this project get
to this point?’ But, maybe you have
thought ‘why are they doing this?!’
Recently, I set out to find a little more
about where these pro-
jects come from and how
certain aspects of a pro-
ject are determined. Ven-
turing all the way up to
the second floor of the
District Office, I found the
team of Design Engineers
working on plans for fu-
ture construction where I
asked them to explain,
from start-to-finish, how
a project is developed.
Scope
Once a project is initiated
and programmed by the
Planning section of the
Planning & Engineering
Department, it is handed
over to the Design sec-
tion during a project
scope meeting. These meetings include
all stakeholders in a project from the
Planning Engineers, County Managers,
District Bridge Engineer and most likely
Real Estate Administrator, Utility Coordi-
nator and Environmental Coordinator,
Project Manager, as well as the Design
Engineers.
Together, they discuss the project in its
entirety and determine what will ulti-
mately be included in the construction
plans. Prior to the scope, the pavement
treatment has already been selected,
pavement repairs estimated and any
structure repairs needed have been de-
termined.
Field Reviews
After the Design team knows exactly
what should be included in the plans and
the scope is finalized, they will set out to
review the proposed project in the field.
Usually at least two members of the
Design team will drive the project, and
look at anything that may become an
issue or needs addressed in the plans.
For example, on a typical resurfacing
project, the team will look at the guard-
rail, structures, driveways, mailboxes, in-
tersections and encroachments as well as
take measurements that will later help
define the amount of pavement repairs
needed in the plans.
If it is determined in the project scope
that right-of-way may need purchasing
or mapping is necessary, the team of Dis-
trict surveyors will survey the project pri-
or to the field review.
Scheduling
With the knowledge of what will be in-
volved in the project plans, the team in
Design will set a schedule for the project.
The schedule is set within Ellis and allows
the team to meet deadlines at the vari-
ous stages of plan development.
See DESIGN on Page 3
From left: Mike Schafrath, Planning Engineer, and Marlin
Wengerd, District Bridge Engineer discuss a future project
on Interstate 90 in Lorain County during a project scope
meeting with Design Engineers Mike Peters and Karla
Bohmer. The Design section is managed by Dustin Vousden,
and also includes Engineers Dave Baraty, Craig Devore, Nick
Foster; Transportation Technician Specialists Jerry Schlett
and Craig VanHorn, EIT Craig Goodnight; Interns Ken Knapp
and Errol Scholtz; and Surveyors Ray Foos, Scott Hawkins,
Jonathan Keller and Survey Intern AJ Kolbeck.