INNOVATION
Drive Through to Save Lives

MDOT SHA helped MDOT MVA and the Maryland Department of Health deploy testing sites at VEIP locations.

With coronavirus testing key to reopening the state and restoring our economy, MDOT cooperated with the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) to adapt MDOT MVA Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program (VEIP) stations to drive-through testing sites.

MDOT SHA did its part as stations were set up in Glen Burnie, Waldorf, Columbia, White Oak, and Bel Air. Five additional sites will open in May. MDOT SHA staff provided traffic-control plans, deployed Portable Display Message Signs (PDMS), and set up Portable Cameras (PCAMs) for the Maryland Emergency Management Administration (MEMA) to monitor the flow of cars arriving for medical tests.

Intelligent Transportation Systems Chief Janet Frenkil, who coordinated the effort, attended site walks with multiple agencies, supported MDOT MVA requests, and participated in each site's opening day to show our local shops where to deploy cones, signs, and barrels.

The VEIP stations are now open two days a week from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. MDH Staff are onsite from 8 a.m.-4 p.m., providing setup and training in the use of personal protective equipment.

Among those contributing were teams from CHART ITS, OOTS TDSD, D3, D4, and D5, with participation by management and staff, including Cedric Ward, Joey Sagal, Anyesha Mookherjee, Dave Rineholt, Doug Stewart, John Coll, Patrick Crogan, Michael Garber, Aime Mondoua, Gary Hunt, Steve Rochon, Oscar Yen, and William Stroud.

MODERNIZATION
Embracing a New Way of Doing Business

COVID-19 kept OIT staff scurrying, with Joshua Green making house calls on laptops and Charles Ostrander fixing cellphones from the trunk of his car.

Running through the infrastructure of our organization like plasma through a body, information technology, computer systems, telecommunication lines, and electronic devices have allowed MDOT SHA team members to keep the agency's core functions going during this age of coronavirus, while staying away from the office and keeping everyone safe.

"The Office of Information Technology embraced this new, distanced way of doing business," recalls OIT Director Laurie Goudy, whose department had to move a large portion of the MDOT SHA workforce offsite within days of an emergency declaration by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. "The team provided fast, remote, and dedicated responses during a stressful time for all."

The emergency brought three major adjustments to the way MDOT SHA team members work:

The personal touch counts, and many OIT staff earned enthusiastic compliments from colleagues who posted to the Intranet Kudos page.

Joshua Green, for example, won plaudits from many coworkers, especially those at Hanover, who sometimes drove up to the complex with a laptop or other piece of malfunctioning equipment, slipped it through the car window, and found it repaired soon after by Josh. Charles Ostrander, who programs and repairs employees' cell phones, drove across the State to help MDOT SHA staffers, sometimes opening the trunk of his vehicle in a mall parking lot and converting it into a mobile office. Says Laurie Goudy, "IT staff display the ultimate work ethic: They cooperate to advance the needs of our organization."

CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE
Responding to a Silver Alert

CHART drivers Terrell Young, Jr. (Baltimore Region, left) and Willie Little (Autobase) responded to a distress call in just 15 minutes.

Thanks to quickly-responding CHART technicians, a man reported missing through the State Silver Alert system was rescued and brought to medical care in less than an hour after the alert was disseminated.

On a March day, a Silver Alert was posted on an MDOT SHA overhead sign in the early afternoon. Within 15 minutes, actively patrolling CHART response trucks found the car on the shoulder of I-695, just west of Baltimore. The emergency response technicians recognized that the motorist was disoriented and confused. Staying with him, they notified Maryland State Police (MSP), which dispatched a trooper and confirmed that he was the focus of the Silver Alert. MSP brought the man to a local hospital for help.

This wasn't the first time that CHART came to the rescue. Last year CHART posted a Silver Alert on overhead boards statewide. Just 13 minutes later, a motorist driving on I-270 in Frederick County called MSP after spotting the missing car. MSP, which quickly located the vehicle and rescued the lost and vulnerable individual, credited CHART messaging as the key to this success story.

MSP and law enforcement issue Silver Alerts for missing people who are at least 60 years old, suffer from dementia or a cognitive impairment, and are traveling in an identifiable vehicle.

PHOTO OF THE MONTH
Go Orange on Location

On April 22, the Office of Communication's new media manager, Sherry Christian, celebrated Go Orange Day during National Work Zone Safety Week by recording this spot at the I-83 bridge over Padonia Road in Towson. Sherry joins MDOT SHA after anchoring for Harrisburg's WHP-TV and Baltimore’s WMAR-TV.