COMMUNICATION - ADMINISTRATOR'S MESSAGE Change – in Communications – is Coming Change is in the air. Days are ending sooner; the temperatures are dropping. MDOT SHA's Western Maryland teams have already deployed for wintry conditions, and a few snowflakes have wandered into the metropolitan area as well. Every year at the beginning of the winter season, I work with our Operations, Maintenance and Communications teams to get the word out about our winter weather preparations and response during the Annual Snow Show. It takes the entire MDOT SHA Team – from our snow crews to our IT department – to respond when snow and ice descend on Maryland's roads and to communicate these efforts to our customers. Whether we're communicating emergencies, a response to an inquiry or normal operations, excellence in communications is not only necessary – it is critical to our success as an organization. It is how we explain the "why," and how we deliver a transformative customer experience. Video and photos bring our stories to life and resonate with our customers. We'll be producing more videos similar to what has been posted on YouTube for the MD 210 Interchange Improvement Project and on Facebook for Veterans' Day and Veterans' Month, when we featured MDOT SHA's veterans and senior managers pay tribute to those who have served. Within the next several weeks, you'll see MAJOR improvements to our www.roads.maryland.gov website. Project Portal will succeed Project Lifecycle and include significant improvements and user-friendly features. The technology on these new pages will make it easier for the public, and for us, to provide details about projects, view maps, announce public meetings, view project traffic alerts, obtain survey feedback and send email to local residents who need to know where and when our projects will affect their communities. You'll see the www.roads.maryland.gov website has a fresh, colorful new look and improved navigation to get our visitors where they want to go quickly. And while revamping the look of the website, we took the time to revise the website's language to better convey our often very technical work in simpler language. We can't wait for you to see the new MDOT SHA website and Project Portal. Watch for all of these communications improvements to go live by mid-December. We'll continue to seek ways to enhance provocative, meaningful communications with both our internal and external customers. Thank you for your role in the MDOT SHA story – one that continues to evolve and deliver transformative results for our customers. I wish each of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. During the upcoming holidays and during the upcoming winter weather season, please travel safely and let's look out for each other. Greg Slater, Administrator

Greg Slater

Administrator Greg Slater provided local media outlets with important winter weather response information during the Annual Snow Show press conference, held November 18 at the Statewide Operations Center.

MODERNIZATION
Project Portal Debuts on MDOT SHA's Website

By mid-December, MDOT SHA's new website will include a completely revised Project Portal.

MDOT SHA's projects have a profound effect on our communities, vastly improving Maryland's transportation infrastructure. However, the process of planning, design, public input and construction is typically a multi-year process that can be difficult to communicate to our customers in a non-technical way. MDOT SHA has made a vast improvement in how commuters, travelers, and contractors learn about our projects and how these projects affect them in their everyday travels. MDOT SHA is collaborating with Esri, known world-wide for delivering data spatially, specializing in interactive maps and digital messaging content for government; and Granicus, a software company that enables governments to easily and openly communicate with its constituents.

In just a few short weeks, Project Portal will debut on the MDOT SHA website – www.roads.maryland.gov – as a mobile-friendly platform, revolutionizing how we communicate to the public in an easy-to-read platform, with the following:

In addition, Project Portal will bring greater clarity, providing NEPA and documents, public event calendars, and surveys.

A visit to the Project Portal home page will feature a statewide interactive map that includes all Project Portal Projects, current project statistics by project phase, and upcoming meetings. From the Project Portal home page, visitors may access a list of all Project Portal projects grouped by district and county. Visitors may then click on the project's name from the list and be directed to the unique individual project page.

We're excited for our internal and external customers alike to experience Project Portal and hope it provides everyone with a clear, well-organized and fresh look at MDOT SHA's projects.

INNOVATION
MARWIS Road Weather Program Expanding Real-Time Reporting of Road Weather Information

Maintenance trucks will carry new weather sensors that transmit information about snow and ice in seconds.

When Momentum last wrote about the Mobile Advanced Road Weather Information Sensor (MARWIS) at the beginning of the year, MDOT SHA was just rolling out the new equipment that brought an enormous amount of weather information to those responding to storms and the effect of frigid temperatures on Maryland's roads. The information, gathered by the equipment hundreds of times a second, helped planners pinpoint roads that need treating and provided the Statewide Operations Center with emergency data they could relay to those in the field.

Last winter, MDOT SHA piloted the 55 MARWIS units temporarily attached to the hitch mount of our snow fleet vehicles. This year, MDOT SHA has permanently mounted the MARWIS units on our snow fleet, with plans to double the quantity of units in 2020. MDOT SHA expects to continue to add additional units in 2021 and continue to utilize additional road weather management technology to bring valuable data to our decision makers and citizens.

CHART Director Joey Sagal says, "This is one more tool in our toolbox that, locally, will help maintenance leaders make situational decisions, like deciding fleet deployment, and help Statewide, as well. What's neat is that the data is provided in real time. That lets us perform as efficiently as possible."

10 MARWIS units will be permanently attached to CHART trucks. The remaining units will go to snow fleet maintenance vehicles deployed throughout the State. MDOT SHA expects that by 2021, all regions will have more than a dozen MARWIS units providing real time weather information back to the Statewide Operations Center and reporting to the public through the S.T.O.R.M. website.

MARWIS supplements the long-used Roadway Weather Information Systems (RWIS) and Non Invasive Road Sensor (NIRS) stations, installed permanently at 132 locations, which relay information like windspeed, wind direction and humidity.

CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE
To the Rescue, Right at Our Doorstep

Quick thinking Golden Ring Shop team members came to the assistance of a driver trapped in a burning van before local emergency services arrived. Pictured at top are (left to right) Carroll Williams, Troy Dixon, Don Carter Jr., Marco Scurti, Rick DeMarr, Wayne Smith, and Nikos Routzounis. Seated: Christine Gilmore.

Every day, MDOT SHA maintenance technicians are on the road, ready to assist customers whose crashes are reported to the Statewide Operations Center and regional offices. But they're certainly not expecting a crash to occur right at their shop's doorstep.

That's just what occurred suddenly on October 10, when a crash jolted the Golden Ring Maintenance Facility. That afternoon, a passenger vehicle changed lanes in front of a commercial van on busy US 40 (Pulaski Highway), near the shop entrance. While trying to avoid the other vehicle, the commercial van driver veered from the highway and came to rest in the fence between US 40 and the shop. The front of the van was crushed and exploded into flames.

Eight members of the Golden Ring team sprang into action to help the driver. They joined forces to extinguish the fire with water hoses and fire extinguishers from the shop, then kept watch over the van's driver until emergency services arrived.

Angélica Medel, Administrative Assistant III at the Golden Ring shop, praised her coworkers' swift response that day. "They were ready, willing and able to rapidly assist and provide emergency services — even removing a door from the van and comforting the injured man."

Members of nearby fire departments quickly arrived at the scene. The fire fighters freed the driver from the van and took him to a nearby hospital. The Golden Ring Shop team is pleased to report that they heard from the grateful driver, who is recovering from his injuries.

Thank you to our eight Golden Ring employees who went above and beyond to assist one of our customers in need.

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

During our annual Snow Show about winter preparations, Glen Burnie Team Leader/FMIT IV Quinole (Kevin) Abney let reporters take a swing behind the wheel of a snowplow and then granted an interview to WBAL-TV reporter Lowell Melser.