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Work continues on ITD's new efficiency report;
additional items still being accepted

A comprehensive report that reviews ITD’s efficiency efforts the past year and projects the impacts of those efficiencies into the future will be released this fall by the Communications Office.

It succeeds a 72-page report prepared last year that addressed Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s request to demonstrate ITD’s effective use of resources.

New efficiencies still sought

To make the 2008 report as inclusive as possible, the Communications Office asks program managers, section managers and employees to forward efficiency measures and accomplishments by next week. The final report will be provided to legislators, other policy-makers and ITD partners next month.

Please send information to Rik Hinton at rik.hinton@itd.idaho.gov or Jeff Stratten, jeff.stratten@itd.idaho.gov .

The initial report included measures ITD introduced from 1994 through 2007 to improve product and service delivery and reduce operational costs. It included innovative approaches to highway design and construction, use of new technology and operational improvements.

The 2007 report also projected the anticipated efficiencies through 2012.

A “close-out” section included as part of the efficiencies report looked at measures implemented and completed between 1994 and 2004.

The new report, in a more condensed format, focuses on measures taken the past year that meet the department’s strategic plan focus areas:

Improving customer service
Leading through agency performance
Expanding and enhancing partnerships, and
Investing in employees

“The commitment to efficiency is even more important in 2008 because of the transportation funding challenges being experienced nationwide,” ITD Director Pam Lowe indicates in an introductory message for the report.

“As state and federal budgets tighten and construction costs escalate, we need to find ways to do more with less. And we are doing just that.”

Last year, ITD introduced Practical Design as a new approach to highway design and construction that ensures projects are appropriate for their intended use and physical environment.

“The basic premise of practical design is, ‘don’t design a Cadillac when a Chevy will do,’ ” Lowe explains. “Practical Design allows us to simplify project designs and stretch taxpayer dollars as far as possible.

“Our efforts to save time and money are not limited to construction projects of the Division of Highways. Each of our six divisions has a major focus on improving efficiency, allowing them to do as much as possible within increasingly constrained budgets. This report provides details on each division’s 208 efficiency efforts …”

In addition to Practical Design projects in each of the six districts, the new report reviews measures in each of ITD’s divisions, materials testing and GARVEE innovations/acceleration, and lists nearly two dozen awards the department has received the past year.