Vow to Improve DOT

6/30/07 The State Transportation Board has adopted key recommendations from a three-month study of the effectiveness and efficiency of Georgia Department of Transportation operations and directed the Department to act on the measures to cut costs and quicken delivery of highway projects. Board Chairman Mike Evans, who initiated the review, said his goal is to make Georgia’s DOT the best in the country.

“When I came to this board, I wanted to make a difference,” Evans said, “I believe making that difference will come through being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars and understanding that we are operating with constrained resources. This efficiency study looks at how we operate and what we can do to make the Department a better functioning and more accountable organization.”

The review of the Department found three major opportunities for improvement. Those opportunities were faster project delivery through a 15 to 20 percent reduction in project duration and to fully integrate and improve the business of Georgia DOT’s environmental office; to embrace cost savings opportunities by managing spending; and to target organizational improvements such as managing human assets, clarifying roles and responsibilities, upgrading performance measures and establishing a process to develop a financially constrained Statewide Transportation Plan. The Board resolution , while recognizing the expertise and high national standing of the Department, noted that Georgia DOT’s current $7.7 billion funding shortfall necessitated additional steps. It directed the Department to implement action items from the study during the next two years.

“I embrace this study and its findings in the spirit of making Georgia DOT a stronger and better department,” Transportation Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl said. “At the Board’s direction, I will take this report to our staff and break down the recommendations and find tangible ways that we can make these improvements in addition to what we are already doing to improve project delivery, to be fiscally responsible and to improve our most valuable asset—our employees.”

The study was conducted by The Monitor Group, of Cambridge, MA, which has performed similar assessments for the Bank of America, the Federal Reserve Bank and the Boston Public Health Commission.

Evans said, “This high-level look at the Department has helped us to figure out what we are doing right and gives us ways to enhance those processes and it points out what we are doing wrong, so that we can fix those inefficiencies. I expect it to become the blueprint of what we do in the next 12 -24 months.”

The executive summary and a PowerPoint presentation on the study are available online at Georgia DOT’s website (address below).

The Georgia Department of Transportation is committed to providing a safe, seamless and sustainable transportation system that supports Georgia’s economy and is sensitive to both its citizens and its environment. For general information on the Georgia DOT, please visit our website (www.dot.state.ga.us).