Innovative Public Sector Projects Prove that More Can be Done With Less

Many government agencies continue to drive innovation and achieve cost savings while adjusting to budget cuts and increased pressure for accountability from taxpayers. Here is [acronym] online’s pick of some of the more notable public sector projects that have achieved more with less through design, engineering, and process management innovation.   Design-Build Road Construction Saves Time and Money   Who: Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT)   What: Expansion of I-15 North, Salt Lake City, Utah   Result: Innovative design-build process brings road construction project to completion under budget and ahead of schedule In 2005, the Utah State Legislature approved funding to reconstruct Salt Lake City’s primary north-south route, which was in urgent need of expansion and repair following a huge increase in ski and commuter traffic since it was built in the 1960s. The $214 million expansion project began in early 2006 and includes the widening of 9.5 miles of road from two to four lanes in each direction. Twenty-four bridges will also be built or reconstructed. The project is using best practices and lessons learned from the 1997 I-15 South reconstruction completed just before the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. At the time, that project was “the largest project ever undertaken by the State of Utah, and the largest single design-build highway contract in the United States,” according to the Federal Highway Administration. Using the same design-build process used for I-15 South, as opposed to a design-bid-build process, UDOT is able to control the job while reducing the costs and maximizing the efficiency of crews . Traditional transportation projects are fully designed before moving to the construction phase. However, the design-build method allows both processes to occur almost simultaneously, expediting project delivery considerably. With the design-build model used by UDOT, a design team works to finalize specific project design elements – so that design and construction can occur concurrently – saving taxpayer money and accelerating project completion. Visit www.udot.utah.gov for more information about UDOT’s guidelines for the design-build process in transportation projects.   Bridging the Potomac with a Pioneering Cost-Saving Plan   Who: Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project   What: $24.7 Billion Bridge Reconstruction Project   Result: Winner of America’s Transportation Award for “Large Project – Innovative Management” In 1988, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia kicked off a $24.7 billion revitalization plan to rebuild one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region – the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge. The project entails the replacement of the original six lane bridge with a modern 12-lane structure that will separate local and through traffic, features room for future mass transit, and ties communities together with hiker/biker trails. The 15 year project, scheduled for completion in 2013, involves much more than replacing a bridge; the award-winning venture has also pioneered new policies and procedures for construction management and financial planning. An innovative engineering feat, the new bridge features eight huge bascule leaves, each with a deck encompassing at least 11,800 square feet. The most striking innovations include employing movable false work for the bascule piers, using carbon dioxide to neutralize concrete wash water and then reusing the water to promote the settlement of dust, and adapting an epoxy gel method to seal post-tensioning ducts. With new gossamer twin spans supported by curving V piers, the new bridge began carrying traffic in 2006. A detailed financial plan has kept cost escalation to 1.3 percent since 2001, and an integrated construction management plan has helped keep the project on schedule. Twenty years after the inception of the project, the state governments of Virginia and Maryland were honored with a range of awards for the project, including the national “Large Project – Innovative Management” award at America’s Transportation Awards – the Oscars of the transportation industry. Read more about the project at http://www.wilsonbridge.com/ Applying Corporate Business Practices to Achieve Government Savings   Who: Fort Wayne, Indiana, Public Works Department   What: Application of Six Sigma business methodologies to streamline many of the tedious government hurdles necessary to do business on a day-to-day basis   Result: $10 million in savings or cost avoidance on infrastructure projects When Public Works Utilities Director Greg Meszaros was charged by the newly-elected mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, to look into ways to streamline departmental efficiencies, Meszaros implemented an innovative solution that borrows techniques from industry and applies them to his city’s government. The result – a quality improvement program that saved taxpayers $10 million over seven years. Using the principles of Six Sigma, the 500-employee department addressed more than 30 processes that were unnecessary, redundant or inefficient. The result, other than millions in cost savings, was that the department received approval for a series of initiatives that would help improve the city’s infrastructure system. Since its introduction in 2000, Six Sigma projects have resulted in more than $10 million of savings or cost avoidance for the City. Some of the improvements include:

• Reduction in the time to fill a pothole from 4 days to 4 hours

• Reduction in late garbage pick-ups by 50

• Reduction of the cost per foot of water main repairs by 20

• Lowering the crime rate to record levels; Fort Wayne currently has the lowest crime rate it has had in more than 20 years.

Learn more at www.cityoffortwayne.org/6sigma.htm By Caron Beesley, Editor, [acronym] online Originally published in [acronym] magazine, Issue 10