Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85913
HighwayContractor by Kirk Landers Chicago DOT How Deals with the New Budget Realities The Mission: Manage more than 6,000 miles of roads and alleys with less money and be greener about it. The solution: Innovate and change. also encouraged road professionals to re- evaluate traditional practices and replace some of them with more innovative, cost- effective solutions. Road departments for small- and medium- T sized cities and counties have been on the leading edge of this trend, their size and closeness to the citizenry making possible quicker, nimble reactions to changing eco- nomic tides. But large and very large departments are changing, too, and the Chicago Department of Transportation is an excellent case in point. In a city with a reputation for machine politics, change is in the air and it's being felt in the Chicago DOT. The impetus for change comes from the city's new mayor, former Obama Administration Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, as well as the rigors of the recession. The city's department of transportation manages more than 4,000 centerline miles of streets, plus 2,100 miles of alleys and he Great Recession has wreaked havoc in road management pro- grams all over America, but it has more than 7,400 miles of sidewalks. "Our directive is to stretch our budget and be environmentally friendly," Chicago DOT Commissioner Gabe Klein told Better Roads at the site of a demonstration proj- ect last fall. "We're not afraid to try new things." And indeed, the department is trying new things. Investigating techno-solutions Chicago DOT is looking for new cost ef- ficiencies in the field and in the adminis- tration of contracts, says Quality Assurance Manager Cindy Williams, a department spokeswoman on pavement issues. She notes that the department wants to make a substantial upgrade in its pavement manage- ment system — without the financial pain of investing in a new, customized system. "We're reaching out to the Cook County Highway Department to see if we can adapt their systems," says Williams. "We need a better system for asset manage- ment, one that lets us better track pave- ment age and condition, and helps us identify maintenance windows." Better Roads April 2012 9 One of Chicago DOT's in-house crews places a high-recycle-content surface lift that includes rubber-modified liquid asphalt cement.