2010 Annual Report - Maryland State Highway Administration

VIII
Customer Communications, Service and Satisfaction
Environmental Advisory Committee
SHA continues to meet with an Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) comprised
of a group of senior-level professionals who volunteer as advisors to SHA
on matters relating to the Administration’s environmental policies and programs.
The Committee met with SHA senior staff to provide input on policy
level issues. Individual members of the EAC continued to work with various SHA
staff throughout the year to foster ideas, facilitate discussion and provide feedback
on various initiatives. Some of the initiatives that resulted from this partnership
during the year include:
An EAC member was appointed as co-chair of SHA’s committee to increase
the use of recycled materials in highway construction.
SHA held discussions with Baltimore County and other environmental stakeholders
on our de-icing salt management program and identified and implemented
a variety of strategies to address environmental sensitivity issues.
With the encouragement of the EAC, SHA initiated development of an
agency-wide environmental marketing plan to raise awareness of the substantial
contributions that SHA makes to environmental protection and enhancement.
The marketing team completed a message map and a draft
priority list of programs and projects for website packaging.
Outreach Regarding Highway Maintenance in the Year 2020
Under a restrictive economic climate, the SHA’s Office of Maintenance is exploring
ways to optimize SHA operations given the anticipated capabilities of personnel,
equipment and financial resources in order to meet the expectations of
numerous stakeholders. Input was collected to rate the importance of the various
maintenance activities from stakeholder groups such as safety and environmental
groups, contractors, media and finance and policy arenas. Snow and ice
removal was the most important activity, followed by roadway patching and
bridge maintenance. With this customer input SHA will be able to manage activities
in a manner that will meet expectations while attaining the needs of the
community.
Highway Consultants, Contractors and Materials Suppliers
Partnering meeting between contractor and
SHA to discuss project construction.
D/MBE Firms – SHA reviewed its relationship with MBE, DBE and small A/E firms
for ways to enrich and improve the success of agency-firm interaction. In order
to better serve these firms, SHA is targeting opportunities for progress by reassessing
audited overhead rates, inconsistencies in the fulfillment of guidelines,
the SBR program, the small business recognition and commitment to quality and
the transfer of funds between subconsultants.
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STATE HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION | FY 2010 Annual Report