Staunton District Highway Scanner - November 2023

NEWS & NOTES
“A LITTLE PEBBLE IN A POND CAN MAKE SOME HUGE RIPPLES”
Once upon a time (not long ago) a series of phone calls was the way people were notified of a traffic incident, until they
received an automated email. It took time. “It might be 15, 20, 30 minutes before you get the next update,” District
Traffic Operations Director Matt Shiley states. “When an incident’s going on, minutes matter.”
Now, Incident Management Coordinators and Duty Officers use MS Teams to send information out directly to everyone
who needs it all at once. “It’s been very successful keeping everyone informed when we have major incidents especially,”
Shiley adds.
The Innovation Catalog,
featuring 8 Staunton
District innovations, is
distributed throughout
the district.
This is just one example of efficiency and streamlining in the Staunton District that’s a direct
result of ideaDRIVER and the Innovation Team.
“We’re looking for any ideas that will make our business at VDOT - the Staunton District
in particular - more effective, more efficient, save money, save time, help us meet our
performance measures and improve safety,” Shiley states.
District Learning Manager Joe Urban says it’s a way for people to be heard. “So often
people don’t feel comfortable sharing an idea or a different way. This is the opportunity for
a group to take a nonjudgmental, nonpartisan look at an idea and look at an idea to try to
figure out – does it make sense? Does it create efficiencies? Does it create safety?”
Both Shiley and Urban, who help lead the Innovation Team, welcome all ideas big and
small. “Not every idea has to be this huge, grandiose idea," Urban says. "A little pebble in
a pond can make some huge ripples.”
"We encourage people to submit ideas," Shiley says - whether it's to ideaDRIVER, in paper
form, or through email, “because that’s what’s going to make us better.”
Moving Forward – Focus on Innovation
I-81 CORRIDOR IMPROVEMENT UPDATE
Construction is about to begin on a second I-81 Corridor Improvement Program
(CIP) project in the Staunton area. VDOT in October awarded a $7.7 million contract
to Fairfield-Echols LLC of Fishersville, Va., to build an I-81 southbound auxiliary
lane. Here are the essential details:
» The project requires the Route 635 (Barterbrook Road) bridge over I-81 to
be replaced. The new bridge will have fewer piers, allowing space for the auxiliary
lane between exit 221 (I-64 interchange) and exit 220 (southern end of Route 262).
» The new bridge and auxiliary lane should be complete in mid-2025.
» VDOT and Fairfield-Echols will work with the nearby I-81 Staunton
widening contractor to ensure maintenance of traffic is coordinated through construction.
Harrisonburg City Council in September received details about the
upcoming widening of I-81 northbound and southbound between
mile marker 242 and 248.
Project Manager Scott Alexander (pictured) and Ross Hudnall,
VDOT Noise Abatement Coordinator, briefed council members on
the $322 million project. It includes replacement of nine bridges and
construction of roughly four miles of noise barriers. Construction is
expected to begin in 2025.
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SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER 2023 2020