Montgomery County’s Department of Transportation Wins Six NACo Awards

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) has won six 2022 National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Awards, accounting for about 20 percent of the 31 total awards won by the County. Award categories include transportation, information technology and financial management.

“I am really proud of the efforts of all of our employees,” said MCDOT Director Chris Conklin. “Transportation touches everyone. It is one of our County’s most important resources. We strengthen communities by connecting people and places through transit and infrastructure. We are continuously looking at what we can do better to improve the lives of our residents and ensure our services are equitable. These awards are reflective of that.”

The six Achievement Awards won by MCDOT are:

Within the Transportation Category:

Call-n-Ride Essential Delivery Service

The MCDOT Call-n-Ride (CNR) Program provides subsidy assistance to help transport low-income seniors (65 years and older), and individuals with disabilities (aged 18-64), to medical and/or personal appointments. To mitigate the immense and compounded difficulties caused by the COVID-19 health crisis and help the destitute and highly vulnerable segment of society stay safe while meeting their basic needs; Call-n-Ride introduced an Essential Delivery Service initiative/program on April 24, 2020.

The program used the County’s taxicab companies to assist program participants with pickup and delivery of their food orders from grocery stores, food banks or restaurants in Montgomery County to their residence. Clients would order and pay for groceries or meals online or by phone and/or confirm pick-up of food packages from the foodbanks, then contact a taxicab company’s dispatch office to arrange for pick-up and delivery by a taxi driver. The delivery cost is subsidized between 50-91 percent, depending on the income of the resident.

Storm Drain Culvert Resiliency Program for Addressing Climate Change

Decades of development and urban sprawl have led to the construction of thousands of storm drain culverts throughout Maryland to carry stormwater below roadways. Failure to properly maintain these culverts can lead to their collapse, sinkholes, and the emergency closure of roadways—all of which affect public safety. Due to climate change, these culverts are exposed to larger storm events each year that stress their ability to convey stormwater during flood events. This increase in storm severity coupled with aging storm drain infrastructure created an environment in Montgomery County, where culverts and the roadways passing over them were vulnerable to large storm events.

Montgomery County successfully implemented a storm drain culvert resiliency program that created an innovative rating system. This rating system enabled the County to objectively categorize hundreds of storm drain culverts based on drainage area flood potential, culvert structural condition, average daily traffic count, and mobility impact to the community. The program provided a basis for the County to more efficiently allocate capital improvement project funding to increase the resiliency of the storm drain culvert system based on need.

Free COVID-19 Vaccination, Testing, Mask Pickup Taxi Program

MCDOT partnered with Taxicab companies operating in the County to provide free roundtrip transportation for older adults 65 and over and individuals with disabilities, to COVID-19 vaccination sites, testing locations and to pick up N95 masks. MCDOT pays the taxicab companies for their services from a Metropolitan Washington Council of Government Enhanced Mobility for Older Adults and Individuals with Disabilities Grant (50 percent) and with County funds (50 percent). The goal was to provide a no-cost transportation option to the at-risk communities we serve by proactively offering transportation assistance to ensure that the transportation disadvantaged residents, who are also at a higher risk of complications if they test positive for COVID, have this option available.

MCDOT recognizes transportation is a common barrier to health care for older adults and people with disabilities, this initiative was launched to remove the financial and accessibility barriers and protect the health and safety of our residents.

Within the Information Technology Category:

Service Request Management Map (MCDOT and TEBS)

The Montgomery County, DOT Service Request Management Map, developed by MCDOT in close collaboration with the Department of Technology and Enterprise Business Solutions (TEBS), provides a new online tool that makes it easy for staff to manage and fulfill service requests reported through the County’s Siebel MC311 system more efficiently.

The online map application extends the search and mapping capabilities offered by MC311 to better investigate and plan the fulfillment of service requests throughout the County. The application allows MCDOT staff the ability to update service requests with activities related to the fulfillment of service requests.

The application is also paired with a public mapping application for Montgomery County residents. Through the public map, once a designated point of interest is selected through a mouse click on the form, a pin is dropped at the location. The pin may further be expanded into an intake form using a single mouse click for a county-maintained location. Upon the completion of the intake form, the user will click on Submit Report button as the final step to report the service request. The map instantly generates a service request in MC311 and offers the SR number to the user which may be utilized in the future to follow up on the status of the service request.

The map also includes a link to an ADA-compliant intake form to better assist users with visual impairment. By using in-house resources, the County was able to develop an application that more effectively meets the County’s needs at a considerably lower cost than the current systems available on the market.

Within the Financial Management Category:

Enhancements to Central Vendor Registration System (CVRS) for Individual Payees (MCDOT & Finance)

Using a human-centered approach, the Property Acquisition Section (PAS) of the Department of Transportation and the Department of Finance (FIN) worked collaboratively to modify the Central Vendor Registration System to simplify the use and access for individuals entitled to compensation arising out of property acquisitions for transportation projects.

Streamlined Electronic Invoice Management

The COVID-19 pandemic has unveiled the growing need for a digital solution for the storage and processing of invoices for payment from the legacy business process of moving and filing paper invoices. MCDOT’s Division of Parking Management used this opportunity to develop and implement a SharePoint-based system to process the workflow of every invoice submitted to the division. This in-house developed system also addressed other needs including providing payment status, reduced processing times, improved document accessibility, and paper reduction.

For more information on these programs, and a listing of other Montgomery County recognized programs, visit bit.ly/3lK7I1A.