CDOT's Region 4 Wins Executive Director's Award

December 21, 2011 - Northeastern Colorado/CDOT Region 4 - Award recognizes superior performance by CDOT employees.

NORTHEAST COLORADO — Each year, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) awards one of its six regions the Executive Director’s “Award of Excellence” trophy. This year’s award went to Region 4, which encompasses the northeast corner of the state, including Boulder, Larimer, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, Weld, and Yuma counties.

“This is an award for the people who dedicate their lives to making the transportation system of Colorado the best it can be,” said Region 4 Transportation Director (RTD) Johnny Olson. “This award is all about the people who plan, program, design, build, maintain, repair, and support what is necessary for our highways to run efficiently and safely on a day-to-day basis. All 422 of employees are the backbone of the region, and I am so honored to be part of such a great work force.”

The Executive Director’s award began in the 1990s and has evolved to become a way encourage the varying CDOT regions to qualify and quantify their results and achievements from all of their programs every fiscal year. The winner each year is the region that has performed at the highest level and this year’s award was presented by CDOT Executive Director Don Hunt and CDOT Chief Engineer Tim Harris, who won the award in 2010 as the Region 2 RTD.

Upon receiving the award, Region 4 staff was praised for their innovative thinking, for utilizing new technologies, and for their willingness to work in conjunction with other CDOT regions and state entities to undertake joint projects. Some of the major accomplishments by the region include:

  • Developing a strong partnership with the city of Loveland and other local entities to complete the improvements to the I-25/US 34 interchange. The project increased safety by improving merge movements on I-25.
  • Reaching consensus with multiple local, state and federal partners for the North I-25 Environmental Impact Study, which will allow CDOT to move forward with the improvements to the I-25 corridor between Fort Collins and Denver. Potential improvements include highway widening to accommodate additional general purpose lanes and managed lanes; commuter train; and bus services.
  • Starting the I-25/State Highway (SH) 392 interchange project in coordination with the town of Windsor and city of Fort Collins. The project will replace the SH 392 bridge over I-25 with one that is wider to accommodate two lanes in each direction as well as a left-turn lane in each direction and other improvements.
  • Utilizing a new tow plow, the first in the state, on I-76 between Wiggins and Atwood, which will allow for more efficient snow removal along that stretch of highway. The tow plow is a trailer pulled by the plow truck that swings out to the side and can plow snow and apply de-icer.
  • Installing innovative traffic signals that will share information with each other to optimize the timing of green lights on US 34 Business in Greeley.
  • Hand-patched 32,372 square yards of damaged roadway surface.
  • Laid 38,025 tons of asphalt on roadways.
  • Repaired/replaced 59,396 delineator posts.
  • Worked on 43,320 square feet of bridge deck.
  • Plowed 716,539 roadway miles.

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To view a photo of the award ceremony, visit: http://www.coloradodot.info/news/media-room.html