Agency: Transportation

Line Item: Operations/Maintenance Management

Function

One of the most important functions of the Department of Transportation is maintenance of State highways. This is the second largest single outlay of the total highway dollar. During FY 2013, the Maintenance Division will be engaged in maintaining nearly 18,000 lane miles of hard surface roadway. Good maintenance is important to the safety and convenience of the public and protects the investment of the citizens of Utah in their highway network.

Statutory Authority

The Maintenance Management Division of the Utah Department of Transportation is governed by the Title 72-6 UCA.

Intent Language

Under terms of Section 63J-1-603-(3)(a) Utah Code Annotated, item 217 of Chapter 2 Laws of Utah 2010 is made non-lapsing with the use of any non-lapsing funds limited to the following: Highway Maintenance $2,000,000.

It is the intent of the Legislature that any and all collections or cash income from the sale or salvage of land and buildings are to be lapsed to the Transportation Fund.

There is appropriated to the Department of Transportation from the Transportation Fund, not otherwise appropriated, a sum sufficient, but not more than the surplus of the Transportation Fund, to be used by the Department for the construction, rehabilitation and preservation of State highways in Utah. It is the intent of the Legislature that the appropriation, fund first, a maximum participation with the federal government for the construction of federally designated highways, as provided by law, and last, the construction of State highways, as funding permits. It is also the intent of the Legislature that the FTE's for field crews may be adjusted to accommodate the increase or decrease in the Federal Construction Program. No portion of the money appropriated by this item shall be used either directly or indirectly to enhance the appropriations otherwise made by this act to the Department of Transportation for other purposes.

Funding Detail

For more detail about a particular source of finance or organizational unit, click a linked entry in the left column of the table(s) below.

Program: Maintenance Administration

Function

The Department has set up the Engineer for Maintenance fund to cover extraordinary snow storms, natural disasters or other unexpected emergencies. The record snowfall of January 1993 and the 2011 land slide near Cedar City that took out part of the highway are examples of where these funds have been used. Near the end of the year these funds will be distributed to the regions for regular maintenance functions if emergency expenditures are not required.

Maintenance operations generally are performed by Department personnel and may range from keeping the highway free of litter to repairing extensive damage caused by storms or floods. Traffic services also include highway striping, signs, signals, lighting, roadside rest areas, right-of-way planting, maintenance and emergency assistance to traffic such as snow and ice removal. Maintenance of the highway system is primarily the financial responsibility of the State of Utah. Inflation, coupled with increased lane miles of highway surface, has caused expenditures for maintenance to rise.

Funding Detail

Program: Region 1

Function

Region One is responsible for highway needs in Box Elder, Cache, Morgan, Rich, Weber, and Davis Counties in the northern part of Utah. The region headquarters is located in Ogden. They are assigned responsibility for designing, constructing and maintaining State highways in those counties. Region One has 995 lineal miles of roadway to maintain which equates to 2,999 lane miles of surface. This work is accomplished through fifteen maintenance stations plus three sub-stations located strategically throughout the region. Region One currently has a 118 person snow plan. The people doing this work are located at the various maintenance stations.

Funding Detail

Program: Region 2

Function

UDOT Region Two is divided in two districts (East and West) for road maintenance purposes. These two districts are further divided into four geographic areas, all contained within the Region's boundaries. Each one of these areas houses maintenance stations staffed with cross-trained employees to tackle a variety of responsibilities required to maintain the state's investment in transportation infrastructure. These employees perform maintenance activities ranging from sweeping and snowplowing to repairing state roadways in order to prolong their service life cycles.

The Good Roads Cost Less approach is a top priority to Region Two's maintenance personnel, and several innovative approaches have been implemented to maximize resources, safety and efficiencies, including:

• Installing of Gaz-X Avalanche Control Systems to increase safety and minimize risk when conducting blasting activities in the canyons.

• Pavement Marking Performance Contract which will warrant roadway markings in certain areas of I-15 and I-215 for six years.

• Pre-treating roadways with sodium chloride or magnesium chloride solutions shortly before forecasted snow storms to facilitate snow removal activities.

Funding Detail

Program: Region 3

Function

The Region Three headquarters are located in Orem. It encompasses the six counties of Juab, Utah, Wasatch, Duchesne, Uintah, and Dagget. The responsibilities include maintenance of 2,795 lane miles of Utah highways. With the addition of several major construction projects, including I-15 reconstruction, an additional 207 lane miles will be added to the State system by 2015.

Funding Detail

Program: Region 4

Function

Region Four's Maintenance Program is responsible for roadway maintenance within Kane, Garfield, Piute, Wayne, Sevier, Sanpete, San Juan, Grand, Emery, Carbon, Washington, Iron, Beaver and Millard Counties. In order to provide the residents and the traveling public with the best possible and most cost effective transportation experience, Region Four has located 38 Stations and Special Crews throughout these 14 counties. The Region is currently responsible for 10,714 lane miles of roadways.

Funding Detail

Program: Seasonal Pools

Function

The Seasonal Pool is used during peak maintenance and construction seasons to augment the permanent staff. The seasonal employees are often college students who seek seasonal employment. Funding for Seasonal Pools is set aside to give the Department flexibility to assign funding for maintenance and construction assistance in areas most affected by seasonal weather and construction projects. No permanent FTEs are assigned to this program, however, Department is able to hire seasonal employees that are the equivalent of 90 FTEs with the funding provided with this appropriation.

Funding Detail

Program: Lands & Buildings

Function

The Land and Buildings Program was created to give the Department a funding source to improve and maintain maintenance buildings and rest areas in the state. The Transportation and Environmental Quality Appropriations Subcommittee is responsible for building maintenance and repair projects costing less than $350,000. Those projects over $350,000 are by statute administered by the Division of Facilities Construction and Management.

Funding Detail

Program: Field Crews

Function

The resonsibility of field crews is to oversee the actual construction of highway projects. Their assignment includes oversight of all aspects of highway construction. The field crews also oversee project control to ensure maximum safety measures are considered for the motoring public in a given construction area. The Field Crew program has one hundred and seventy one FTEs that are assigned throughout the State.

UDOT has implemented a program called Transportation Technicians - a mobile work force that moves back and forth between maintenance and construction depending on programmatic workload. All Construction and Maintenance level one, two, and three positions have now been converted to the Transportation Technician classification.

Funding Detail

Program: Traffic Safety/Tramway

Function

The Traffic Safety section is responsible for developing and issuing statewide direction, policies and procedures for all traffic safety related standards. The Division is responsible for planning and programming of Federal and State funding used in transportation safety programs and projects. These programs include highway projects and roadway/railroad crossing projects. They are also responsible for implementation of statewide standards associated with work zone safety and mobility, and establishing and issuing standards for school zone safety.

This program oversees traffic studies to warrant traffic signs, establish speed limits, crosswalks, school zones and other traffic engineering study based safety items. They are also responsible for developing and administering the crash data for the State. This work includes preparing crash reports for the Federal Highway Administration and National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. This section also has responsibility for ski lift inspections and certifications.

Funding Detail

Program: Traffic Operations Center

Function

The Traffic Operations Center is a part of the Traffic Management Division. The Traffic Management Division is responsible for planning, designing, installing, operating, and maintaining advanced Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies to improve transportation mobility, safety, economic prosperity and customer satisfaction.

Funding Detail

Program: Maintenance Planning

Function

The Maintenance Planning office is responsible for administering the maintenance operations of the State Highway System. Specifically, this office prepares the annual maintenance budget, develops improved maintenance activities, encourages the training of all maintenance personnel in each region, and develops the yearly maintenance work program. This office also manages the contract maintenance work performed throughout the state. The main objective of the Maintenance Planning Office is to provide the best maintenance program possible with the funds appropriated.

Funding Detail