2019 Holiday Party (photo gallery)

Thanks to everyone on the Holiday Planning Committee for a successful holiday party. Employees enjoyed a potluck lunch with meat provided by the management team and the Holiday Planning Committee, whose members include Kelly Alvarez, Amber Lynch, Teresa Martin, and Vanessa Clark.  After lunch people competed in the department games and the annual ugly sweater contest.

The following volunteers also helped make the holiday party possible: Keith Ellis, Cathy Jones, Amy Stevinson, Megan Arthur, Christine Erisman, Mary Miller, Ashley Johnson, Erika Ross, Myranda Ross, Kyle Chancy, Michael Landvik, Jaizon Brooks, Randy Whyde, Kat Floyd, Greg Copeland, Aliyah Wells, Trisha Sen, Brittney Loftin, Patty Pence, Debra Huwar, Erikka Allen, Nicholas Lewandowski, Leaann Otis, Phillip Nguyen and Sean Domingo. 

To view more photos, visit our Flickr album. 

View more photos here. 
View photos from the maintenance holiday party here. 

Design department wins bragging rights

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Harvesters Essentials Drive. Together we donated more than two bins full of non-perishable supplies.

The Design department won bragging rights with the most items donated for this drive.

Work on tiny habits in 2020 to reach big goals

2020 has arrived. For many a New Year marks new resolution, but how many of those resolutions stick? This year, instead of focusing on big resolutions many behavioral experts suggest creating tiny habits.

In his book “Tiny Habits,” BJ Fogg, director of the Stanford University Behavior Design Lab, says that taking teeny tiny steps can create the confidence you need to reach your goals.

“When you know how to create tiny habits, you can change your life forever,” Fogg says.

For example, if you want to start a meditative practice start with three breaths. Just three. And when you finish those breaths count it as a success. Eventually, Fogg says you will want to do more than three breaths and when you want to you can. In this way, tiny habits create big change.

Fogg discusses this theory in his Ted Talk.

The tiny habit approach can be applied to any goal. Do you want to start flossing daily? Start with just one tooth. It seems silly, but after a while, you will want to floss the others. Want to run? Start with a jog around the block. Just one block. Want to drink more water? Start with just one glass. No matter what your goals for 2020 there is always a teeny tiny habit by which you can start.

Lifehack has a list of 25 Tiny Habits That Could Totally Change Your Life if you need some inspiration.  

Honoring Service to Our State - Memorial Sign Dedication Ceremony Held for Senator Phil Curls

Monica Curls poses with the new sign.

A memorial sign dedication ceremony honoring the late Senator Phil Curls was held Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center, 3700 Blue Parkway, KC, MO. The public was invited to attend the event.

Curls served in the Missouri Senate from 1984 until 1998 and the Missouri House of Representatives from 1972 until 1982. He was elected to the Missouri Senate by winning a special election in 1983. He was a founding member of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus Foundation. In honor of his service to his state, the portion of Interstate 70 from the Blue Ridge Cutoff overpass to the Troost Avenue overpass in Jackson County will be signed “Senator Phil B Curls Memorial Highway.”

The Missouri Memorial Highway Dedication Program allows state highways and bridges to be named after an individual (deceased two or more years), an event, place or organization. No bridge or section of a highway on the state highway system may be designated after more than one individual, event, place or organization. Two signs shall be installed for each highway and bridge designation on the state’s highway system. Other Missouri highway memorial designation programs include the Heroes Way Interchange program, Drunk Driving Victims program and the Adopt A Highway program. Visit http://www.modot.mo.gov/services/MemorialDesignationPrograms.htm for more info.  

Innovations shine at showcase

And the winner is: from left: Randy Johnson, Kelly Alvarez and 

Michael Flory present the KC SCOUT and Waze Crowd-Sourced 

Incident Integration. Their innovation won this year's People's 

Choice award. 

Kansas City District employees showcased their innovations on Dec. 10. The district had 23 innovations and 18 will move on to the next round. 

KC Scout & Waze Crowd-Sourced Incident Information Integration received the People’s Choice Award and stood out among the judges. Mark Sommerhauser, Kelly Alvarez and Michael Flory submitted this innovation.

Scout’s innovation merges Scout’s resources with the traffic and navigation app Waze. All the traffic incidents that are reported on Scout’s system are now seen through the Waze app. This enables Scout to send updated traffic information to a wider audience.

The integration also enables Scout to receive updates from Waze on potholes and other traffic issues.

“Scout’s Waze integration project gives the Scout Traffic Management Center staff dozens of additional trusted eyes and ears out on the road reporting of incidents, lane blockages, and potholes throughout the Kansas City region,” said Sommerhauser, who serves as KC Scout ITS project manager. “If the Scout Traffic Management Center staff quickly knows about these issues on the roadway, then an appropriate response can be implemented sooner and the traveling public has a better chance of experiencing a safe, smooth, reliable, incident-free trip on a daily basis.”

Other innovations moving on to the next round included:

• A signal and light training facility- Scott Brelsford, Chris Weikel and Nathan Mounce 
• A new snow-leave request form- Brian Burger, Jimmy Shannon, Trisha Sen, Anita Raineri and Lynelle Luther
• An online page with EAC resources- James Miles, Krystal Jolley and the KCEAEC
• A public meeting webinar- Markl Johnson, Lairyn McGregor, Gerri Doyle, Mike Landvik and Griffin Smith
• Sign post footing per each- Brian Burger, Zach Walker, Juan Yin, Mark Fisher, Jim Templer and Easaw Thomas 
• Wireless TMA- Scott Roger, Lloyd Crawford, Eric Oaks 
• To throw or not to throw- Make Warren, Jessica Burns, Chris Karlin, Steve Collyott, Ryan Knieb and Perry Allen
• Degrees of safety- Aaron Pilant
• Saline bridge sealant sprayer- Bill Lutgen, Allen Todd, Richard Paxton
• A two-color multi-pattern early warning arrow board- Loren Moore and Calvin Kenslow
• A Bobcat paver- Robert Davis and Dan Duncan
• Core drill tamper- Philip Wooden
• Reflective door strips- Lisa Raybourn, Brian Burger, Robert Vohs, Michelle Bolden, Chris Karlin and Jacob Wilson
• Portable hydraulic pump- Dennis Calton, Scott Roger and Philip Wooden
• Type Ed MSE wall gutter- Mike Warren, Chris Karlin, Jessica Burns, Jared Yost, Ryan Knieb and Perry Allen
• Consolidated daily asphalt report- Ryan Kneib, Chad Baldwin, Sean Domingo, Phillip Nguyn, Michael Warren and Brian Burger
• Underbody truck wash

These innovations will be reviewed by the Central office to determine who goes to the statewide competition in Springfield on April 6.

Introducing the Procurement Tip of the Week

If you make purchases for MoDOT you likely know that there are procurement rules. But do you know all the rules?

Kansas City News Network recently added the Procurement Tip of the Week to the weekly slides. Look for new tips each Monday.

General Services Manager James Osborn said one of the most common procurement misunderstandings involves purchases over $3,000. Bids are required for any purchase that is more than $3,000. These purchases cannot be split into multiple purchases to avoid having to get bids.

To request commodities, equipment or services > $3,000 copy/paste the following

information in an email to KCProcurement@modot.mo.gov

Title of Project or Need:

Delivery Location:

Scope of Work (Description of Need, Including Quantity):

Projected Delivery or Completion Date:

Estimated Cost:

Along with the Procurement Tip of the Week, you can also find information about purchase policies on SharePoint. And if you have additional questions you can contact James Osborn at james.osborn2@modot.mo.gov or call (816) 347-4101.

Maintenance Annual Holiday Potluck Luncheon (Photo Gallery)

An annual holiday event that brings hundreds of MoDOT maintenance workers together from across the Kansas City District took place once again.

Several hundred maintenance workers filed into the Lee's Summit Maintenance Facility on Thursday, Dec. 12 for a special gathering.

It was an opportunity for crews to come together, enjoy one another's company, eat great food and acknowledge some of the accomplishments they made throughout the year. 

One by one, crew leaders from various maintenance sheds presented some of the projects they say made a difference in the community.

They touched on flood repairs, culvert replacements, pothole patching, just to name a few.

District Maintenance Engineer Lynelle Luther talked about the accomplishments made and she also thanked the crews for their hard work.

Luther quickly pointed out some of the expenditures maintenance doled out for the year.

Here's a breakdown:

Members of the management team, including Assistant District Engineer Susan Barry and District Engineer Dave Silverster spoke during the gathering. 

They both reiterated the importance of safety and thanked everyone for being safety aware.

Silvester mentioned that he'll also continue his unannounced visits to maintenance sheds throughout the district. 

Surprisingly, the crowd was not very impressed with his holiday Llama sweater he thought was important to wear.