Missouri DOT Calls for Innovative Ideas to Save Money, Improve Safety

The Missouri Department of Transportation is looking to its industry partners for ways to make its operations faster, safer, and less expensive.”We are looking for innovative ideas that make us a better organization, particularly within our maintenance operations,” Mike Shea, MoDOT’s maintenance liaison engineer, said in a statement. “We’re interested in innovations related to pavement maintenance, bridge maintenance, highway work zones, and injury reduction.”

MoDOT constantly challenges its employees to find ways to improve its operations. Recent internal innovations range from a tool used to straighten sign posts to striping machinery that allows workers to quickly and accurately apply contrasting center line stripes.

“Whenever possible, we incorporate innovations from employees into regular operations,” Shea said. “We hope our industry partners will give us even more options to improve the way we work.”

The deadline for submitting innovative ideas as part of MoDOT’s “Call to Industry” competition is Thursday, March 1. Details and entry forms are available at www.modot.org/innovations.

Winning entrants will be invited to exhibit their innovations in April at MoDOT’s system operations and management meeting in Springfield, Missouri.

“Our focus in this competition is to find new innovations that save money, save time, simplify work, or improve safety,” Shea said.