State road agencies find new ways in lean times

June 27, 2011

USA Today

Larry Copeland

Facing the same high fuel costs as individual consumers, state officials who build and maintain roads are looking for new ways to cut fuel consumption, improve efficiency and save money.

State departments of transportation, confronting increasing fuel costs and declining tax revenue, are trying everything from tapping solar power to run warning lights atop vehicles, to converting work trucks to domestic propane or natural gas, to heating state patrol posts by burning wood.

"DOTs right now are facing tough times in terms of the funding available to do essential work," says John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). "Most state legislators are at a point where they are not going to raise taxes, and the tax base is down — property taxes and the fuel tax. Across the board, states are having to tighten their belts."

The hit can be significant: In Utah, for example, steeper gas prices have driven fuel costs for the agency's 4,200 vehicles up by about 30% — the state has spent $1 million more so far than last fiscal year, spokeswoman Tania Mashburn says.

Despite a recent dip at the pump, Horsley says this year's high prices have hurt more than in 2008, the last time gas prices hit $4 a gallon. "What we're seeing in 2011 is what I call a double whammy," he says. "Costs are going up at a time when state revenues are down. States are going to have to find ways to economize."

Among those ways:

•The Arizona DOT is testing 37 trucks equipped with light bars on top that are powered by solar cells. "Exploring innovations like solar-powered safety lighting on construction vehicles taps one of Arizona's best natural resources — abundant sunshine," says John Halikowski, director of Arizona DOT.

Workers will be able to park their trucks in construction zones, leave the vehicle's warning lights flashing and shut off the engine. "With a typical light bar, the engine has to run or it would kill the battery," says spokesman Timothy Tait, adding that idling engines also pump deadly pollution into the air. "It's just environmental stewardship. It's the right thing that we should be doing."

•Indiana's DOT is converting 527 of its work trucks and vans to run on domestic propane, which it says is cheaper and cleaner-burning. INDOT expects to replace 500,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline with propane during the fiscal year beginning July 1, saving more than $1 million.

The state used a federal grant to convert some of the vehicles and to install 115 refueling facilities. Indiana now has the nation's largest public statewide propane fueling network, says spokesman Will Wingfield. Indiana also is purchasing 19 new snowplows that will run on compressed natural gas; initially, they will be used primarily in the Indianapolis area. Those vehicles will net the state a savings of up to $100,000 a year, Wingfield says.

"In succeeding years, it will be even more than that," he says. Wingfield says fuel tanks on vehicles using propane or natural gas are more puncture-resistant than those used for gasoline or diesel. "All of our propane systems and compressed natural gas vehicles have to be EPA-certified and pass federal standards," he says.

•The Kansas DOT is encouraging employees using state vehicles to drive slower, reduce idling and cut load sizes. The department is using pickups instead of dump trucks when possible and is modifying its summer mowing policy to save fuel and money.

The agency also is consolidating some statewide conferences, combining trips and testing wind turbines at a few county offices, spokesman Steve Schwartz says.

•Starting next winter, New Hampshire's DOT will use wood-burning stoves to supplement the heating systems at 21 patrol facilities. State officials estimate that the savings from the wood furnaces, which are 90% cleaner than older furnaces, will save $300,000 a year.

The outdoor wood furnaces, typically located 30 to 200 feet from a building, work with existing heating systems. The furnaces will be fed wood twice a day.

•The New Jersey DOT is exploring privatizing maintenance on some stretches of state highway. Work now done by the state — mowing medians, plowing snow, salting roads — in two or three of about 66 maintenance districts would be done by a private vendor under a pilot program designed to weigh cost savings , spokesman Joe Dee says.

The state will solicit bids from private vendors to see if the work can be done more cheaply, Dee says. "If we get the bids in and we don't like them, that's the end of it," he says.

Several states, including Tennessee, Virginia, Florida and Texas, already contract out some maintenance work, AASHTO's Horsley says.

His organization is planning a conference this fall for state DOT officials to "share experiences and strategies on how to lead in lean times," he says. "State DOTs have to continue to deliver what their public and their governors want," Horsley says. "And they have to do it with less."

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