Virginia Department of Transportation takes another leap toward open government
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is taking open government to a new level by providing the public online access to monitor the agency’s business performance. By a click of a button on the Internet, you can find out how VDOT is spending tax dollars on building, maintaining and operating 57,000 miles of roads and bridges across the state.
Since March 2003, you could access the online Dashboard, which instantly shows the status of VDOT’s construction projects. Toady, the Dashboard has expanded sixfold by showing the latest performance of all other core business areas, including road maintenance, plans, studies, safety, finances, operations and environmental compliance.
“With VDOT spending about $3 billion of public money every year, taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being used,” said VDOT Commissioner Philip Shucet. “Increasing the level of transparency is absolutely essential for the success of VDOT to improve its bottom line. The closer citizens can watch us in all areas of our business, the better we will do.”
Visit the VDOT Dashboard at www.ViginiaDOT.org and see the agency’s daily performance in the following areas:
• Construction - On-time and on-budget performance with projects under construction and completed projects
• Maintenance - Repaving projects, bridge repairs and bridge conditions
• Engineering - Studies, projects in the design phase and others that are ready to award for construction
• Finances - VDOT’s spending and revenues
• Safety - Crashes and fatalities on Virginia’s roadways
• Operations - Current view of road construction, incidents and road conditions, including traffic cameras
• Environment - VDOT’s performance with environmental compliance on projects
The Dashboard has served as an early warning system for project managers to get their projects back on track since early 2003. As a result, VDOT’s performance with delivering projects on time and on budget has greatly improved. Four years ago, the department completed fewer than 20% of its projects on time and 81% within budget.
“The extended Dashboard sheds more light on government business by letting the public see what is going on in VDOT’s key business functions where most of the tax dollars are spent,” Shucet said.