Washtenaw County Road Commission honored with four IMPRESS Awards at statewide Highway Conference

Lansing, MI – Washtenaw County Road Commission (WCRC) was the recipient of four IMPRESS Awards at the 2017 Annual Highway Conference hosted by the County Road Association (CRA) of Michigan in March. IMPRESS Awards recognize county road agencies that demonstrate innovation with special projects in communications and operations.

“Our county road agencies set a high bar in overcoming obstacles and improving the local transportation system,” said Denise Donohue, director of the County Road Association of Michigan. “Washtenaw County Road Commission has developed innovative tactics for community outreach education and stepped up awareness about safety on the roads.”

WCRC swept the communications category with three winning projects: “Roundabout Education,” “Road Millage Outreach” and “Pothole? There’s an App for That”.

These respective projects were important in reducing failure-to-yield roundabout crashes by 33 percent, placing road a millage on the General Election ballot which passed with 71 percent of the vote, and moving 15 percent of the road commission’s 10,000 annual incoming service requests to a digital platform.

Washtenaw County Road Commission was also honored for their “Safety Committee Activities” project in the operations category. This project revamped the WCRC Safety Committee’s public outreach, including a competition to update the committee’s logo and slogan. This campaign increased safety suggestions from employees by 25 percent.

An independent panel of communications and operations experts from several of Michigan’s 83 county road agencies judged submitted projects. Award recipients were honored for their projects that solved time restraints, labor costs, and communication barriers.