Iowa DOT District 5 E-Ticketing Projects in 2017

Iowa Route 1 - Jefferson County

Nearly 60,000 tons of asphalt will be laid over a 10.8 mile stretch of Route 1 beginning just north of Fairfield IA and ending at Iowa Route 78 when Norris Asphalt completes this project in the Fall of 2017.  The type of work involves HMA resurfacing and cold-in place recycling with paved shoulders and base widening along with 1/2 inch mix of both intermediate and surface courses.  

On this project, asphalt is being produced from a new Astec plant Norris Asphalt had installed at a quarry just a few miles northwest of the project.  Load-out tickets produced at the plant are electronically sent to a Norris Asphalt replication server and transferred to Fleetwatcher in real-time.  Using the Fleetwatcher mobile applications, the DOT engineers and inspectors get access to each truck's ticket number, plant source, location, mix type, tonnage, and project to verify data elements that are used for contractor pay.  Inspectors can also use the mobile application to enter any waste and associated notes for a given load as well as a truck's asphalt temperature at the time of incorporation into the project.

Iowa Route 16 - Lee County

This project consists of HMA resurfacing and milling.  When completed, Norris Asphalt will have delivered nearly 35,000 tons of HMA, including shoulder and base-widening, over a 20 mile stretch of Route 16 in eastern Iowa. 

For this project, the Iowa DOT is receiving a batch file of all load-out tickets at the end of the shift due to the age and limitations of the plant load-out system and software running that system.  The DOT can then summarize the total tonnage and mix type for contractor pay at that time, as well as verify any voided tickets if applicable. 

Iowa DOT E-Ticketing Outcome Expectations

Improved Safety - Inspectors don't have to stand near live traffic and receive truck ticket from drivers

Efficiency - Inspectors don't have to add up dozens of tickets at the end of each shift; instead, every ticket and a summary, separated by the individual mix design, of the total amount of product delivered to the work site every day is available electronically via the Fleetwatcher web portal.  The inspector collecting truck tickets can be doing other inspection work, thus reducing the amount of manpower at the jobsite that may be needed at another project site.  By reducing staff at project sites, the department can deploy staff to other projects and reduce the need to hire consultants.  The department also saves money by eliminating paper and reducing file storage requirements.  Furthermore, electronic files are easy to access by other departments, auditors and the general public.

Accountability - Trucks can be electronically tracked from the material source to the destination (project site) in real-time, eliminating the possibility of project material going to other locations than the intended location.  E-Tickets are easily accessible from the Fleetwatcher application in real-time, so lost or misplaced paper tickets are a thing of the past.

Align with Iowa DOT Slogan - "Work Smarter, Simpler and Customer Driven."

Align with Transportation System Management and Operations (TSMO) Program Plan - E-Ticketing fits in with the TSMO goals of Data Management and Continuous Improvement of information and staff.