The Delta County Road Commission (DCRC) took home an IMPRESS Award at the County Road Association (CRA) of Michigan’s statewide 2019 Highway Conference in March. IMPRESS awards recognize county road agencies that demonstrate innovation with special projects in communications, operations and collaboration.
DCRC received an IMPRESS Award in Operations for its project: “Custom built, drop-in sander.”
“When enough is not enough you must get creative,” said Denise Donohue, CRA director. “Delta County Road Commission was very creative, and not to mention efficient, when it came to their newly built drop-in sander with expanded capacity.”
Your typical drop-in sander’s volume was not enough for DCRC, which decided to build something with more capability. Coming in at $6,700, the drop-in auger system that DCRC built has a spreader capability that is more than double the standard drop-in, providing operational efficiency.
An independent panel of communications and operations experts from several of Michigan’s 83 county road agencies judged the projects. Award recipients were honored for projects that solved time restraints, labor costs, communication barriers and fostered collaboration.
The 83 members of the County Road Association of Michigan represent the unified voice for a safe and efficient county transportation infrastructure system in Michigan, including appropriate stewardship of the public’s right-of-way in rural and urban Michigan. Collectively, Michigan’s county road agencies manage 75 percent of all roads in the state, including 90,000 miles of roads and 5,700 bridges. County road agencies also maintain the state’s highway system in 64 counties. Michigan has the nation’s fourth-largest local road system.
