Pictured: Jason Latham, managing director of Berrien County Road Department (BCRD), and Kari Bennett, BCRD business and finance manager, accept the IMPRESS Award for Operations on behalf of BCRD.
The County Road Association (CRA) of Michigan honored the Berrien County Road Department (BCRD) with a statewide IMPRESS Award at CRA’s 2020 Highway Conference for its development of a new project management system. IMPRESS Awards recognize county road agencies that demonstrate innovation with special projects in communications, operations and collaboration.
Berrien received an IMPRESS Award in Operations for “Master Project Schedule 2.0.” BCRD was in need of a more efficient project management system, which led to “master project schedule 2.0,” a computer spreadsheet tool that could provide assistance and guidance with its formulated asset management plan. Integrating project information in this spreadsheet has improved BCRD’s internal and external accuracy regarding the status or future planning of road construction.
“The Berrien County Road Department noticed a need at their agency to aggregate data in a new way and expertly used its resources to come up with something better,” said Denise Donohue, CRA director. “Their hard work resulted in a solution that helps the agency be more effective.”
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.