Jon Myers, managing director of Midland County Road Commission (MCRC), accepts two IMPRESS Awards for MCRC.
The County Road Association (CRA) of Michigan honored the Midland County Road Commission (MCRC) with two statewide IMPRESS Awards at CRA’s 2020 Highway Conference. IMPRESS Awards recognize county road agencies that demonstrate innovation with special projects in communications, operations and collaboration.
MCRC received an IMPRESS Award in Collaboration for its “Recycled Plastic Pavement” project and an IMPRESS Award in Communications for its “Public Involvement Survey.” Additionally, the “Public Involvement Survey” project won a People’s Choice Award.
For its Collaboration award, MCRC partnered with Dow Chemical Company and Larkin Township to pilot the use of recycled plastics, food-grade foam and a new additive for road paving projects. MCRC was the first in the U.S. to use the foam-plus-additive on a public road.
MCRC earned an Award in Communications for a project that asked the public for opinions on a potential full interchange at US-10 and Waldo Road. To gauge public interest, MCRC created an online survey and distributed it through MCRC’s Midland County Fair booth, webpage, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Over 2,700 people responded to the survey, with the majority supporting the project.
“Our county road agencies work hard to improve local roads, and support their local communities,” said Denise Donohue, CRA director. “Midland County Road Commission was honored for its efforts to innovate and engage the public using new technology.”
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.