Two Videos Co-Produced by FHWA, Michigan DOT Win Prestigious Public Relations Award |
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Federal Highway Administration
April 19, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 19, 2001
Contact: Jim Pinkelman
T
el.: 202-366-0660
FHWA 18-01
Two videos co-produced by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Michigan Department of Transportation to promote preventive maintenance programs have received the prestigious Crystal PACE Award, one of the top honors in the public relations field.
“Preserving our nation’s transportation infrastructure is an important goal for the FHWA and our state partners,” FHWA Deputy Executive Director Vince Schimmoller said. “These videos are part of our effort to increase public awareness of the importance of preserving and protecting our nation’s infrastructure, and we are pleased that this award recognizes those efforts.”
Jim Sorenson, senior construction and preservation engineer in FHWA’s Office of Asset Management, and Larry Galehouse, manager of the pavement and roadside section of Michigan Department of Transportation, served as executive producers of the videos. The videos also were made possible through a partnering effort by the Foundation for Pavement Preservation, a non-profit research and education organization based in Falls Church, Va., and other state highway agencies.
“Protecting Our Pavements: Preventive Maintenance” is a 15-minute video that presents highway agency decision-makers with an informative, motivational message about the critical need for, and the benefits of, new policies and funding strategies in support of preventive maintenance programs.
“Preventive Maintenance Project Selection” is a 30-minute video that provides information to state and local highway agency staff members on the many considerations in selecting the right road for the right treatment at the right time. The video addresses the three pavement groups, the environmental effects on pavements in different climatic regions, and pavement condition measurements. It also provides examples from four groups of preventive maintenance treatment categories.
LTS Productions, a Michigan firm that shot and edited the videos, logged more than 2,600 miles by air and 7,000 miles by highway to gather extensive pavement footage, scenery and commentary from administrators, engineers and contractors in nine states across the country.
Thousands of copies of the tapes have been distributed or shown to legislators, community groups and local officials, as well as to highway agency personnel and contractors nationwide and around the world. Numerous presentations have been made at national and regional meetings, conferences and workshops, and the content reflected in the tapes is the subject of four technical training courses developed by the National Highway Institute. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) lead state team on pavement preservation has cited the role of the videos in helping to increase public awareness of the importance of preventive maintenance.
Presented by the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Central Michigan chapter, the Crystal PACE is awarded to programs that have addressed a contemporary issue with exemplary professional skill, creativity and resourcefulness. A team of professionals from the PRSA’s chapter in Inland Empire, Calif., judged the videos. Winning programs are those that meet the highest standards of performance in the areas of planning, content, creativity, quality and technical excellence, with results that demonstrate how the goals were met and how the entry helped the success of a broader or ongoing program.
Copies of the videos can be obtained from the FHWA Office of Asset Management, 400 7th St. SW, Washington, DC 20590, telephone 202-366-0392, or from the Foundation for Pavement Preservation, 703-538-3542, email info@fp2.org.