The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has long been a leader among state transportation departments in the area of quality improvement and customer service. As part of this effort, PennDOT recently overhauled its annual survey of motorists to solicit more specific and more usable feedback in order to improve the delivery of highway maintenance services at the district and county levels. The background of this upgraded survey is provided, the current methodology and instrument are described, initial findings from the first year of field work are presented, and the management uses of the results, intended to strengthen service delivery, are discussed. The initial findings resulted in substantial variation in motorists' ratings among the three classes of highway and from county to county across the commonwealth. On balance, Pennsylvania motorists gave PennDOT highways a grade of C+, which represents a passing grade but still leaves considerable room for improvement. The results were forwarded to each district office in the form of a "report card" displaying performance grades in the three dimensions of ride quality, traffic flow, and safety for each of the three classes of roads. With these results, the districts set targets for improvement on each survey item that is linked to a strategic focus area of the annual business plans of both PennDOT and the district, thus building motorist satisfaction into the overall work program. In addition, county maintenance offices were provided a report card on the items clearly within their span of control. They too used the results to influence county maintenance work plans.
Abstract