Off Turnpike Operations, Florida
Project Location: Turnpike assets located througout Florida
Date: May 2000 through 2009
Client: Office of Toll Operations, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, P.O. Box 613069,
Ocoee, FL 34778
Scope and Asset Description: Jorgensen presently holds a three-year contract with the Office of Toll Operations (OTO) of the Florida Department of Transportation to maintain 24 separate toll facilities across the State of Florida. These facilities include the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa, the new Garcon Bridge near Pensacola and the Alligator Alley facilities in south Florida, and are not part of Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, but are managed under their authority. Contractor activities include preventive maintenance for all existing assets (HVACC, mechanical, electrical, etc.), rehabilitation projects, and special maintenance requirements. Jorgensen is performing 90% of the work with in-house staff, and utilizes specialty subcontractors to perform the remaining activities. In addition to the routine preventive maintenance performed by Jorgensen Local Area Technicians, Jorgensen responds to work requests issued by the client. These requests cover troubleshooting, emergency repair as well as planned reconditioning and rehabilitation of depleted assets. As part of this contract, Jorgensen has developed a comprehensive Toll Facility Preventive Maintenance program, measurably improving the condition of the facilities and reducing the long-term costs of toll facility ownership.
Benefits: The implementation of this strategy by the client has seen a great improvement in the reliability of the equipment through reduced number of emergency call-outs as well as overall equipment failures. This is due to the contractor’s efforts in carrying out routine preventive maintenance instead of providing reactive coverage as was the case prior to contract implementation. Cost savings are not documented in absolute terms; however, the budgeted amount for this effort with adjustment for inflation has remained relatively constant over the contract period.
Disadvantages: none
Lessons Learned and Suggestions: Under some situations work may be estimated but the client decides not to follow through for various reasons. As a result the contractor has no way to recover initial costs to investigate problems or design a plan for action.
Innovations: Several innovations have been implemented during the past six years:
- Development of rehabilitation plans using life-cycle cost analysis has provided significant cost savings relative to some types of assets.
- Identification and application of new technologies has provided cost savings to the client through energy savings, reduction in operations time, etc. One example is the conversion to red and green LED’s for toll plaza lane control.
References—documents or personnel: Santiago Alvarez, Facilities Administrator, 954-975-4855, santiago.alvarez(at)dot.state.fl(dot)us
Quotes: During FDOT sponsored maintenance meetings, Turnpike officials have noted several reasons why this contract works:
- Contractor is extremely responsive to work requirements and emergencies.
- Relationship between Contractor’s staff and Plaza managers is key to maintaining high level of maintenance preservation of assets.
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