U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
Team Members and Affiliations*
Catherine Muth
Richard Moeller (Co-Chair)
Team Leader, Technical Services Group Office of Real Estate Services Federal Highway Administration 1172 Commodore Court, #102 Fort Pierce, Florida 34949 Phone: (561) 429-0064 E-Mail: rmoeller@orcolan.com
Joachim Pestinger (Co-Chair) Director, Real Estate Services Washington State Department of Transportation PO Box 1227 Oting, Washington 98360 Phone: (360) 893-6617 E-Mail: pestinger@earthlink.net
Myron Frierson
Administrator, Real Estate Division Michigan Department of Transportation PO Box 30050 Lansing, Michigan 48909 Phone: (517) 373-2200 E-Mail: friersonm@mdot.state.mi.us
Wayne Kennedy
International Right-of-Way Association 38807 South Starwood Drive Tucson, Arizona 85739 Phone: (520) 2818-1812 Fax: (520) 818-1813 E-Mail: wayneken1@earthlink.net
John A. Almborg
(Delegation Coordinator) American Trade Initiatives, Inc. 3 Fairfield Court Stafford, Virginia 22554-1716 Phone: (540) 228-9700 Fax: (540) 288-9473 E-Mail: j.almborg@gte.net
O.R. Colan Associates, Inc. 128 North Street, Suite 201 Bluefield, West Virginia 24701 Phone: (304) 327-6968 E-Mail: muth@orcolan.com
Janet Myers
Director, Right-of-Way Division Maine Department of Transportation Center for Transportation and the Environment Box 8601 Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-8601 Phone: (919) 515-8041 E-Mail: jlmyers@unity.ncsu.edu
Paul Scott
Highway Engineer (Utilities Coordination)
Office of Program Administration Federal Highway Administration 400 Seventh Street SW
Washington, DC 20590 Phone: (202) 366-4104 Fax: (202) 366-3988
E-Mail: paul.scott@fhwa.dot.gov
Stuart Waymack
Director, Right-of-Way and Utilities Virginia Department of Transportation 1401 East Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23219 Phone: (804) 786-2923 Fax: (804) 786-1706 E-Mail: waymack_sa@vdot.state.va.us
Adele McCormick
(Report Facilitator) Technical Writer 4017 Libby Road NE Olympia, Washington 98506 Phone: (360) 943-4708 Fax: (360) 943-4708 E-Mail: McAdele@aol.com
*Affiliations at time of scanning study. Addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses current at time of publication.
TEAM MEMBER BIOGRAPHIES
The following biographies were written before the Right-of-Way and Utilities Scanning Study to provide information about team members to the host delegations.
Richard Moeller is a real estate specialist/manager for FHWA in Washington, D.C. Moeller serves on a leadership team of three senior managers that directs operations of FHWA's Office of Real Estate Services. He is responsible for developing and issuing national policies and procedures related to acquisition of real property for highway right-of-way. Specific responsibilities concern valuation and acquisition of real property through negotiation and condemnation. This process of right-of-way procurement also includes assistance to residential and business occupants displaced by proposed construction activity. Moeller has served FHWA in various capacities in its highway right-of-way program for more than 36 years. He has a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Iowa. He is secretary of the AASHTO
Subcommittee on Right-of-Way and Utilities.
Joachim Pestinger is director of real estate services for the Washington State DOT in Olympia, Washington, where he administers acquisition, appraisal, relocation assistance, title clearance, and property management activities. He approves up to 900 property purchases, mediated settlements, or stipulated judgments a year. He establishes policies and procedures for the department and other State and local public agencies. After graduating from Brigham Young University, he became an appraiser and manager for Clark County in Washington and then property supervisor for Seattle, Washington. He holds the senior member designation of the International Right-of-Way Association, and has taught courses in appraisal, negotiation, engineering, land titles, court testimony, real estate law, and property management throughout the United States and Canada. He was lead author of Course #700, Introduction to Property Management, and Course #801, Land Titles. He serves on the eminent domain faculty of Law Seminars International, Inc., and has been a speaker at appraisal conventions and education conferences for the Washington State attorney general's office. As an AASHTO member, he represents 17 western States on the executive board of the Subcommittee on Right-of-Way and Utilities. He also is on AASHTO's Special Committee on International Activity Coordination.
Adele McCormick is a technical writer for the Washington State DOT in Olympia, Washington. She is responsible for writing and editing reports, manuals, and studies developed by the Olympia Service Center Design Office and other Washington State DOT offices and teams. She is web master for several Washington State DOT web pages covering roadside and site development, design-build, real estate acquisition, and real estate asset management. McCormick has served as technical writer for numerous Washington State DOT value engineering studies and process improvement teams. She recently completed two comprehensive process improvement efforts covering real estate acquisition and real estate asset management. She has a bachelor's degree in speech from Washington State University.
Myron Frierson is division administrator for the Michigan DOT in Lansing, Michigan. Frierson directs the department's Real Estate Division, which provides direction and develops right-of-way policies and procedures for statewide right-of-way operations. His duties include providing administrative direction to all phases of right-of-way activities, such as appraisal, acquisition, relocation, and property management. He administers the Michigan DOT's oversize and overweight vehicle permitting, billboard permitting, and utility coordination programs. In this capacity, he has emphasized cross training of staff and the generalist property analyst concpet. He has implemented several process improvements that have resulted in processes that are more responsive to customer needs. In his 18 years with Michigan DOT, he has held administrative positions in highway district administration and financial management. Frierson has a bachelor's degree in accounting from Michigan State University and is a certified public accountant. He is a member of the AASHTO Subcommittee on Right-of-Way and Utilities.
Wayne Kennedy is international president-elect of the International Right-of-Way Association (IRWA), with headquarters in Gardena, California. He is responsible for the committees on Ethics, Asset Management, Local Public Agency, Liaison, Pipeline, Relocation Assistance, Environment, Surveying, Transportation, Utilities, Valuation, and Professional Development. He has served as director of FHWA's Office of Right-of-Way, director of right-of-way for New Mexico, manager of appraisal and appraisal review in Florida, appraiser for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and has spent 34 years at FHWA. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration with a real estate major from San Jose State University in California. He also holds certificates in real estate and public administration from the University of California. He holds IRWA's senior designation and the American Society of Appraisers' senior and master governmental appraiser designations.
Catherine Colan Muth is president, chief executive officer and owner of O.R. Colan Associates, Inc., a Bluefield, West Virginia, consulting firm specializing in providing all phases of right-of-way acquisition between design and construction of public works projects. Her company's clients include departments of transportation, airport authorities, and local public agencies throughout the United States. She is lead author for a Transportation Research Board study on "Innovative Practices to Reduce Delivery Time for Right-of-Way in Project Development." After graduating from West Virginia University with a bachelor's degree in political science and English, she completed two years at Bluefield State College in West Virginia studying computer science and accounting. She is a member of IRWA and the Environmental Assessment Association. She was nominated as West Virginia's entrepreneur of the year in 1996.
Janet Myers is director of the Right-of-Way Division of the Bureau of Project Development for the Maine DOT in Augusta, Maine. She is responsible for statewide policies, procedures, and operations for property valuation, acquisition, management, and relocation activities, as well as utilities, accommodation, and relocation functions. Maine DOT is pursuing significant program expansion, which calls for evaluating and streamlining many of the standards and processes relating to right-of-way and utilities activities. Myers is an attorney with a background in real estate and environmental law. Before joining the Right-of-Way Division, she was a trial attorney and major projects manager for Maine DOT. Myers holds a bachelor's degree in history from Stanford University and a law degree from Boston University School of Law. She is a member of AASHTO's Subcommittee on Right-of-Way and Utilities and she serves as a research panel member on NCHRP 25-23, "Environmental Information Management and Decision Support System for Transportation."
Paul Scott is a highway engineer for FHWA in Washington, D.C. Scott coordinates the relocation and accommodation of utilities on Federal-aid highway projects. His work includes wireless telecommunication towers, subsurface utility engineering, underground damage prevention programs, and utility pole crash reduction programs. Before taking on his utilities responsibilities in 1989, he served the FHWA for 20 years in a number of highway engineering capacities. Scott has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Tennessee. He is a licensed professional engineer and serves on technical committees of the American Society of Civil Engineers, IRWA and TRB.
Stuart Waymack is state director of the Right-of-Way and Utilities Division of the Virginia DOT in Richmond, Virginia. He is responsible for statewide acquisition of all real property and relocation of families, businesses, and utilities in the path of or affected by transportation improvement projects in Virginia. He is also responsible for developing strategies for implementing new Federal and State laws that affect the transfer of private lands to the Commonwealth of Virginia for transportation projects. Waymack has more than 40 years of service with the Virginia DOT and has served as an appraiser, negotiator, district right-of-way manager, and assistant state right-of-way engineer. He attended the University of Richmond in Virginia and has been active in several local and national right-of-way and appraisal organizations. Most recently, he has been a member of an FHWA task force on the installation of fiber optics on the U.S. interstate system under the shared-resource concept.
Several months before the Right-of-Way and Utilities Scanning Study, team members developed the following list of topics and questions. These amplifying questions were submitted to the host countries to give them an indication of the basis and scope of information the team desired. The host countries used these questions as a guide for developing their presentations.
The following list includes people who served as points of contact for the Right-of-Way and Utilities Scanning Study. The team would like to express its gratitude to each of them for their contributions to the success of the trip.
NORWAY
Roar Midtbo Jensen
Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) Grensevegen 92 Helsfyr, Oslo NORWAY
GERMANY
Hans Mundry
Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing Robert-Schuman-Platz 1 D-53175 Bonn-Bad Godesberg GERMANY
THE NETHERLANDS
Paul van der Kroon
Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management Johan de Wittlaan 3 P.O. Box 20906 2500 EX The Hague THE NETHERLANDS
Hans J.P. van Douwe
Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management Johan de Wittlaan 3 P.O. Box 20906 2500 EX The Hague THE NETHERLANDS
UNITED KINGDOM
James Bradley
The Highways Agency St. Christopher House Southwark Street London SE1 OTE UNITED KINGDOM
Malcolm Macleod
The Highways Agency St. Christopher House Southwark Street London SE1 OTE UNITED KINGDOM
John Powell
The Highways Agency St. Christopher House Southwark Street London SE1 OTE UNITED KINGDOM
Listed below are the individuals the team met with during the scanning study. The team members wish to express their sincere gratitude to these individuals for their time and hospitality and the valuable information they provided.
NORWAY
Norwegian Public Roads Administration
Per Arne Andresen Olaf Ballangrud Anders Hagerup Tor Hoie Roar Midtbo Jensen Dagfinn Loyland Tormod Olsen Ola Omenas Stein Rinholm Eric Westerlund
The Agricultural University of Norway
Professor Hans Sevatdal
GERMANY
Bundesministerium fur Verkehr (Federal Ministry of Transport)
Vera Gintzel Karl-Heinz Johnen Hans Mundry Karl F. Ribbeck Hans Stumpel Peter J. Weitershagen Edgar Wittmann
THE NETHERLANDS
Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat (Ministery of Transport, Public Works, and Water Management)
Martien Beemsterboer E.J. M. Coenen J.J. Dressing Henk Gieerveld A.J J. Hekker Pieter Jansen Peter Kieft E.J.A. van der Boom Huub van der Kolk Paul van der Kroon H.J.P. van Doewe Gerit van Kekem Robert J.J. van Winden
ENGLAND
Highways Agency
Mike Ainsworth Terry Brackenbury James Bradley Martin Hobbs Malcolm Macleod Mary Moore John Robinson John Sherwood
Valuation Office
David Russell-Smith
VDOT Right-of-Way Group
December 6, 2001
INTRODUCTION
When the design for the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge was approved, one of the biggest challenges to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) was the relocation of tenants from one Hunting Tower and three Hunting Terrace apartment buildings that are in the path of the new roadway alignment. To maintain the project schedule, the VDOT right-of-way team used an experimental tenant relocation incentive program in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to vacate the properties in time for subsequent construction activities to continue as planned. With the recent successful completion of the relocation effort, this paper summarizes the schedule and cost savings achieved through the relocation incentive program. This incentive is a result of FHWA's right-of-way scanning study in Europe in 2000.
BACKGROUND
During the design phase of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project, VDOT determined that one tower apartment and three garden apartment buildings had to be vacated to make room for the expanded Interstate 495/95 Capital Beltway immediately adjacent to the new river crossing. The acquisition and demolition of these properties required the relocation of approximately 333 residential units. A right-of-way production team was hired to assist VDOT in the relocation process and given an aggressive schedule for relocating displaced tenants.
Under the original project schedule, goodwill contacts were to begin on June 1, 2000, and all tenants were to have offers for replacement housing payments (RHPs) presented by September 1, 2000. Between 25 and 30 RHP offers needed to be made each month to maintain the project schedule.
Because of various political and environmental factors, VDOT was unable to maintain the original schedule for acquiring the properties and relocating the residents. As a result, offers were presented to the property owners on October 27, 2000, and a public tenant meeting was held on November 6, 2000. The development and approval of a property management plan was required, which resulted in additional delays from the original schedule. On April 2, 2001, VDOT acquired the property and the production company began to make RHP offers to the tenants. As a result, the original 15 months was compressed to eight months, maintaining the overall project schedule. The new schedule required that approximately 42 RHP offers be made each month.
To aid in meeting this compressed schedule, VDOT introduced the Early Move Incentive Program for the affected tenants. The program stated that any tenant in residence on April 2, 2001, and moved within 30 days of receiving an RHP offer would be entitled to a $4,000 incentive. If the resident chose to move between 31 and 60 days of receiving an RHP offer, he would be entitled to a $2,000 incentive. VDOT stated that the program was voluntary and was not subject to negotiation. The incentive program was in addition to relocation assistance benefits due to those displaced. To ensure that the information was transmitted to all residents, VDOT delivered announcements individually to all occupants in the affected properties. Out of the 333 residential units affected, 298 were eligible for the incentive.
RESPONSE TO INCENTIVE
The response to the Early Move Incentive Program was outstanding, and the production company has moved all of the displaced residents in eight months. A total of 262 units (88 percent of eligible tenants) have claimed the maximum allowable amount of $4,000. Another 15 units (5 percent of eligible tenants) claimed $2,000. VDOT is working with the remaining 21 residents to process their incentive payments.
LESSON LEARNED
One lesson learned from the program is that if you give people a good reason (i.e., incentive payment), you can motivate them to get things done in your time frame. Thus, many of those displaced elected to move to be assured that they could claim the incentive. Others elected to move at the end of their lease term, and some moved before receiving an RHP offer. The schedule for making RHP computations and offers had to be altered to accommodate individuals who wanted to move immediately. Personnel resources had to be reallocated to accomplish this, but the right-of-way team met the compressed schedule in clearing the right-of-way in an extremely short time period.
INCENTIVE PROGRAM COSTS AND RESULTANT SAVINGS
In total, VDOT expects to pay $1,162,000 to individuals displaced from the Hunting Tower and Hunting Terrace apartments. This includes $1,078,000 paid to date and an additional $84,000 for the remaining claims to be processed.
While this incentive program may at first seem expensive for VDOT, savings in terms of overall project cost and schedule are profound. The incentive program saved VDOT a little more than $6 million from the effects of a seven-month delay. If the relocation effort had taken the full 15 months, VDOT would have had to delay demolition of the properties and the start of construction for the U.S. Route 1 tie-in, advance structures, and main contracts.
Taking into account the added costs related to the incentive program, VDOT saved about $4.8 million by using the Early Move Incentive Program. In addition to these savings, VDOT reduced overhead costs required to manage the condemned properties for an additional seven months.
CONCLUSION
The VDOT Early Move Incentive Program successfully relocated residents from 333 apartment units in seven months--less time than originally scheduled. Even though the program cost the project about $1.2 million, VDOT was able to derive the following direct savings from the accelerated relocations:
In addition to the direct savings VDOT achieved, following are indirect benefits to citizens as a result of the incentive program:
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