Caltrans I-5 Boat Section Project Inspiring Public Cooperation on a Tight Budget

American Association

of State Highway Transportation Officials

Jody Jones, District 3 Director, California Department of Transportation

"Boat Section Background:

• Originally built in ‘60s and ‘70s

• Called the Boat Section due to:

o Construction: 10’ thick concrete slab below adjacent Sacramento River water level, pins drilled 80’ deep

o History of flooding

• Drain system became clogged

• Required constant monitoring and repairs during rains

Caltrans I-5 Boat Section Project Public Outreach and Advertising Campaign

Caltrans I-5 Boat Section Project Public Outreach and Advertising Campaign

Project Objective:

To replace ¾-mile roadbed section of I-5 and

install new monitoring wells and drainage system.

• One of the busiest sections of CA freeway

• Carries 190,000 vehicles a day

• Primary access to California’s Capitol

• Major thruway for freight.

Caltrans I-5 Boat Section Project Public Outreach and Advertising Campaign

Project Challenges:

•Minimize traffic disruption:

o Original plan would have spanned 5 years

o Caltrans engineers revised plan to 1 year with partial lane closures on nights and weekends

o Address work site safety issues for public, workers and emergency response needs

Caltrans I-5 Boat Section Project Public Outreach and Advertising Campaign

Project Strategies: Contractor C.C. Myers, Inc. proposed a faster, innovative approach which Caltrans approved:

• Full closures in alternating N/S directions

• Use emergency-style around-the-clock work schedule over 7 weeks

• Use new rapid-setting slag-based concrete

• Partner with Caltrans in outreach effort.

Campaign Objectives:

1.Create a strong brand personality

2.Create close to 100% awareness that a one-mile section of Interstate 5 (I-5) would be closed

3.Enlist drivers’ help to reduce traffic by:

• Using public transportation

• Carpooling

• Changing their travel times

• Using alternate routes

• Limiting trips.

Caltrans I-5 Boat Section Project Public Outreach and Advertising Campaign

Branding Included:

• Name that quickly communicated a

positive goal of the project: Fix I-5

• www.fixI-5.com website

• Visuals that identified the area

• Logo using the orange cone to identify Caltrans and be a safety reminder

• Positive call to action as the slogan: Keeping Sacramento’s Gateway Open

Caltrans I-5 Boat Section Project Public Outreach and Advertising Campaign

Target Audiences:– Residents and commuters

– Out of town travelers and truckers

– Businesses in downtown, Old Sacramento, West Sacramento and the Riverfront Park district

– Cities and public officials

– Transportation Management Associations

– News media

Caltrans I-5 Boat Section Project Public Outreach and Advertising Campaign

Tactics Included:– 4 media events– Website as the primary source of

communication and information– Outreach via public presentations– Paid Media– Partnerships– Direct Mail– Collateral: banners, posters and flyers– Daily media relations, press releases

and project updates– Daily email blasts during closures.

Caltrans I-5 Boat Section Project Public Outreach and Advertising Campaign

Website Included:• Project Maps and Detours

• Live Traffic Cameras

• Email Alerts

• What’s Happening: o Schedules and maps

• Commute Alternatives:o Bus, light rail, carpooling, Park and

Ride

• Detour Maps

• Boat Section History

Website: FixI-5.com

Website Included:•FAQs

•Contact Us

•News Room

•Sacramento Is Open for Business

•“Freeway Frenzy” game

•Links to:

oCaltrans

oSacramento 5-1-1

oSlow for the Cone Zone campaign

oCalifornia Trucking Assoc. site

oSac. Regional Transit.

Website: FixI-5.com

Television: 

Sponsored reports on top-rated news station in the region (KCRA) and Univision for Latino audiences

Radio: Sponsored traffic reports on 33 stations including Spanish radio

Print ads:The Sacramento Bee, Caltrux Magazine (to reach truckers) and the Capitol Weekly.

Bus side ads:King-size ads on Sacramento Regional Transit

Web-based media:

Streaming commercials and web banners

Media Buy

Partners included:• City of Sacramento• Downtown Sacramento Partnership• Old Sacramento Merchants Assoc.• California Trucking Association• Sacramento Regional Transit• Sacramento Commuter Club• SACOG/Sacramento Region 511• Traffic Reporters• Sacramento River Cats• Sacramento Airport• Regional Transportation Management Assoc.’s• Truck Stops.

Public-Private Partnerships

Website Launch AnnouncementFebruary 29, 2008

Project AnnouncementPress Conference – March 17, 2008

Announced Expedited Project PlanSpeakers Included:• Caltrans Director Will Kempton• Mayor Heather Fargo• Caltrans District 3 Director Jody Jones• Contractor C. C. Myers Press Coverage:• KCRA Channel 3 - NBC• News 10 - ABC• KTXL - Fox 40 • KOVR TV – CBS• CW31 – KMAX• KVIE – PBS• Sacramento Bee• Sacramento Business Journal• San Jose Mercury News• KFBK News Radio • Capitol Public Radio(NPR)

Will Kempton, director California Department of Transportation

Pre-Project Public Outreach: March - April

FlyerDirect Mail:• Mailed to 125,000+ recipients  

Public Open Houses:• Downtown• South Sacramento• Natomas• 250+ people attended

Direct Public Presentations:More that 60 presentations to neighborhood associations, State agencies, business associations, major carriers and civic groups

Truck Driver Outreach

Each big rig truck takes the place of 4 cars:

Outreach included:

• Ads in CalTrux Magazine

• Article in CalTrux Magazine

• Flyers and Fact Sheets:o Hand-delivered to all

truck stops in a 30-mile radius.

o Mailed to another 59 truck stops from LA to Oregon.  

Why so important? Each big rig truck takes the place of 4 cars

Governor’s Executive OrderPress Conference – May 16, 2008

Speakers and Partners:• Director Kempton• Cal EPA• U.C. Davis • Chevron

Key Messages:• Encouraged transit options• Announced research project to study traffic effects

Press Coverage:• All local news radio & TV Sacramento Bee, Sacramento Business Journal

Will Kempton, director California Department of Transportation

Announced Governor’s Order Encouraging Transit Options

Media Relations During the Project

• Caltrans spokesperson Mark Dinger, made himself available to the media from 4:30am to 11pm, 6+ days a week.

• Caltrans staff issued: o More than 20 news releaseso Media updates before every new closure

and during each day of a closure

Media Relations During the Project

• 6 interviews on Community Affairs programs including KFBK, KXJZ, Y92

• 4 Press Conferences at key completions

• Daily communication meetings with C.C. Myers’ Media Consultant, Beth Ruyak, to clarify messages and come up with story ideas.

Clint Myers, CEO – C.C. Myers Inc.; withWill Kempton, director - Caltrans

Beth Ruyak – C.C. Myers Inc. consulting with Caltrans engineer

Documentary ProjectKVIE – PBS

• Historical value

• Advance planning

• Safety requirements

• Extended shoot schedule

• End result

Special Access for Local PBS Documentary Project

Freeway Re-Opening Press Conference – July 28, 2008

Speakers Included:• Director Kempton• Contractor C. C. Myers• Project Engineers

Press Coverage:• KCRA Channel 3• News 10• Fox 40• Univision• Sacramento Bee• KFBK radio • KXJZ radio

Announced: All lanes re-opened

RESULTS

How successful was the campaign?

News Coverage

Newspapers Articles:•Sacramento Bee: More than 56 storiesArticles appeared prior to the project start, before each closure, at the completion of stages and each day during closures. Nearly all stories ran on front page or Metro page 1. The campaign made the front page on 3 out of 4 sections of the Bee on Mon. 6/16/08

•Sacramento Business Journal:4 stories, 2 front page

•Capitol Weekly

•San Jose Mercury News

•Modesto Bee

•Woodland Daily Democrat

•Sacramento Union (online)

Magazine Stories:• Concrete Products Magazine

(cover story)

• AGC Constructor (cover story)

• State of California Supervisors Association Magazine

News Coverage

Editorial Support:

News Coverage

Radio:• KFBK (16 recorded stories, with multiple airings

and 50 different readers)• KGBY• KSTE• V101• KXJX• KUOP• KKTO• And many

more

TV:• KCRA• KQCA 58• News 10• Fox 40• Univision• KMAX 31• CBS 13

News Coverage

Online: More than 120 online news stories and blogger reports were posted on:

• Sacramento Bee• Sacramento Business Journal• Sacramento Union• San Francisco Chronicle• San Jose Mercury News• KCRA Channel 3• Capitol Public Radio• CBS 13/CW31• News10.net• Fox 40• My58.com• CBS 5 (Bay Area)

News Coverage

Paid Media Delivered:

• General Audiences: 640.7 million gross media impressions

• Hispanic Audiences: 33 million gross media impressions

• Messages on the only area media in Hmong, Russian and Lao languages.

RESULTS

Partnership Value:

Partnership contributions, including donated media value, totaled $918,037.00.

That included more than 7,500 embedded messages by traffic reporters who referred listeners to the FixI-5 website during traffic reports.

This increased the effectiveness of the paid media budget by nearly 800 percent.

RESULTS

Driver Participation on FixI-5.com:

•More than 1.7 million website visits in 5 months

•More than 6,000 drivers signed up for daily Fix I-5 email blasts

•More than 3,500 emails to the project in-box from drivers with questions and comments about the project

RESULTS

RESULTS

Driver FeedbackA Sacramento Business Journal survey of readers asked:

“How bad was the first round of closures on I-5 in downtown Sacramento?”

•Awful, it added a ton of time to my daily commute 2%

•Bad, but it could have been much worse 14%

•A mere inconvenience, especially after learning alternate routes 51%

•I-5 was closed, when? 33%

Most Importantly:

Thanks to cooperation and support of the public and the media, a traffic catastrophe was avoided.

• May 30th, as C.C. Myers’ crews were preparing to close down the first section of I-5, the chief engineer reported only a half dozen cars in a several minute period. His response: “You DID it. Everyone knows!”

RESULTS

In many cases, traffic was lighter than normal during the project:• Overheard by an employee at the Energy Commission

discussing how much lighter the traffic was than normal:

“I wish they’d fix I-5 more often!”

RESULTS

Thanks to the hard work by Caltrans, C.C. Myers, Inc., suppliers, subcontractors, our partners and the cooperation of the public, the Interstate was re-opened to traffic in both directions in just 37 work days – despite delays due to unexpectedly thick concrete demolition, smoky air and extremely high heat.

FixI-5: DONE!

RESULTS

RESULTS