Your DOT, back at full strength

What a pleasure it was to stand in the west lobby of DOT headquarters this morning and welcome back to work the good folks of this Department who were furloughed earlier this week.

I was glad to be joined by Deputy Secretary John Porcari, my Chief of Staff Joan DeBoer, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, and FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro. In the east side of our headquarters, RITA Administrator Peter Appel and FHWA Executive Director Jeff Paniati greeted DOT employees.

We are back--as they say in hockey--at full strength.

You know, sometimes it takes a little shorthanded time on the ice, a little adversity, to realize just how strong your team really is.

For 13 months I have been traveling around the country, and everywhere I go, I tell everyone I meet how great the hardworking people of DOT are. Well, these past few days only reinforced that belief.

The outpouring of support I read on Twitter and Facebook from furloughed DOT employees was truly heartening. I mean, here they were, missing work and pay, and they took the time to send me messages of support and confidence. Some even wanted to stay at work without pay!

"Thank you!" to the DOT online commenters; I can't tell you how much I appreciate your loyalty and your dedication to the important work you do.

I also want to thank the people who stayed up late Sunday night and Tuesday night to keep our employees and other stakeholders updated on breaking events. The speed at which the news about the highway Trust Fund shutdown went out was both impressive and helpful.

Finally, I want to thank the non-Dot folks who sent us positive messages. Even transportation construction workers whose jobs were threatened by the Senate impasse expressed their support for what we're doing at DOT.

I think people in this country understand the wide variety of helpful ways that this DOT touches their lives. From safety to new and renewed infrastructure, and from environmental stewardship to cutting-edge research, we are working night and day to make lives better.

So "Thank you!" to everyone who gets that and to everyone at DOT working to advance our core missions every day.

We welcome the opportunity to field a complete team again.

Now, we've got a lot of work to do, so let's get cracking!

Thanks again-

-Ray LaHood

PS: If you like these photos, feel free to check out more at our Flickr page!

Comments

[Mark Smalley]

It is with the utmost urgency I feel obligated to write to you now. As an inspector working on various roadway structures and buildings supporting our infrastructure I cannot express enough how important it is to continue the required work on Florida’s highways and bridges. Many of our bridges and roadways are in need of repairs as well as condition surveys to make certain these structures remain adequate for the traveling public.

Anything that may cause the State of Florida to be further hindered during these repairs and inspections could result in injury and/or loss of lives. Just recently the Governor of Florida relaxed the weight capacities of many of our bridges in order to transport our citrus crop during the freezing weather. This quick action certainly helped the citrus industry and now these areas, in my opinion, require investigations to properly assess any additional damage that may have been done to the already aging structures.

Do we need to be reminded of the disaster on I-35 in Minneapolis, Minnesota where warnings such as this went unheeded? A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Our infrastructure here in Florida is far too important to allow any life to be lost as a result of compromising the excellent efficiency that the Florida Department of Transportation has made evident repeatedly. Reducing their communication abilities between projects (that was scheduled for this date)can only add to their burden and increase the possibility of a structure failure and the consequences that would most assuredly follow.

[Kanika Tolver]

Secretary LaHood,

Thank you, Administration, Anne Ferro, Terry Shelton and others for helping us get back to work today.

It felt really good today that my leaders welcomed me back to work, as I walked in the main entrance of the DOT building.

I am really enjoying your blog and I love how your are adopting Gov 2.0 and Open Government tools, because during the furlough I followed the fast lane blog and twitter page for updates.

Thank you,

Kanika Tolver
IT Specialist, FMCSA

[Michael E. Bailey]

You have a great staff that like the work they do, and they all do a great job. So it is great for everyone. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[create a free blog]

Our infrastructure here in Florida is far too important to allow any life to be lost as a result of compromising the excellent efficiency that the Florida Department of Transportation has made evident repeatedly.