Almost 1,000 people participated in PennDOT’s northwest region online survey.
In all, 994 customers participated in the survey for PennDOT District 1’s six-county service area, which consists of Venango, Forest, Crawford, Erie, Mercer and Warren counties.
This is District 1’s fifth annual customer survey. While the survey is anonymous, PennDOT offered customers the opportunity to leave their name and contact information if they wished to speak to a senior manager regarding any comments, issues or questions they might have.
About 150 customers took advantage of that offer and are being contacted by a PennDOT manager.
The results have been publicly posted online at the PennDOT website http://www.penndot.gov/District1 under “District Links.”
“The results of this survey will help us in a variety of ways,” PennDOT District 1 executive William Petit said. “The survey documents customer preferences and priorities that District 1 can consider in its planning processes for construction projects and maintenance work. It also can identify areas where we should focus our public education and information efforts to better explain to our customers why we do what we do.”
Some of the most valuable information and input comes through open-ended questions and conversations that PennDOT managers have with customers who asked to be contacted. Those conversations in the past have helped identify specific issues with roads and bridges and have yielded suggestions that have been incorporated in plans for projects.
In the survey, PennDOT asked customers what is important to them in areas such as road smoothness, traffic flow, construction, safety and communications, and asked them to rate PennDOT’s performance in those areas.
Customers, through the survey, indicated snow and ice on winter roads was the most important issue in their day-to-day driving, followed closely by rough pavements and potholes. The least serious day-to-day driving issue in the northwest region? Highway congestion, according to survey respondents.
Those taking the survey gave PennDOT good marks for well-maintained rest areas and welcome centers; keeping the public informed regarding construction projects and work zones; and providing reasonable and predictable travel times.
Customers indicated that they wanted smoother roads, longer lasting pavements and effective road repairs done on a timely basis.
“We want to thank all of those who participated in the survey. They have provided us with very valuable information and input, and we appreciate their time and effort,” Petit said.
While the customer survey has traditionally been focused on motorists, the 2016 edition of the survey sought customer input related to pedestrians and bicyclists as well.
The survey was available from Oct. 29 to Jan. 3. It was prepared and conducted in-house by PennDOT staff, primarily through District 1’s information and data management unit.
