Volume 20 – Issue 1

NJLTAP Enews Volume 20, Issue 1 – January 2018

NJLTAP Director’s Message

Are you ready for some friendly competition? It’s Build a Better Mousetrap competition time for LTAP center stakeholders across the country. People involved in the transportation industry often find better ways to do their jobs. Whether it’s through a new gadget that improves the quality and safety of a project or an innovative process that reduces costs and improves efficiency, it is typically the people on the front lines who discover the latest and best practices.

Mousetraps are unique solutions to common problems—they can include the development of tools or software, equipment modification, and/or a new process or approach. They might increase safety, reduce costs, improve efficiency, and/or improve transportation quality. New Jersey’s Build a Better Mousetrap Competition provides a great opportunity to share your new ideas with others! We are looking for submissions from employees of New Jersey’s local and state public agencies (e.g., cities and counties, state DOT, NJ Transit) who have created different solutions to problems or found better ways of doing things.

We will gather the best ideas from around the state and judge them using a five-point rating system. Our local agency will be submitted to the national Build a Better Mousetrap Competition, with winners to be announced at the National Local Technical Assistance Program conference in July 2018. Our state agency winner will be recognized at the 2018 New Jersey Department of Transportation Research Showcase in October 2018. You do not need to attend either event to participate.

For more information, and to enter the Build a Better Mousetrap Competition, please visit https://cait.rutgers.edu/njltap/2018-build-better-mousetrap-competition

The top three national winners are posted on the FHWA Center for Local Aid Support website.