Right of Way Tracker System Streamlines Review Process

Item #: 20250078

CONTACTS

Implementing Organization: Region Four, Central Right of Way
Implementation Lead: Riley Lindsay, Bracken Davis, Derek Peterson
Development Team: Bracken Davis, Riley Lindsay, Derek Peterson

Article Written By: Riley Lindsay
Innovation Council Liaison: Talon Gadd
Innovation Team Coordinator: Quinten Klingonsmith

STATUS

Implementation Date: July 1, 2025
Adoption Status: Fully Implemented
Adoptability Note: What part of your workflow could you track to promote efficiency and accountability?

APPLIES TO

Topic: Data Collection, Analysis and Visualization
Organization(s): UDOT (all), Central Preconstruction, Railroad, Region 1, Region 2, Region 3, Region 4, Right of Way
Job Role(s): Business Analyst, Program Director, Program Manager, Program Specialist, ROW / Permits
Tags: active transportation, highway transportation, public transit, railroad transportation, labor productivity, employee empowerment, economic benefits, value of time, automation, ( process improvement ), ( simplification ), redesign, tracking systems, ( digital delivery ), planning, right of way, quality of life, ( connected communities )

PROBLEM

The process of acquiring land for the construction and maintenance of Utah’s transportation infrastructure is handled by the UDOT Right of Way (ROW) Acquisition Division in partnership with the Region ROW groups and ROW Design Consultants. Each transaction involves the submission, review, and approval of legal documents and maps needed to acquire right of way.

The old process for tracking ROW reviews, which relied heavily on email communication, was inefficient, lacked transparency, and did not support effective performance analysis. The email workflow was disjointed, with critical information often becoming lost within long email chains. This decentralized method led to a lack of visibility, making it impossible for all stakeholders in the review process—including Regional and Central ROW teams—to determine the current status of a review or identify who was responsible for the next action.

The reliance on manual data entry into spreadsheets for tracking key dates was prone to human error and was not scalable.

The lack of a single source of truth for monitoring and managing the review lifecycle prevented the generation of accurate and timely analytics, making it difficult to identify bottlenecks, measure performance, or tell a data-driven story about operational effectiveness.

CHANGE

The ROW Review Tracker Application was developed to handle all UDOT ROW form submittals, status tracking, and dashboard functionalities in one centralized system. The app features a linear review process, automated email notifications, and integrated reporting and metrics capabilities. It reduces a significant bottleneck by enabling Central ROW to assign consultants to assist with conformity reviews. The app is built with ESRI ArcGIS, Survey 123, and Feature Manipulation Engine (FME) technologies, which UDOT currently employs for many of its GIS solutions.

To ensure widespread adoption and successful implementation, the app was rolled out to all consultants performing UDOT right-of-way work and to each UDOT Region. The team provided comprehensive training to support the transition. Training materials, including white papers, are available in a centralized "one-stop shop" on the Digital Delivery hub page, making it easy for users to access support and resources.

RESULT

The new ROW Review Tracker App provides a dedicated, centralized, transparent, and data-rich platform for the entire review process. System-generated status emails streamline communication, replacing the need to contact multiple people to track down a review’s status.

The new dashboards, built into the app, allow consultants to monitor their progress, providing the transparency needed to set and achieve department-wide goals for review turnaround time.

Since its implementation by all four regions on July 1, 2025, the ROW Review Tracker app has significantly improved the efficiency of UDOT's ROW review process. In its first two months, 57 ROW summaries covering a total of 419 parcels have been submitted. The app helped reduce the average time from submission to final approval to just 21.2 days. This represents a remarkable 47.3% decrease in turnaround time compared to historical averages. For context, between 2021 and 2023, it took an average of 40.2 days to complete the review process, and between 2019 and 2020, it took 54 days.

By cutting weeks off the time required to review ROW documents, the app significantly increases the likelihood that a project will be ready to advertise within the crucial winter bidding window so UDOT can capitalize on the most financially advantageous time to solicit bids. This efficiency gain can directly lead to millions of dollars in cost savings for the department on each major reconstruction project.

With these impressive early results, the ROW team is confident that the ROW Review Tracker will continue to help them streamline their operations and meet their acquisition targets more efficiently than ever before.

IMPACT

BETTER MOBILITY

GOOD HEALTH

CONNECTED COMMUNITIES

Central and Regional ROW are better connected through the app

STRONG ECONOMY

Reduced turnaround time increases the chance of bidding during the cost-effective winter months
Streamlined communication saves time
The standardized and centralized process is easier to manage and optimize

EFFICIENCIES*

Cost Avoidance: $5,029,191 over 20 years (Jul 1, 2025 - Jul 1, 2045)
Labor Savings: 70 hours annually
Benefit/Cost Ratio: 99:1

*Benefits are estimated net of initial and ongoing expenses. Savings are averaged over the expected benefit life of the innovation. See details.

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