BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) – In late October, the Department of Transportation and Development held its Innovations Showcase in front of the DOTD Headquarters in Baton Rouge.

DOTD employees from nine districts across the state came up with 33 innovations designed to improve efficiency and save money.

District 3, which is the Lafayette District, was also well represented at the Innovations Showcase. DOTD workers from the Lafayette District came up with two interesting innovations.

The first one is a modified core barrel. Employees added teeth to the bottom of a metal barrel.

DOTD lab technician Bill Clark said the modified core barrel is used to test the soil-cement on a road project before the asphalt is put down.

“We just hook it up to our drill truck and drill and we have our hole. A lot less manpower. It’s just a good invention,” Clark said.

Clark said they used to use picks and shovels to make the holes, which could take 15-20 minutes. The process now takes just a couple of minutes.

“A job that used to take five people, we could do with two so it does save a lot of time, a lot of manpower,” Clark added.

The second innovation is a thermoplastic striping trailer. The trailer is equipped with big pots which melt the thermoplastic. Another machine applies the thermoplastic to concrete crosswalks and intersections.

The DOTD used to use plastic tape for road striping which cost about $40,000 a year. DOTD District 3 Administrator Bill Oliver said they’re now spending about $18,000 a year.

“The trailer is about $90,000 and it’s saving us about $20,000 a year so in three to five years we’ll save that money,” Oliver said.

The DOTD still uses road paint for long lines on asphalt.

Oliver said it’s rewarding to see his employees come up with innovations like these.

The DOTD began asking for innovations from its employees two years ago. This year, the public was invited to see them at the Innovations Showcase.