VENANGO CO., Pa. — PennDOT’s northwest region has publicly posted the results of the online survey designed to help the organization improve its performance and customer service.

The survey results are available at the PennDOT website www.penndot.gov/District1 under “District Links.”

In all, 715 customers participated in the survey for PennDOT District 1’s six-county service area, which consists of Crawford, Erie, Forest, Mercer, Venango and Warren counties.

“We want to thank all of those who participated in the survey for assisting us with very valuable information and input. We certainly appreciate their time and effort,” said PennDOT District 1 Executive William Petit.

This is District 1’s sixth annual customer survey. While the survey is anonymous, PennDOT again this year 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.

“The results of this survey will help us in a variety of ways,” 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.

Customers, through the survey, indicated the two most important issues in their day-to-day driving are snow and ice on winter roads; and rough pavements and potholes. The least encountered day-to-day driving issue in the northwest region? Highway congestion, according to survey respondents.

Those taking the survey gave PennDOT good marks for 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.

The survey was available from October 17, 2017, until November 22, 2017. The survey was prepared and conducted in-house by PennDOT staff, primarily through District 1’s Information and Data Management Unit.

The survey is part of ongoing efforts by District 1 to examine how it does its work and how it can continue to improve service to its customers.

Follow regional PennDOT information on Twitter at www.twitter.com/511PAErie.