Executive Summary

The Division of Highways within the Department of Transportation is responsible for planning, engineering, right-of-ways acquisition, construction, reconstruction, traffic regulation and maintenance of more than 34,000 miles of state roads. Additional duties include highway research, outdoor advertising contiguous to state roads, roadside development, safety and weight enforcement and dissemination of highway information.

The Division of Highways currently sends all payments to vendors and reimbursement for employee travel by drafting paper checks, and then delivering the check to the individual. Due to advances in technology, Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) offers the Division of Highways many advantages over its current process. These benefits include cheaper transaction costs, savings on postage, elimination of mail delays and losses, limited need for stop payments, reduced account reconciliation, and greatly reduces fraud. The Legislative Auditor estimates that the Division of Highways could save from $47,920 to $78,300 by using EFT rather than a paper warrant.