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This session will give an overview of National Weather Service (NWS) operations and how NWS warnings are communicated to emergency management personnel and the public. The session will then look at how NWS operations functioned during the passage of the remnants of Tropical Storm (TS) Fred in August 2021. The passage of TS Fred simultaneously produced numerous tornadoes in North and South Carolina and extreme flooding in parts of North Carolina. Though damage from tornadoes was light, flash flooding resulted in the loss of 56 homes and five deaths. The NWS outlook products discussed the possible hazards several days in advance. During the event, over 30 tornado warnings were issued, along with many flood-related products, including a “Flash Flood Emergency” product, which is the rarely used and most extreme warning product for flooding. For the Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina NWS office, this was one of the busiest days in its history due to the large number of high-impact products issued.
Read MoreThe world of engineering is facing challenges no one has ever tackled before. Some of these issues include climate change, efficient transportation solutions, maintaining adequate water supplies for a growing population, and putting light rail trains on a floating bridge. With these obstacles in front of us, we need the best and brightest on our teams. However, the profession is dismissing half of the population before they are ever given a chance. If we do not work together to encourage women to enter the field of engineering and stay in the field, we will all miss out on the innovations and contributions that come from their unique perspectives.
Read MoreBoth polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) can be found in lakes, rivers, streams, and municipal water supply and are harmful to humans and our environment. One may be lesser known in some regions, but widely recognized (and banned) on the west coast, mid-west, and locally in Greenville, South Carolina, and Asheville, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, Town of Matthews, and Boone, North Carolina. PAHs are a group of chemicals created by heating or burning material that contains carbon. PAHs are present in coal tar sealers, asphalt sealers, and liquid propane (LP) derived sealers. Although coal tar sealers have a higher PAH level than other sealers, PAHs are present in high levels in asphalt and LP-based sealers. The speaker will provide insight from his position as the Southeast U.S. Director of the Asphalt Sealcoat Manufacturer’s Association (ASMA). The purpose of ASMA is to provide a common specification for asphalt-based sealers for use by governmental and private bodies to ensure both quality and environmental safety.
Read MoreLos Angeles County’s newly-implemented Safe, Clean Water Program (SCWP) generates $300M per year to specifically address resiliency and stormwater issues by improving water quality, increasing drought preparedness, prioritizing Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), providing disadvantaged community benefits, and promoting green jobs, among other benefits. As the local communities work together to transform the landscape into a more resilient version of itself, one challenge looms large: how do we choose the best suite of projects to balance multiple benefits, maximize return on investments, and allow us to clearly and transparently measure our success? This session describes a groundbreaking collaboration between permitted municipal agencies and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that delivers consensus-based policy recommendations rooted in modeling and scientific rigor.
Read MoreWhile the potential for utility delays is a well-known risk for all municipal capital projects, how you tackle these risks can have monumental impacts on the operational efficiencies of utility owners as well as the municipality. At the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, their roadway infrastructure Capital Investment Plan is funded every two years with approximately $100MM, accounting for 150-200 active capital roadway projects. The projects’ scopes vary, but the one constant is that the private utility providers—electric, gas, and telecommunications—will have unavoidable project impacts in most of the projects. In this session, staff from the City of Charlotte, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, and AT&T will share their approach, intentions, best practices, lessons learned, and areas of concern in their quest to achieve success for their organizations and partnership.
Read MoreWith more than 11,000 miles of roadways and an annual snowfall amount averaging 131 inches, the Province of New Brunswick's (PNB) winter fleet is no stranger to the "snow fight." Together with telematics partner, Northern BI, Highway Maintenance Engineer Jordan Stephens has been using telematics to manage the 450-plus fleet. Tasked with reducing a $60 million snow clearing budget, Jordan wanted to see if telematics could find areas of waste within the fleet. Having only used paper-based routes for plowing and salt/sand spreading, Northern BI recommended optimizing these age-old processes to improve efficiencies. Hear from PNB's Jordan Stephens, and Northern BI President Dwayne Primeau, on how they are leveraging IoT data to transform the province's winter fleet operations.
Read MoreTop Trending Technology for Field Crews was one of the selected technologies for APWA’s Top Trending Technologies program of 2021. This presentation will provide the audience an introduction to the TTT program in APWA, the background of the top tech for field crews topic, and the technologies explored in the program. The presentation is tailored for those technologies that are most applicable to the snowfighters and winter operations. The APWA Top Trending Technologies program has been very successful and the demand for information from our membership has been robust. The area of field crew technologies, innovations, and tools has been one of the most requested. There are many new and innovative tools for field crews and this session will provide an examination and introduction of those technologies that are currently available and generally accessible to public works crews.
Read MoreLike many cities, the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, faces the challenge of aging infrastructure in urban environments serving an ever-growing population. This presentation will present two case studies related to expedited temporary repairs the City undertook that employed innovative solutions. The first case study will examine a temporary bridge used to remove traffic loading from a compromised existing culvert that serves a center-city thoroughfare before the planned Republican National Convention and impending NFL season. The second case study will focus on an existing corrugated metal pipe that experienced a significant joint failure and the measures taken to protect the public and restore traffic in an accelerated manner. The presentation will include a summary of the challenges associated with each project and lessons learned.
Read MoreCulture is often used to describe creating a positive work environment. But how is a good culture developed? Is employee engagement and appreciation enough? A leader has to take risks and apply creative ways to focus on morale, retention, and attraction of employees. Engaging employees to help management develop the foundation of a positive culture through a team-building exercise provides instant buy-in. Simply, the employees defined a culture they would like for management, and the speaker guided them to create the foundation. The benefit of the foundation exercise is that participants will leave with ideas that will spark creative thinking, employee engagement, and workforce development.
Read MoreAre you frustrated with your current performance at work? How about your boss? Are you judging someone on your team because you don’t believe they are motivated to get the job done? How about your team? Is it just not functioning the way you would like it to function? When it comes to work, we all have our gifts and natural talents that give us energy. The Working Genius model helps to identify those gifts and natural abilities that help us to maximize our satisfaction and success at work. Don’t think of this as a personality model but more of a ”productivity model” that consists of six necessary ingredients for success. The goal is to see where you and your teammates fit into the model to maximize everyone’s satisfaction and success in the work they do every day.
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