Member
The most forward-thinking organizations are making strategic investments in artificial intelligence (AI), especially machine learning, using location data as the connective thread to automate processes, improve predictive modeling, and gain operational efficiency. Public works organizations already use a geographic information system (GIS) to uncover hidden patterns, gain crucial insights, and provide the best government services for citizens. Now, the benefits of GIS can be accelerated with artificial intelligence and machine learning. This session will provide an overview of GeoAI and show examples of how public works agencies are using it to optimize snow and ice management, automate data collection, prioritize maintenance of infrastructure, identify areas of blight or homelessness, and allocate resources based on the greatest need.
Read MoreThe objective of this session is to facilitate a technology exchange among international public works officials and to discuss and promote innovative public works technologies, operations, and best practices in the field of public works. The expectation is that APWA chapters will have a better understanding of international issues and approaches the international community has used to meet various public works challenges. These challenges have placed new demands upon implementing sustainable and resilient solutions. In engineering, construction, and maintenance, resilience has been defined as the ability to absorb or avoid damage without suffering complete failure. But a more comprehensive definition is that it is the ability to respond, absorb, and adapt to, as well as recover from, a disruptive event. Resilience is about how systems perform, not just about how they are or remain safe.
Read MoreThe APWA Roadeo provides an ideal forum to showcase the operating skills of our members and offer learning and networking opportunities for participants. There is a wide range of equipment…
Read MoreThe U.S. Composting Council (USCC) is focused on municipalities as the prime actors who can implement/oversee successful food scrap (or adding food scrap to yard waste composting) programs to close…
Read MoreThere is a lot of interest in applying ice control materials directly to the pavement in liquid form. This session will explore in detail why liquids are being used in winter maintenance operations as well as brine making; storage of liquid materials; the systems needed to transfer liquids from storage to trucks; and the equipment needed on the trucks to store and deliver liquids from the trucks to the road. What allows them to be so effective? What are the benefits of using liquids and what are their limitations? Under what circumstances should you consider using liquids in your agency? How do we actually get, store, transfer, and apply liquids directly to the pavement? In this session, the speaker will discuss typical application rates, how those rates vary depending on type of storm and pursued strategies, and what you should expect in terms of outcomes when using liquids in these ways.
Read MoreWinter is notorious for being harsh and unpredictable. Solutions that can combine everyday devices like smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers with technology such as artificial intelligence and mapping are easy to implement for safely and effectively monitoring assets. Using visual asset data to create maps of geo-referenced and time-stamped images allows for strategic planning in snowfighting. With up-to-date digital references, activities like documenting sidewalk conditions, tracking snow removal resources, and preparing for post-season maintenance become much easier. This session will provide an introduction to using artificial intelligence to create visual asset data maps for maintenance, management, and planning.
Read MoreThe Excellence in Snow and Ice Control Award was established to promote excellence in the management and administration of public works snow and ice operations, and to promote best practices in snow and ice control removal while minimizing environmental impacts. This year, five public works agencies are being recognized for their innovative processes and operations. Join us to hear about their efforts in materials handling, equipment maintenance, use of winter maintenance technologies, community outreach and commitment to environmental stewardship.
Read MoreTypical planning approaches for municipal stormwater projects often include gathering significant field data, developing complex models, and extensive documentation regarding existing conditions and potential solutions. This presentation will explore a recent pilot project executed by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services that employed available geographic information system (GIS) data and abridged the modeling and reporting process. The results of the effort were provided in a decision dashboard to assist stakeholders in identifying and prioritizing projects. It will also outline the advantages and pitfalls of this approach and highlight a few of the design projects developed from this study.
Read MoreThe City of Raleigh in North Carolina has recently undertaken an innovative implementation of a Pavement Management System using automated data collection (ADC) to identify crack deterioration for input to the pavement management system (PMS). Unlike the traditional methods, the City is adopting a new methodology to measure crack density calculated as crack length in linear feet per square yard for use in the pavement management system. More specifically, these crack densities are measured for short data collection segments (approximately six feet) per transverse zone (as defined in AASHTO R-85). This project helped in the development of the new ASTM Standard Practice for Generating Pavement Surface Cracking Indices from Digital Images (E3303-21), which will aid others in future ADC initiatives. The presentation will describe this new and forward-thinking data collection and subsequent pavement management methodology so that other interested agencies can look into adopting ADC to obtain more accurate and repeatable data in the future.
Read MoreThis session will focus on what it takes to be a successful leader in an organization. The speaker will focus on his 32-year career in public works and how he had to evolve and change to become an effective leader. While starting out as more of a micro-manager, as his organization evolved, he discovered the attributes associated with delegating responsibility to the stakeholders who perform the work. The speaker will talk about his experiences with implementing a city-wide Quality Initiative, an IDEAS program, succession planning, and other employee-based opportunities.
Read More