Video
Presented by the APWA Government Affairs Committee (GAC) to ‘jam’ about what is happening in your chapters and communities.
Read MoreA panel discussion focused on a current hot topic, exploring workforce innovations in public works. Panelists will delve into what they have been doing to address current workforce challenges, including…
Read MoreFatalities continue to rise on our streets and in our rights-of-way. Vision Zero is a comprehensive policy that does not accept injuries or deaths as inevitable. The policy should be…
Read MoreHave you ever experienced purchasing less than superior salt for your salt barns? Salt containing debris, contaminates or other trace aggregates can damage equipment. Were you aware of the damage this can cause to your manufacturing and application systems? The City of Dublin would like to share a lesson learned and a tool that has saved our salt brine manufacturing and application systems!
Read MoreThis session introduces public works and state DOT employees to an educational opportunity that values their on-the-job training and awards college credits for much of it. College credit towards an associate degree in this online program is awarded for working knowledge such as for CDL, FEMA training and traffic control. Students receive management skills they need to be promoted, as well as general education required for the degree. The program develops fundamental leadership skills and teaches participants how to build and maintain a productive team.
Read MoreUsing liquids in your winter maintenance operations has several benefits. Agencies have found that their total use of materials, particularly salt, has been significantly reduced. In addition, using liquids provides significant cost savings, and experience has shown that use of liquids provides better safety and improved levels of service than more traditional approaches. The speaker will examine the new ways in which liquids are being used in winter operations today. These methods include blending liquids, where small amounts of enhancing liquids are added to a base salt brine. The speaker will also discuss the use of liquid only routes, where agencies have had great success using liquids not only before the storm but also all through the storm. Finally, the speaker will discuss how liquids can be used with solids to handle difficult accumulations of snow and ice.
Read MoreAcross North America, public works budgets are strained to the maximum while essential infrastructure ages in place. Traditional sewer investigations are generally expensive, obtrusive, and often do not pinpoint the inflow/infiltration (I&I) sources. To address this issue, a new tool and technology have emerged in this past decade that is helping managers reduce the cost of sewer line rehabilitation by applying a simple rule: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Micromonitoring is an innovative tool and technology that helps agencies and engineers to perform focused field investigations and, in the end, reduce sewer investigation and rehabilitation program costs. Micromonitoring provides a giant step forward in the evolution of a sewer utility I&I reduction program by focusing sewer rehabilitations/repairs only on sewers that are contributing to wet weather peak flows. Micromonitors are used in small diameter sewers where low flows are common and traditional flow monitoring is ineffective.
Read MoreGreen stormwater infrastructures (GSIs) are typically built for multi-purposes: stormwater treatment and green space. Established vegetation is used to achieve the designed functions. However, plants often fail before they are established as they undergo constant stresses: either too wet or too dry. By design, GSIs flood during storms. Also by design, the growth media drain and dries out quickly between rain events to make room for the next storm. For that to happen, very porous growth media are used. The extreme variations in soil moisture make it very hard for any plant to survive. Other stresses such as road salt also make it hard to keep plants alive. This presentation will review novel technologies that can address the problems by using some of the abundant stormwater in GSIs. Capturing the stormwater also enhances the stormwater reduction and retention feature of GSIs. This stored stormwater can be used to irrigate the plants to ensure their survival.
Read MoreCompleting Shawnee, Kansas’ Nieman Now program ($37 million of public improvements in five projects, with four design consultants and three contractors, within a two-year window) involved a lot more than a willingness to implement a “road diet,” move power lines underground and reduce local flooding. Staff realized that there were enough complicating factors that project coordination had to be taken to a whole new level. The City’s challenges for design and construction will be described, and examples shared of how they were dealt with and resolved. The presenters will review the design and construction timeline, key happenings, complications, extensive utility coordination, and hard choices that had to be made while sharing illustrative content and anecdotes. The session will also highlight lessons “reinforced” about making field changes during construction and the types of documentation that are most helpful when it is time to close out the project.
Read MoreIn WarGames, a 1983 American Cold War science-fiction techno-thriller, David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) unwittingly accesses a U.S. military supercomputer (WOPR) programmed to execute nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Important lessons are learned in a simple game of tic-tac-toe, and nuclear war is averted. This session will be a highly competitive group activity, as participants are divided into teams and told to win as much as they can. A series of decisions will influence outcomes for individual and collective groups combined. With a win in mind, teams will reach a consensus to strategically choose among provided options, while in alternating rounds they are tasked with negotiating strategy with other groups. Collaborative concepts are tested against the individual charge to win as much as you can. Play along, and in the end, you may suggest that we play a “nice game of chess.”
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