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Fatalities 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 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 MoreMentorship can serve as a gateway to exciting new opportunities for the mentee and growth opportunities and career satisfaction to the mentor. A successful mentorship relationship can provide succession planning to create resilient organizations in the workplace and APWA. A mentor and mentee relationship should be a personal choice by all parties as each drastically varies depending on one’s needs. Bringing these two groups together is key to getting started. This is sometimes difficult as the perfect pair can be from different organizations, locations, ages, job backgrounds, and experiences. This program will look at how to create your own mentorship program, different mentorship styles to create successful relationships, and provide the opportunity for attendees to establish connections to find their own mentor or mentee. Be ready to find your mentor/mentee match and use what you’ve learned to create a lasting, successful mentorship relationship.
Read MoreCritical infrastructure owners must consider how their supervisory control and acquisition systems (SCADA) and physical asset systems are resilient by design in the face of cyber incidents. The escalation of control system-based cyber incidents coupled with the natural evolution of engineering practices has inadvertently removed cyber-physical protections from our water and wastewater systems resulting in an increased cyber risk to our assets, people, and operations. Developed by Idaho National Laboratory (INL), consequence-driven, cyber-informed engineering (CCE) is an emerging methodology specifically designed to improve the security and cyber-physical resilience of critical infrastructure control systems. West Yost staff have been working with utilities across the U.S. to conduct CCE-related assessments, emergency preparedness exercises, and improvement engineering practices. This presentation will provide attendees with ideas and knowledge to pursue CCE within their organizations.
Read MoreTo ensure current and future projects benefit the public to their fullest, public works departments need to reevaluate the changed needs of the community and adapt projects to address these new demands. Town of Greenwich Department of Public Works reimagined the Greenwich Avenue and Elm Street Intersection Improvement Project by incorporating innovative concepts into all project phases. The project features the implementation of safe streets design; a strategic communications campaign; an interactive website to educate and solicit public feedback, using drones to improve construction and engineering efforts; and collaborating with the disability advocacy community to improve accessibility and safety. Hear from Greenwich Public Works Deputy Commissioner, Jim Michel, P.E., and Senior Civil Engineer Jason Kaufman, P.E., as they discuss their project, along with leading-edge strategies and methods that can be applied to future projects post-pandemic.
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