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The Bicentennial Bridge to Adrian’s Island was a longtime dream for many residents of Jefferson City, Missouri. The project entails a pedestrian link from the Missouri State Capitol Complex to a 30-acre nature park along the Missouri River, and the funding came primarily from individual donors, or “Patrons”–the extra P that makes this a P4 project! The project is ultimately a public improvement that involved both state and local government, the business community through the local Chamber of Commerce leading the project and accepting donations from some businesses, and several major individual “Patrons” who also wanted to influence the project. By navigating utility coordination, permitting requirements along a major river, and a new railroad crossing, project managers were able to deliver a stunning tribute to local culture and history that serves as an aesthetic hallmark of downtown Jefferson City. The journey to bring the pedestrian bridge from concept to completion brought many lessons in funding, flexibility and design innovation.
Read MoreSmart Cities is a concept that has been around for several years; however, Public Works professionals need a better understanding of what is a smart city, defining the program elements…
Read More2020 did not go as expected, and at times, even the weather played a major role. We have assembled a panel of weather experts to break down the latest news and happenings in the world of weather, and discuss the impact it has had on winter maintenance. From extreme weather to getting a forecast correct for the next week, this panel will unpack the issues facing weather forecasting and winter maintenance and discuss proposed solutions. Was the winter of 2020-21 a mild one or did it really cause you all sorts of challenges? The weather seems to make the nightly news’ highlight reel at least weekly. Are those headlines really something we need to be concerned about? This session will take a look at recent headlines from around the country, all the way back to early 2020 if needed, and share solutions for handling these scenarios in the future. The discussion will also cover any recent events that arise in the Winter/Spring of 2021, to ensure that we cover the most critical issues facing maintenance operations. Wilf Nixon will be the moderator of our panel discussion.
Read MoreOver the last 30 years, a large body of national, international, and industry asset management standards and guidelines have been created. Today the industry continues to struggle with integrating with engineering, accounting, and community planning while aligning corporate goals with daily operations and maintenance, planning, budgeting, and delivery activities. Many organizations continue to have their budget and resource allocation entrenched in short-term, historical based budgeting processes. The challenge is how to adopt and sustain asset management practices to meet the demands and expectation of our communities while managing an aging infrastructure asset base. Where do we start and what does it look like? To assist jurisdictions navigate their asset management journey the American Public Works Association (APWA) has developed an interactive Asset Management (AM) Roadmap. The AM Roadmap is designed to assist communities systematically identify and implement their asset management system. The Asset Management Roadmap is structured around ten key asset management themes defined as Roadmap stops. Under each of the stops is a library of definitions, examples, and templates that communities can both access and contribute to. This session will introduce the APWA AM Roadmap.
Read MoreUsing tools within existing municipal systems, like Esri’s ArcGIS applications, coupled with advanced surveying and mapping technology, can produce valuable project management, asset mapping, and public engagement exhibits. These cutting edge tools can help a municipal team better utilize tools they are already subscribing to, and provide internal and public stakeholders with easy to understand visualizations that aid in the operations, maintenance, and expansion of assets. Presenters will examine the latest technologies in laser scanning and mobile mapping, maximize your ArcGIS subscription, and encourage creative thought in how to use these tools to better manage your assets.
Read MoreAnswering the fundamental question of how an organization compares to others is often not easily answered. Currently, there are no published industry sources available to public works leaders focused on this information for all public works disciplines. An APWA Public Works Leadership Fellows (PWLF) and member of the Leadership and Management Committee (LMC), as well as an APWA Public Works Executive (PWE) will discuss and identify the Committee’s efforts in bridging this gap. The discussion will center on the LMC’s collection and development of a benchmark databased to be used by APWA members of available benchmarks and standards for public works related activities and services.
Read MoreThe Skunk Creek Landfill served portions of the City of Phoenix disposal needs from the 1970’s until 2005. This landfill is located on almost 640 acres and is divided into 4 quadrants that are separated by the ephemeral Skunk Creek Wash and Happy Valley Road. Portions of the landfill (Cells 1, 2 and 3) predate Subtitle D and were constructed without flexible membrane liners. Cells 4, 5 and 6 were constructed with HDPE/GCL liners and a leachate collection system. Since opening in the 1970’s, residential, small businesses, Department of Corrections, a city park, and a local high school have moved into the neighborhood. The Gas Collection and Control System includes 269 LFG wells, 100 sumps and four flares located in two separate flare stations. The two flare stations are located almost one mile apart. The Flare Station 2 services the oldest portion of the landfill and the methane content and flow are decreasing as the waste ages. City of Phoenix staff working with our gas consultant began investigating various options to accommodate the declining gas flow and methane content. The solutions included: intermittent Flare operation; supplemental propane; granular, activated carbon absorption to control odors; and jumper header. This solution will save the City of Phoenix over $4 million dollars in expense and operations and maintenance over a 10-year period.
Read MoreOne of the highest risks to the Federal Highway Administration and state departments of transportation is expenditure of federal transportation funds by local governments, due to the complex requirements for such expenditures and the lack of experience of local government with these requirements. Failure to properly follow all federal requirements for implementation of federally funded transportation projects can result in withdrawal of all federal funds for the project and make the state department of transportation, and consequently the local government, liable for refunding expended federal dollars and funding the entire project with state or local dollars. The Federal Funds Exchange process allows local governments to follow project delivery processes with which they are familiar and alleviate most of the risks involved with expenditure of federal transportation funds for all levels of government involved. Thirteen states currently practice Federal Funds Exchange. Many more states and local governments could benefit from this practice. This session seeks to familiarize more local governments with the practice (some local governments may not even know their state allows Federal Funds Exchange) and provide them with knowledge to be able to discuss the practice with their state departments of transportation to determine if it would be beneficial to their state and local transportation funding programs.
Read MoreThe world of data science is expanding at an exponential rate. The Port of San Diego has begun to utilize Power BI for data visualization tools to communicate progress on capital projects. Integration of Power Bi with enterprise software systems provides a customizable web-based view of project data analytics tool that offers a more user-friendly status review and reporting experience. Data is mined directly from two key software systems rather than digested through exports and reformatting. Find out how important easy visual reporting is to leadership, how sharing more improves confidence, and how you can start creating your own. Power BI makes it possible to quickly create visual measures to share with key stakeholders. During this session, a hands-on demonstration will take mundane data to visually pleasing dashboard in no time.
Read MoreThe City of Loveland (COL) and City of Fort Collins’ (COFC) jointly pursued the creation the Northern Colorado Law Enforcement Training Center (NCLETC), forming an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) to manage the design, construction, and operation of the facility and contributing 50% of the funds to the project. The core project team included one project manager from COL and COFC, and one representative of the COL and COFC Police Departments (Project Team). The Project Team selected an architect responsible for developing a program, site masterplan, and designing the first phase of the facility. This process began in 2017 and was completed in late 2019. In early 2019, the project team selected a general contractor under a Construction Manager at Risk delivery model. In mid-2019, the project team brought in Ditesco to act as a third-party Owner’s Representative. The final design consisted of an 8,000sf LEED-certified administration building, 50-yard firing range, 1.4-mile driving track, and 5-acre skills pad. Following multiple meetings and reviews with the Building and Planning Department, the project was approved for construction in early April 2020. Construction began with the site Civil package – construction of the driving track and skills pad. Significant earth-moving activities and soil treatment was required prior to concrete placement due to the existing soil conditions on the site. Prior to concrete placement, the project hosted the police department driving instructors at the site to verify the driving track grades. The driving instructors raised significant safety concerns with the driving track as they felt the design grades were too steep. This is an example of a recurring gap that occurred between the specialty architect and the end user – ultimate understanding of what was desired versus what was designed. The track was quickly redesigned to meet the police department needs. This approach continued throughout construction.
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