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“Every organization rises or falls based on leadership or the lack thereof”, said the legendary co-inventor of frozen concentrated orange juice, C.D. Atkins. According to the Federal Highway Administration, owners are facing mounting pressure to deliver programs better, faster, smarter, and cheaper. Compounding this, W. Edwards Deming, author and renowned scholar who revolutionized Japan’s manufacturing industry, insisted that leaders are responsible for 85 percent of all an organizations’ problems. Comparatively, imagine as a leader, the possibility of significantly reducing and/or eliminating 85% of all program delivery problems while creating significant and measurable innovations, imaginatively reducing and/or eliminating major project risks, and decreasing delivery times by as much as 50%? It may surprise some that owners are already accomplishing these “industry-changing” results. In this session, the presenters offer a unique, yet “tried and true,” system for delivering programs better, faster, smarter, and cheaper. For the most part, this “tried and true,” system is the innovation of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the University of Florida’s (UF) Rinker School of Construction (under the direction of Dr. Edward W. Minchin). FHWA and UF refer to this system as the “2-Day Kick-Off” meeting. In large part, it’s a combination of UF’s leadership and program management research, as well as a FHWA’s eight-year nation-wide pilot. Additionally, it utilizes components of the U.S. Army’s “Command and General Staff College” (CGSC/ILE). As mentioned, based on remarkable industry successes, resulting in arguably some of the highest performing teams in the nation, the presenters highly encourage owners to critically consider conducting the 2-Day Kick-Off meeting.
Read MoreTrees are in-demand in urban environments to provide benefits for urbanization. There are community tree planting projects around the world: Million Trees New York, LA, Denver, Shanghai, London, Ontario, and Trillion Trees. Many of these projects appear to be initiated as a political end allowing officials to show up on planting days for photos. The passion is at its peak around the event time, but dissipates quickly after the trees are planted. To establish planted trees, 2-5 years of water is needed depending on species & climate. This critical aftercare is typically not budgeted or planned. The survival rate of these trees depends on the care and water trees cannot get on their own. An example is Commerce City, Colorado, in 2015-2016. Surprisingly, there is more rainfall than trees need for establishment in most regions of the U.S. However, due to the limitation of the initial root ball size, field capacity (FC), and plant available water (PAW), most of the natural water is unused. The same limitation causes plants to struggle when all the PAW is used up. Irrigation is used to bridge this gap. But it can be costly, and may be unavailable. FC and PAW are intrinsic properties of most soils and cannot be increased easily. A comparison of different watering systems was tested in Commerce City, and the PAW in the heavy clay soil was the critical factor for tree survival. There are technologies that can increase PAW by increasing FC without drowning the plant roots.
Read MoreSodium Chloride, the most predominant salt used on streets for melting snow and ice, is the lubricant of the modern lifestyle in northern climates during wintry weather conditions. These same streets and parking lots are also the battleground where urban foresters strive to build green infrastructure for canopy coverage, stormwater management, and aesthetics. It is all too common to observe the damages and casualties on roadsides in spring, when plants start to display the impacts of salt through discoloration and canopy loss. At this stage, it is often too late to remedy and correct the damaged plants. The urban forestry community is aware of the issue. Many of these professionals have snow removal as part of their responsibility, requiring salts as part of standard operating procedures. This presentation uses case studies in Baltimore, Maryland, and controlled environment studies in Richmond, Virginia, to demonstrate a unique protocol of protecting plants from salt damages.
Read MoreAn informal ’round table’ discussion on the importance of having a vehicle replacement program and the common problems that are encountered.
Read MoreThis session describes the model and process followed by the City of Coppell, Texas, during the development of an enterprise-wide asset management system. Presenters will describe how the city has collected physical and condition data on its infrastructure assets including streets, water, sewer, drainage, and buildings/facilities. The presenters will then describe the implementation process of the asset management software system, along with some lessons learned from previous enterprise system implementations. Finally, the presenters will describe how Organizational Change Management (OCM) strategies have helped with the implementation process and ensure that stakeholders are committed to the success of the new systems.
Read MoreCISA is the nation’s risk advisor, working with partners to defend against today’s threats and collaborating to build a more secure and resilient infrastructure for the future. Public works professionals across the nation are responsible for making normal happen in the communities they serve. By providing for a connected and efficient transportation network, reliable and safe drinking water, collection and treatment of wastewater, management of stormwater, and facility management, communities are able to survive and thrive. Impacts to these critical infrastructure operations can have a significant impact on the critical functions that both public and private sectors provide and on the community at large. As the nation’s risk advisors, CISA supports local communities efforts to understand their risk from natural and human-caused events. While many events may be seen as normal (water main breaks, snow/ice events, etc), these events can help provide public works professionals with the opportunity to develop and improve communications between response personnel and impacted sectors, exercise response plans, and improve overall preparedness/resilience for other types of disasters. This presentation discusses CISA resources available to support preparedness and risk assessment, the importance of understanding connections between different public and private sectors, and how public works staff can connect with CISA to get more information and resources.
Read MoreThe 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.
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