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Rehabilitation of sewer systems under existing roadways and near existing buildings is a challenge. Some projects cannot be done in a trenchless fashion. When open excavation access is required, just the process of getting to the underground workspace becomes a major problem. Municipalities and property owners do not want large, over-excavated areas. As sewer systems are typically the deepest utility, the question of how to maneuver around shallower electrical, mechanical and telecomm systems becomes a concern. Adjacent property owners do not want other utilities cut or disconnected. Driving sheeting can be an option, but the damage caused by vibrating sheeting into place creates its own set of problems. The risk of severing mismarked lines comes into play, and those damages can be more than just an inconvenience to a property owner. When a city in southern California needed sewer outfall rehabilitation work done 23’ deep, in the middle of a street in a residential area, the contractor was tasked with doing the work without creating other problems discussed before. The specifications allowed for extreme minimal deflection in the shoring system. The 12’ x 12’ x 23’ excavations had to allow for crossing utilities. Conventional trench box or slide rail systems would not accommodate the crossing utilities which resided at much shallower elevations. This session is centered on how the contractor used a relatively new concept in shoring to access the site, meeting the strict deflection tolerances, while allowing the contractor to avoid disruption of crossing utilities. Presenters will also discuss how the contractor dealt with restrictions in the tabulated data. The shoring system used allowed the owner and contractor to work with less disruption, less soil reinstatement, and less paving restoration, all while meeting the engineering criteria and the requirements of OSHA.
Read MoreThis CLL is a follow up to last year’s webinar on the state of recycling and current market status. Over the last year, recycling markets have turned around and the demand…
Read MoreProviding educational opportunities for Public Works employees is becoming more challenging as the budget becomes tighter, especially during these times of uncertainty. How does an agency with a limited budget find these opportunities to train and educate staff without breaking the bank? One way is by tapping into your local LTAP (Local Technical Assistance Program). Partnering with your local LTAP can help keep valuable information flowing. LTAP roots are deeply set at a national level utilizing those resources to provide training which uses local branches to boil down the sap to provide information and training that suits local needs. LTAP does more than just spout off, it delivers information that sticks in a sweet and courteous manner. Join us as we discuss Baystate Roads, the Massachusetts Local Technical Assistance Program administered through The UMass Amherst Transportation Center and how they are partnering with local agencies to provide high impact, low cost educational training for DPW’s across the Commonwealth.
Read MoreFixed road weather stations deliver reference-grade observations to assist winter maintenance decision-makers, providing latest conditions across the highway network. How do we know conditions between those weather stations? Thermal profiling is a technique to quantify the surface temperature relationship between fixed weather stations. Its application is valid through night-time hours, but it is limited to temperature only. This session will explore the benefit of including thermal profile data to road weather models that in turn provide an assessment of current surface state conditions across the highway.
Read MoreAfter a very successful pilot program in 2019, Fairfax County created a permanent program, Operation Stream Shield, in early 2020 to remove litter reaching the county’s waterways. Originally developed to reduce the amount of litter reaching the county’s waterways and riparian zones in accordance with the county’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit, the county has formed a partnership between the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services and the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness to utilize the county’s residents experiencing homelessness to not only remove litter but manage invasive species, conduct general landscaping and complete other special projects as needed. The MS4 Coordination Section coordinates with internal and external agencies to focus on workforce development pathways that provide homeless shelter clients with opportunities to develop knowledge and skills to participate in a diverse economy and earn income to support themselves. Homeless residents who excel in the program are provided with an opportunity to apply for full-time, non-merit positions within the county that serve as stepping stones to a full-time, merit county career.
Read MoreASCE’s new Standard Guideline for Recording and Exchanging Utility Infrastructure Data (the utility “as-installed” standard) is about to roll out. The standard provides a framework for improving management practices of public rights-of-way (ROW), especially considering changes in our midst with regard to electric and autonomous vehicles becoming more prevalent, 5G small cell installation, and smart city/road initiatives. These technologies will be vying for space in an already congested and mostly unknown underground landscape. Currently, the lack of management of our ROWs underground has turned it into a confusing mess. Records are often non-existent or based on relative positions to features no longer present. There is tremendous potential to improve the efficiency and usage of our roadways for the future that is rapidly approaching. The challenges in maximizing the use of ROW for smart roadways and increased infrastructure needs are complex and dynamic. Critical to addressing one challenge is it to understand and manage the facilities that are currently underground and new installations that are taking place every day. Maximizing the value of mapping what’s below the ROW will only come through the use of standards and best practices within organizations that install utilities in the ROW and agencies that manage the ROW. Given the right policies, standards, collaboration, and management practices, today’s technologies can enable us to easily create a real-time 3D picture of buried utilities. During this session, presenters will discuss the new standard, new technologies for collecting utility location data, and provide a live example of what the Montana and Texas DOTs are doing to start to proactively manage their public ROW; especially the utility infrastructure within their ROW.
Read MoreThis presentation focuses on the differences and similarities of asset management vs. maintenance management systems. The two terms are often used interchangeably but describe different processes that are related. Maintenance management focuses on the strategic approach to maximizing the benefits from resources used to preserve, operate, and expand the public infrastructure while asset management integrates planning development, maintenance, and financial functions to conduct investment analysis and tradeoff decisions, considering maintenance costs, mobility, and safety on an agencies infrastructure.
Read MoreThe City of Westerville, Ohio, was settled in 1809 and founded in 1858. Although now one of the largest suburban communities to Columbus, Westerville began with its own downtown, known as “Uptown,” located a block from then Otterbein College. Uptown Westerville was the site of the Anti-Saloon League, an organization that established their headquarters in town to chart the course toward Prohibition. Uptown Westerville is now a historic district with charming shopping, entertainment, and retail. The demand for public parking to reach these destinations has increased steadily over the years. Major events, like Westerville’s 4th Fridays, bring thousands of visitors to the district to explore the old-generation downtown that promises new-generation fun and features. Residents, merchants, and visitors shared the idea that parking was scarce, primarily at the storefront entry. Parking counts and walk-to-shop sites were less than persuasive. Ultimately, city staff recommended a technology solution to study and evaluate the supply and demand realities of public parking in the district. The Uptown Smart Parking pilot uses technology by installing over 350 sensor “pucks” in four Uptown lots. The “pucks” collect data on lot usage and allow real time space availability to be shared with users of a smartphone app. Along with a robust signage program, the data is the process of mass collection to inform parking requirements as the district continues to thrive and grow. Presenters will demonstrate a live parking simulation from actual Westerville lots, while discussing the process of gaining buy-in from administrators, elected officials, merchants, and the public on this program. The accompanying mobile app will be demonstrated in real-time, along with discussion of its development and data-capture opportunities. Finally, presenters will discuss how the city intends to use the data in capital planning processes, as well as the intent to deliver outcomes to the public.
Read MoreThe Westerville water distribution system consists of 205 miles of predominantly ductile iron and cast-iron pipe installed beginning in the 1950s. With a break rate that began a steady acceleration in 2006, the city knew it must act proactively identify and replace poor performing pipe to maintain reliability. The city chose not to rely on industry standard values for predicting pipe life because those values vary widely and lead to inaccurate pipe break predictions. Instead, the city leveraged its pipe attribute data, empirical watermain break data, and information on pipe criticality to identify its riskiest pipes. Pipe and break data were imported into the infraSOFT on-line software platform, specifically designed to predict pipe failures. The software guides users through quality control steps to verify and improve data quality. Using the Linear-Extended Yule Process with Weibull survival curves and Markov Chain modeling of the progression of pipe deterioration, infraSOFT predicts the year-by-year probability of a pipe break for every pipe. Predicted break data was coupled with consequence of failure data, which was generated for each pipe based on its size, proximity to roads, water, structures, and service to critical customers. This resulted in a quantitative understanding of risk. With a listing of pipes prioritized by risk, the city evaluated replacement investment levels and chose an affordable annual expenditure that will stabilize the break rate. Replacements projects were coordinated with other upcoming city street and utility projects to minimize disruption and costs. Implementation of proactive watermain replacement is already underway with the expectations of reduced breaks and associated impacts, providing customers with a more reliable drinking water supply. The number of breaks in the system, which were expected to more than double over the next 15 years, will remain at or near current levels for at least that long.
Read MoreThe internet of things has become our reality, connecting all parts of our personal lives. Many people carry a smart device more powerful than their first personal computer. So why are some public works operations still struggling with limited technology? Many factors play into the decision to move from “the way we have always done it” to the vision of “how it could be done”. In the public sector, we have many issues to consider including cost, transparency, fairness, competition, and return on investment. This presentation reveals how one public transportation entity addressed the issues head-on to move from traditional two-way radios to 5G smart devices on the exclusive FirstNet system. The process the team went through, the obstacles they had to overcome, and the results will be covered as well as lessons learned. If you are considering a tech upgrade this presentation will provide a guide of things to consider and keep in mind as you and your team become more connected.
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