Madison's Everyday Engineering

Anytime Wisconsinites see a snowy forecast, they know, travel is typically not advised, and planning begins until the roads are cleared of snow and ice. However, there’s a lot more planning that happens from the City’s perspective far before the snow starts to fall. In this episode, listen to City of Madison Streets Division’s Steve Schultz and Engineering Division’s Phil Gaebler on how City crews decide how much salt goes on the roads to keep you safe. Engineering Public Information Officer Hannah Mohelnitzky hosts Schultz and Gaebler to talk about road plowing and salting from a perspective that may make you appreciate the crews working nonstop to clear roads in the dead of winter.

PFAS, or perflourinated compounds, are a class of chemicals widely used in cookware, food packaging, stain and water-resistant clothing, upholstery and firefighting foams. The compounds do not degrade and are showing up in dust, soil and water worldwide. It’s a busy conversation for a number of people across the nation, and more specifically and locally here in Madison, it’s captivated and necessitated the attention of homeowners, politicians and city government leaders. However, there’s a lot of information floating around and uncertainty about the topic, so in this episode City experts want to explain PFAS in a way anyone can understand. Engineering Public Information Officer Hannah Mohelnitzky, Engineering’s Hydrogeologist Brynn Bemis and Madison Water Utility Quality Manager Joseph Grande sit down to talk about some of the information out right now, and share what the City is doing to educate and connect with the community.

Once the water from your faucet or soggy noodles from dinner go down the drain, it’s just the beginning of a major process that many of us take for granted. One of the biggest misconceptions about drains is you can put anything down it, as long as it melts or you chase whatever you put down the drain with soap. If it never makes it through the pipe, chances are, you’ll have some major issues that will go deep into your wallet. In this episode, City of Madison Engineering Division Public Information Officer Hannah Mohelnitzky hosts City of Madison Engineering Operations Supervisor Jay Schlimgen and Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District Pollution Prevention Specialist Emily Jones to talk about what you should and shouldn’t be putting down your drain, and their answers may surprise you! From a field trip experiment to a bowling ball or two, you never know what you will find in the City’s sewer. Before you grind anything up in your garbage disposal, you’ll want to listen to this episode to learn what can go down the drain so you’re not paying for it in the long run.

Keeping leaves at bay during the fall is important for any property owner, even when the work is dreaded. From City crews cleaning up leaves to you clearing them out of your gutters, the leaves require some attention otherwise it could impact your wallet in the long run. In this episode, Engineer Jojo O’Brien and Streets Division Public Information Officer and Recycling Coordinator Bryan Johnson talk about what you need to know to wrap up your leaf management at the end of fall, even if winter is moving in quickly. City of Madison Engineering Division Public Information Officer Hannah Mohelnitzky hosts O’Brien and Johnson to talk all things leaves: from the type of technique that will cut down on your gutter cleaning, to what happens if you decide not to tackle the outdoor work. Don’t let fall catch you off guard, and complete your fall to-do-list with our experts.

Riding the bus in Madison has changed over the years, however one thing has not: city agencies working together to make sure Madison residents and visitors can get from point A to point B, without hassle. In 2018, Metro provided 13 million rides, and on any given day, it provides up to 60,000 rides a day. With Metro Transit and the City of Madison looking forward to its newly announced Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Plan, Metro Forward, it’s not without reflection on where we’ve come and the issues the City is looking to solve. In this podcast episode, you’ll learn more about the future of rides, how you can cut your ride time and new tools you can use to catch the next bus near you. City of Madison Engineering Division Public Information Officer Hannah Mohelnitzky hosts City of Madison Engineering Facilities Building Design Manager Jonathan Evans and Metro Transit General Manager Chuck Kamp to talk about new projects in the works to support BRT, electric buses and the future of bus rides in Madison. You’ll also learn why you should ride the bus, even if you’re not a believer in mass transit.

Raking would be so much better if we didn’t have to do it, right? Well, how about ditching the rake, and mulch instead this fall? Mulching is a great option for any homeowner with a ton of benefits to the environment, soil, the lawn, and it’s less work than raking, bagging and loading or moving them to the curb for pickup. In this podcast episode, you’ll learn proper leaf management technique, how to mulch and why it’s important from a water quality standpoint. City of Madison Engineering Division Public Information Officer Hannah Mohelnitzky hosts engineer Phil Gaebler and Olbrich Botanical Gardens Horticulturist Erin Presley to talk about all things mulching and what tools you need to help your lawn look the best come spring. You’ll also learn the impacts of “Leaf Tea” and how raking before storms can significantly help improve the quality of area lakes by 80 percent, come the heaviest leaf fall.

Garages, sidewalks, lakes, you name it, salt is ruining or weakening it. Why should you care? Salt Certification may not mean much to anyone, except winter maintenance professionals, until now. In this episode, salt certification and why you should be selecting professionals who responsibly use the common tabletop standby is explained in a way you haven’t heard of before. Not only is salt impacting our water quality in Madison, but it puts aquatic life and freshwater resources at risk, it’s costly to remove, weakens and damages the concrete, brick and stone that makes up our homes, garages, bridges and roads. In this episode, City of Madison Engineering Division Public Information Officer Hannah Mohelnitzky hosts Engineer Phil Gaebler and Christal Campbell from Dane County, who is the Stormwater Education Coordinator, and is part of the Madison Area Municipal Stormwater Partnership. Gaebler and Campbell talk about why every resident should choose a professional who uses salt responsibility. Find salt certification classes and a list of certified applicators: https://www.cityofmadison.com/live-work/sustainability/winter-salt-certification

After a large conversation about bus stop and pad placement in the City of Madison over the summer, Engineering wants to share what the City can and can’t do within the Public Right of Way. In June 2018, a resident was unhappy about a bus pad, or concrete slab, being installed in her front yard. After consistent media coverage about the bus pad involved in an Engineering project, the division heard from residents and realized the public doesn’t always understand what the Public Right of Way is. In this podcast, City of Madison Engineering Division Public Information Officer Hannah Mohelnitzky hosts Principal Engineer Christy Bachmann and Deputy City Engineer Greg Fries to chat about ways every resident can understand what part of their yard is susceptible to construction when road reconstruction happens on the street.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of homes undergo some sort of renovation. The average cost to finish a basement, according to smartasset.com, is about $30,000. When anyone invests that much into anything the last thing they want is the money to go down the drain, figuratively and literally. Basement drainage, moisture and flooding is an important topic for any resident to understand, and if you don’t, then listen to this podcast so you don’t make the same mistakes as thousands of people who invest and end up paying out thousands of dollars in addition to the renovation. In this episode, City of Madison Engineering Division Public Information Officer Hannah Mohelnitzky hosts engineer Phil Gaebler and Jojo O’Brien to talk about everything basements and the main questions every resident should ask before investing thousands of dollars into a renovation that may be doomed to begin with.

In the last few years, heavy rains have become heavier and more frequent in the Madison area. After major flooding in August of 2018, the City continues to work toward possible solutions to prevent the flooding from happening again. In this podcast, City of Madison Engineering Division Public Information Officer Hannah Mohelnitzky hosts engineers Jojo O’Brien and Phil Gaebler to learn about what happened, why the flooding happened and ways every homeowner can flood-proof a home so devastating flooding can be minimized.