4th National Briefing on Winter Maintenance and Road Weather give organizations working in the severe weather and maintenance operations space an opportunity to showcase their recent efforts to advance the state of the practice through collaboration, research, technical support, and implementation.  This briefing features the Maintenance Operations Technical Working Group.

This briefing series is produced in collaboration with the AASHTO Maintenance Committee, the Maintenance Operations Technical Working Group, and the Winter Weather Management Technical Service Program - SICOP.

Watch the video at https://youtu.be/L9k7pcz4sZY

For more information Contact:

Brad Darr [email protected]
Emily McGraw [email protected]
Natalie Roark [email protected]

Sign up for email notifications on future episodes and other communications associated with winter maintenance and winter weather management by clicking on subscribe on the Talkin' Winter Ops website at TalkinWinterOps.com

Thanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

4th National Briefing on Winter Maintenance and Road Weather give organizations working in the severe weather and maintenance operations space an opportunity to showcase their recent efforts to advance the state of the practice through collaboration, research, technical support, and implementation. 

This briefing series is produced in collaboration with the AASHTO Maintenance Committee, the Maintenance Operations Technical Working Group, and the Winter Weather Management Technical Service Program - SICOP.

Watch the video at https://youtu.be/j1WtA32tVKs

For more information about this national briefing or the Maintenance Operations Technical Working Group contact:
Brad Darr [email protected]
Rick Nelson [email protected]

Sign up for email notifications on future episodes and other communications associated with winter maintenance and winter weather management by clicking on subscribe on the Talkin' Winter Ops website at TalkinWinterOps.com

Thanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

When your agency is responsible for vast amounts of infrastructure and performs hundreds of activities with thousands of employees having a robust management information system is imperative.  On this episode Michael Middleton of the Missouri Department of Transportation and Project Director for MoDOT Management System talks about the development and implementation of their new maintenance management system.  

Easy to input data for the employees, easy to extract information for managers, this system is a one-stop shop for employees.  It’s not just maintenance activity based, this system includes a safety management component focusing on employee safety.  This MMS has become such a powerful tool for the agency that it has become the MODOT Management System

Chapter marks
0:00 Intro with Becky
4:10 Kicking off the project / system requirements
9:55 COTS vs develop in house? 
18:31 Roll out - champions
22:54 initial system functions
28:51 Safety module
40:28 Additional resources-videos
43:44 wrap up

For more information on the MoDOT Management System contact the Project Director, Michael Middleton at [email protected]
or Check out these MODOT videos on the MODOT Management System

MMS Phase 1 – Documentation and Dashboards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjPBFRuxwlA

MMS Phase 2 - Work Plans and Budget module.
https://youtu.be/lcOjUlCxe1E

Safety Management Module
https://www.youtube.com/embed/BZJMQ8evSco?rel=0%20

Story Board for Safety Module
https://youtu.be/kkNf06eGDro

New Incident reporting module
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx1Edm6EShs&t=3s

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Management of salt and salt reduction isn’t solely on the shoulders of maintenance operations.  In many cases salt use is necessary to address problematic areas that maybe could have been mitigated with a more winter sensitive design.  On this episode were visiting with Connie Fortin, Todd Hubmer, and Chris Chromy of Bolton & Menk on their approach with a new perspective on designs to optimize winter operations and minimizing the need for salt.  

Designing new facilities or retrofitting existing facilities is the result of hundreds of tradeoffs and compromises with the goal of reaching the optimal sub-optimal solution.  Long term operational costs of a highway facilities can include pavement maintenance, rehabilitation schedules, safety benefits, and other costs but seldom include the costs of winter maintenance like chemicals, equipment, and level of effort to provide a resilient network.  Maximizing solar radiation, minimizing drifting snow, and eliminating the repeat offenders where melt water refreezes can dramatically reduce the need for chemicals throughout the life of the facilities.

For more information about winter sensitive design considerations you can contact Connie Fortin, Senior Project Manager at [email protected] , Todd Hubmer, Principal Water Resource Engineer at [email protected], or Chris Chromy, Senior Principal Transportation Engineer at [email protected]

0:00 Introduction
1:14 Chloride use is a blessing and a curse
4:03 unique things to consider in design 
7:50 The maintenance worker has to live with the design we give them
11:53 Design possibilities for existing infrastructure
13:18 Vegetation options
14:28 A different thought process 
17:45 Geometric considerations
20:40 Safety considerations
22:30 Challenges 
28:02 Advise to owners contemplating a design in winter regions
33.14 Listening vs understanding
35:28 Signoff

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As soon as that first snow plow was attached to a horse drawn wagon folks have been looking a other fuels to accomplish the winter maintenance mission for a variety of reasons including performance, availability of fuels, or environmental considerations.  What defines an alternate fuel depends on your current situation with regards to fleet, engines, and powertrain.  A recently completed Clear Roads project, 21-05: Evaluation of EVT and Alternative Fuels for Winter Operations provided a comprehensive look at this topic. 

In this episode project champion Justin Droste, Michigan DOT and the research team lead by Kate Vigneau, Matrix Consulting Group, and Russ Owens of Energetics set the stage for transitioning a winter maintenance fleet to alternative fuels. 

For more information you can review the Clear Roads report at this link: https://clearroads.org/project/21-05/

or you can ask specific questions or discuss this topic with our guests by sending them an email at the above links.

Sign up for email notifications on future episodes and other communications associated with winter maintenance and winter weather management by clicking on subscribe on the Talkin' Winter Ops website at TalkinWinterOps.com

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As soon as that first snowplow was attached to a horse drawn wagon officials have been looking at other fuels to accomplish the winter maintenance mission for a variety of reasons including performance, availability of fuels, or environmental considerations.  What defines an alternate fuel depends on your current situation with regards to fleet, engines, and powertrain.  A recently completed Clear Roads project, 21-05: Evaluation of EVT and Alternative Fuels for Winter Operations provided a comprehensive look at this topic. 

In this episode project champion Justin Droste, Michigan Department of Transportation  and the research team lead by Kate Vigneau, Matrix Consulting Group, and Russ Owens of Energetics set the stage for transitioning a winter maintenance fleet to alternative fuels by looking at the requirements for winter maintenance and the alternative fuel possibilities. 

For more information you can review the Clear Roads report at this link: https://clearroads.org/project/21-05/ or you can ask specific questions or discuss this topic with our guests by sending them an email at the above links.

0:00 Introduction
1:30 Clear Roads project development
3:47 Considerations for alternative fuels 
8:23 Alternate fuels currently being utilized
9:27 Biodiesel and biodiesel blends
13:35 What do the engine and truck manufacturers have to say
16:48 Renewable fuels 
19:18 Compressed gasses for fuels
22:59 Fuel cells and battery electric vehicles (BEV)
26:07 Operational requirements
31:09 What’s next
31:44 Sign off

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Every 4 years the Transportation Research Board sponsors an International Road Weather and Winter Maintenance Conference where winter maintenance professionals gather to learn about emerging technologies, new strategies, the latest technology, and current research for responding to severe weather events and winter maintenance.  After a pause due to the pandemic this conference is happening once again.  In Washington DC, May 9-10, 2023, you can be part of this gathering and exchange of information.  

Learn more about this event from TRB Road Weather Committee Chair Paul Pisano and TRB Winter Maintenance Committee Chair Anna Arvidsson in this episode or by following this link to the conference website at https://trb.secure-platform.com/a/page/wintermaintenance

Special early registration and lodging opportunities expire on April 25th so mark your calendars. 

0:00 Intro
00:54 History of the Conference
03:55 Planning for the 2023 event
07:30 What to expect when you get there
12:00 Why should I attend?
15:03 Who attends?
17:20 Conference details
20:45 Last minute thoughts
23:46 Sign off

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For over 40 years we have sought after a measure of friction during winter events to determine if additional treatments were required.  Over the decades the science, sensors, and computing power have advanced to the point that friction or grip is making its way into winter operations.  

On this episode we explore some cutting edge work in world of winter road friction.  Lead Statewide Snow & Ice Engineer for the MassDOT Mark Goldstein and from the Research Applications Lab at the National Center for Atmospheric Research,  Senior Software Engineer Gerry Wiener and Software Engineer Seth Linden discuss projects they are involved with and the finer points associated with using friction/grip in winter maintenance.

Follow this link for more information on the Aurora Road Friction Project https://aurora-program.org/research/completed/roadway-friction-modeling-improving-the-use-of-friction-measurements-in-state-dots/ 

You can reach out to our guests directly for more information on their work with wintertime friction and grip by emailing them directly through the links above.

Chapter marks:
0:00 Intro
1:54 when did you start thinking about friction and wintertime operations
4:03 how does friction play onto the highway environment
7:23 what are some of the grip measuring devices out there
12:31 how do friction sensors work, what are they measuring
17:05 The Aurora Roadway Friction Modeling study discussion
25:41 MassDOT friction project
38:04 What’s the future of friction/grip look like
44:04 Last minute thoughts - autonomous vehicles
46:4 2 sign off  

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Just because a winter storm is over and mobility restored doesn’t necessarily mean that your done with the impacts of weather.  Moisture and water leftover from winter combined with freezing temperatures and loads can cause problems for your pavements and roadside long after the storm is over.

Greg Duncan has many years of experience with the Tennessee DOT and now with Applied Pavement Technologies shares his experiences in dealing with the leftovers from winter weather.  

For more information on potholes and the pothole cycle that Greg mentioned in this episode follow this link to the Tennessee DOT website page on potholes https://www.tn.gov/tdot/maintenance/potholes.html 

For more information about pavements and the effects of winter weather you can contact Greg directly by email at [email protected]

0:00  Intro
1:30  Things that cause problems for pavements
6:10  Keeping the water out
8:33  Pothole cycle
10:36 Pothole patching
12:08 Winter strategies for dealing with potholes in the winter
16:37 Pavements and deicing chemicals
20:35 Abrasion and physical deterioration 
27:38 Roadside issues
30:42 Budget implications  
35:25 Teachable moments that happen in real time 

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NCHRP Project Report 889 details Performance Measures in Snow and Ice Control Operations.  Caleb Dobbins, SICOP Chair from New Hampshire DOT, is working to move the material presented in this report from research to reality through an NCHRP 20-44 project conducting a series of implementation seminars to help states with their implementation goals.

Caleb explains snow and ice control performance measurers and how this project is helping with implementation of this important guide.

For more information you can download the Guide at https://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/160864.aspx

or email Caleb Dobbins at [email protected] 

00:00  Intro
01:27 NCHRP report on winter performance measures (PM)
02:50 PM implementation project
06:15 Implementation workshops
09:28 How to use PMs
13:10 Role of Winter Severity Indices
17:00 Regional implementation seminars
20:10 Value of winter PMs

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