Sicop Talks Winter Ops

SICOP talks winter ops with Dan Eriksson from the Swedish Road Administration.  While State DOT’s here in the United States self perform the vast majority of winter maintenance they are relying more and more on contracted workforce and equipment to meet the level of service demands with the limited resources available.  On the other hand, The Swedish Road Administration has been providing winter service utilizing contracts and contractors for many years.  Listen in as SICOP Talks Winter Ops with Dan Eriksson as he shares winter maintenance in Sweden.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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

SICOP talks winter ops with Paul Pisano.  Paul had a very productive career with the Federal Highway Administration retiring as the Road Weather Management and Work Zone Team Leader.  During his time with the FHWA Paul and his Road Weather Management team saw the development of several significant projects to benefit the winter maintenance community.  Projects like the Maintenance Decision Support System, Clarus later the weather data environment, and initiatives through Every Day Counts like Weather Savvy Roads, Pathfinder, and Integrated Mobile Observations were just a few of the advancements in the area.Listen in as SICOP Talks Winter Ops with Paul as he shares some history, some current events, and some thoughts on the future of winter maintenance.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.comThanks for listening in and stay sa

One of the benefits of the Connected Vehicle Pilot Project is the ability to generate weather alerts including high wind blow over hazard warnings.  This system is proving to be most helpful to commercial traffic along Interstate 80 through Wyoming.  During last years Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting Rhonda Young made a presentation on this topic  The material she shared is being revisited in this podcast.  Read more about Rhonda Young at https://www.gonzaga.edu/academics/faculty-listing/detail/youngr1 and listen to her TEDx Spokane 2019 talk on the coming transportation revolution at https://www.tedxspokane.com/?p=5034Sign 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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

Weather Responsive Management Strategies is one of the rapid deployment initiatives that is part of the FHWA program Every Day Counts.  Every Day Counts is a program that helps states rapidly deploy proven but underutilized technologies. When it comes to managing the transportation system during adverse weather events there are three actors involved in making this a success. The maintenance operators who are performing the winter maintenance operations of plowing and applying chemicals to remove the snow and ice from the roads, the network operators who staff the traffic management centers and insure motorists have the most up to date information about the transportation network, and the motorists who actions or inactions can keep the network operating smoothly or tie it in knots.Every Day Counts #5 - Weather Responsive Management Strategies is designed to demonstrate how road management strategies driven by data from the road users themselves can help keep the system operating smoothly.Check out the Every Da

Controlling drifting snow has been a winter maintenance challenge for as long as there has been the desire to have mobility.  Departments of transportation have using these structures for many years to help keep blowing snow from the roadway.  One way to look at the effectiveness is how well they keep snow off the road and another is to see what positive benefit there is for the driver.  On this episode we’re talking with Graduate Student Rachael Larson and Dr. Mohamed Ahmed of the University of Wyoming about a presentation made at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting on recently completed work looking at the safety effectiveness of snow fences in Wyoming based on vehicle crashes.  You can view this paper “19-05707 Quantifying the Safety Effectiveness of Snow Fence Implementations Based on Crash Severity and Snow Fence Type Utilizing Contemporary Statistical Analysis Methods” at the TRB Annual Meeting Online 2019 website at http://bit.ly/2JStNczSign up for email notifications on future episodes an

Keeping the public moving in all weather conditions is an orchestrated dance between the maintenance forces, the network operators, and the public.  The actions of one influences the reactions of the others.  Road weather management strategies are employed by both the maintenance forces and the network operators independently or in unison to help mitigate the mobility challenges for the motorists to maintain a safe, reliable transportation system.  This is what we call Transportation System Management Operations every day of the year, rain or shine, or TSMO365.SICOP talks Winter Ops with Steve Cook of the Michigan Department of Transportation, Chairman of the Community of Practice on Road Weather Management and member of the Committee on Transportation System Operations, Committee on Maintenance, and the SICOP Steering Committee.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&apo

Maintenance is used to responding to severe weather but when the storm escalates into a state of emergency maintenance becomes just one of the players addressing the event.  Clear Roads commissioned a project - Emergency Operations Methodology for Extreme Winter Storm Events.  SICOP Talks Winter Ops with the Principle Investigator, Jim Sullivan from the University of Vermont - Transportation Research Center and the best practices he uncovered during this project.  For more information about Clear Roads and this project head over to the Clear Roads website at http://clearroads.org Read more about Jim Sullivan and his work at the University of Vermont - Transportation Research Center at https://www.uvm.edu/cems/profiles/james-sullivanSign 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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

SICOP exists to support member states in fulfilling their winter maintenance mission.  As one of AASHTOs Technical Service Programs we are supported through voluntary contributions made by state DOTs.  Throughout the year SICOP performs many different activities in this cause.  In this episode, SICOP Steering Committee Chair Steve Lund from the Minnesota DOT talks about the accomplishments of the program in 2018.  Check out the 2018 Year In Review on the SICOP webpage at https://sicop.transportation.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2019/02/2018-year-in-review.pdfSign 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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

You can’t manage what you don’t measure.  Agencies have been performing winter maintenance in one manner or another for a hundred years.  Measuring how well we’ve been doing is a much harder proposition largely because no two storms are alike and the fact that they come and go so quickly and often overlap.  Our two guests on this episode are no strangers to winter maintenance;  Steve Lund is the State Maintenance Engineer for the Minnesota DOT and Caleb Dobbins is the State Maintenance Engineer for the State of New Hampshire.  Both states have well developed programs to measure how well they perform winter service.  Listen in as we talk about levels of service and performance metrics in use today and how they are used to manage winter maintenance operations.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.comThanks for listening in and s

Why do travelers make the decisions they do during bad weather is a much more difficult question than many transportation agencies are geared up to answer.  The trinity of successful winter operations is the maintenance operation, the road weather, and the motorist.  Highway agencies have focused much resource on the maintenance operation and road weather but not so much on understanding why motorists do what they do.  The National Academy of Sciences impaneled a project team to explore opportunities to integrate social and behavioral sciences in the weather enterprise during 2016-17.  I had the privilege and honor to serve on this panel co-chaired by Dr. William “Bill” Hooke, American Meteorological Society, and Dr. Ann Bostrom, University of Washington.  Our final report, Integrating Social and Behavioral Sciences within the Weather Enterprise, has implications for surface transportation.  In this episode Dr. Hooke draws some parallels from his past experiences making the case that if we focus some more ene

The Transportation Research Board is a lot more than the week long Annual Meeting that happens every January.  Listen in as SICOP Talks Winter Ops with James Bryant, TRBs Maintenance and Preservation Engineer, as he shares whats on the calendar this next year for the TRB committees on Winter Maintenance and Surface Transportation Weather.The TRB eNewsletter is another way to keep on top of all the activities and offerings of the TRB throughout the year.  Anyone can subscribe through the link https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USNASTRB/subscriber/new   Want to take an active role in the winter committees, AHD65 Winter Maintenance and AH010 Surface Transportation Weather?   Head over to “My TRB” at https://www.mytrb.org and sign up as friend of the committee to get involved.   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.comThanks

How did the evolution of modern winter maintenance take place? What significant milestones ushered in the tools that make up the modern winter maintenance tool box? Lee Smithson, formerly of the Iowa Department of Transportation and a past SICOP Coordinator, was one of the few individuals leading the charge that produced significant advancements in winter maintenance technologies. Listen in as SICOP Talks Winter Ops with Lee Smithson, as he shares his recollections on how we got where we are with winter maintenance in the US. 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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

Many agencies have been collecting a lot of data, GPS/AVL coordinates, RWIS, mobile observations, photos and the like. Now comes the time to ask So What? Until you do something with it its just a bunch of 1s and zeros occupying peta bytes of space. There are however great opportunities to mine these data and turn it into information that can help transportation agencies manage the system and their operations. One agency, the Iowa DOT, has take that leap and demonstrated success in turning all that data in useful information. Tina Greenfield, Iowa DOTs RWIS Coordinator, shares their experiences in working with Big Data. 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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

Agencies have been using salt brines and a variety of other liquid concoctions for years as a winter maintenance strategy. Pre-wetting stockpiles, pre-wetting at the spinner, slurries, direct application for anti-icing have been tried and true practices. Now some have taken the use of liquids to the max , and now, utilizing direct liquid applications through the course of the storm. Some would say using liquid only routes are a risky proposition throughout the storm although some states and countries abroad have been successfully running field trials with liquid only routes. Jim Hughes, State Maintenance Engineer with the Wisconsin DOT is talking winter ops with SICOP about their experience with liquid only routes. 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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

Having an efficient and effective winter maintenance program is built largely on having the right resources at the right place at the right time. This begs to question, Which way should the snowplow go? Route optimization made the top-10 list of things for a world class winter maintenance program and is front and center on the minds of state members of the SICOP winter maintenance technical service program. Several state DOTs are utilizing route optimization programs and many more are considering starting a route optimization program. Kyle Lester(CO DOT), Jim Hughes (WI DOT), and Larry Gangle (ND DOT) sit down with SICOP and Talk Winter Ops and talk about their experiences with route optimization in their states. 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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

It’s no surprise that having the right equipment, in the right place is one of the top-10 things you should have to be a world class winter maintenance operation. Caltrans Division of Equipment have a daunting task of keeping snow fighting crews outfitted with the best snow removal equipment to keep people and goods moving throughout the winter. Their winter operations mirror many situations across the US from the season long fight in the Sierra Nevada to the occasional storm in more temperate regions. Kris Keague, Lisa Kunzman, and Virgil Realin from Caltrans Division of Equipment sit down with SICOP and Talk Winter Ops as it relates to equipmentSign 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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

The true value in a forecast is when folks actually use them and make smart decisions in response to the weather. Road weather forecasts are specifically focused on how the weather will impact the roadway. There are hundreds if not thousands of places where you can get some information on the weather but when a department of transportation collaborates with the National Weather Service and specialized forecasting services the impacts on travelers can be positive creating a safer commute. Paul Pisano from the FHWA talks about such a program called Pathfinder in this episode.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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

Having timely and accurate road weather forecasts is one of the top-10 things you should have to be a world class winter maintenance operation. Utah DOT has a program where meteorologists are positioned in their traffic management center and are an integral part of their winter maintenance operations. Jeff Williams, UDOTs Weather Operations and RWIS Manager talks winter operations with SICOP and discusses how they deliver timely and accurate road weather forecasts to UDOT maintenance crews. 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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

Using sustainable winter maintenance practices is one of the top-10 things you should be doing to have a world class winter maintenance program but what does being sustainable mean? Sustainability requires balancing three factors – economics, the environment, and the public need. Building a winter service program around these three legs creates a system that can provide optimal benefits to all. So how do you know just how sustainable your agencies practices are. Mark DeVries and Wilf Nixon have taught many winter maintenance professionals through the APWA and are here to share their thoughts on sustainability. 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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!

In the struggle to second guess Mother Nature when preparing your winter maintenance budget winter will always win, often at the expense of other maintenance activities. Here are 10 things to consider when formulating your budget for winter maintenance.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.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!