June 2018
Issue 49
2018 Workshop Calendar

Click here to view training opportunities available in 2018. We will continue to update the schedule with dates and locations, so check in with us regularly. If you are interested in hosting a class, please email Shelly Desjardin at [email protected] . 
Our mission is to foster a safe, efficient, environmentally sound transportation system by improving skills and knowledge of local transportation providers through training, technical assistance, and technology transfer.
In This Issue:
  • New Tailgate Talk—Lyme Disease & Tick Safety
  • Tips from Tony
  • First Annual Fill a Public Works Truck Food Drive
  • Town Crier: Dedication and Service Extends Beyond Connecticut
  • NHTSA Celebrates 50 Years of 911
  • Innovation Station: Smartphone Feature Should Be Used by Every Driver
  • AASHTO Launches a New Website
  • Tips from Tony—Answer
New Tailgate Talk—Lyme Disease & Tick Safety
The T2 Center has published our newest Tailgate Talk informational brief. Each Tailgate Talk focuses on one on-the-job safety topic and is designed to be shared with your crew at the beginning of their day. When employees are presented with safety material in small chunks, in a setting in which they are comfortable, they are more likely to retain that information and put it into practice.

Lyme Disease is a bacterial infection that can be caused by the bite of an infected deer tick (also known as a blacklegged tick). Untreated, the disease can cause a number of health problems. Patients treated with antibiotics in the early stages of infection usually recover rapidly and completely. There are about 30,000 confirmed cases of Lyme disease reported every year.
Tips from Tony
What would you change here?
Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter.
If you have roadway safety questions, please contact:
Anthony Lorenzetti, P.E. - Safety Circuit Rider
(860) 486-5847 or [email protected].
First Annual Fill a Public Works Truck Food Drive

The First Annual Fill a Public Works Truck Food Drive in Connecticut was a huge success! In honor of National Public Works Week (May 20-26, 2018), several towns and cities committed to run food drives to support local food banks.

There were over 60 towns who held food drive events; 40 of those towns reported what was collected and donated. To date the public works community in CT has collected 18,584 pounds of food and toiletries, 14 full public works trucks filled with donations (not weighed) and $4,563 in cash donations.
We could not be prouder of the public works community in CT for taking on this initiative to help out their local communities. Great job everyone!

To check out pictures from events held around the state, click here .
Dedication and Service Extends Beyond Connecticut
Sue Baillargeon from the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT), is a curriculum manager and has spent the last 31 years working for the Department. For the past 17 years, Sue has also been volunteering with the American Red Cross, traveling all over the country in her spare time to help others in disaster-torn areas. We sat down with Sue to learn more about her role at CTDOT and how she became involved with the American Red Cross and to share some of her experiences.

Click here to read the full interview.
Every single day, the American Red Cross helps people in emergencies, whether it's assisting one displaced family or thousands of disaster victims, or providing care and comfort to an ill or injured service member or veteran, or supporting a military family. If you are inspired by Sue and her experiences, visit the American Red Cross volunteer website .
NHTSA Celebrates 50 Years of 911

Heidi King is the Deputy Administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). King represented NHTSA at the NG911 15th Annual Honor Awards, where she shared some of her experiences as an EMT and 911 dispatcher. She also joined 911 community stakeholders in the Oval Office on February 16, 2018 when Kari's Law was signed by President Trump.

It's easy to take for granted the miracle that is our 911 system. Almost instantly, it connects people who have never met, and likely will never meet, with lifesaving assistance that can arrive in minutes.

For the complete article, please click here .
Innovation Station: This New Smartphone Feature Should Be Used by Every Driver

Giving your phone a rest when you're driving is always a good call, but the tools Apple and Google offer to help you focus on the road can be easy to miss.

Here is a reminder of how to use them.
AASHTO Launches a New Website

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has launched a new website called AASHTOWare.
AASHTOWare is an unique and powerful enterprise software suite designed by transportation professionals for transportation professionals. No other software matches its effectiveness for transportation project design and management. Why? Because no other software is cooperatively developed and continually updated by experts from state transportation agencies across the nation.

Click here to check out AASHTOWare.
Tips from Tony—Answer


The signs do not conform to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) section 24.18 , which requires the minimum height of signs installed above the sidewalk, measured vertically from the bottom of the sign to the sidewalk, shall be 7 feet. If there is a secondary sign mounted below the primary sign, the secondary sign shall not project more than 4 inches into the sidewalk boundary. Read more here .

Imagine being sight impaired and walking through this area. Even if a segment meets the bare minimum, it still may not provide for safe passage for all users.

Under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), a 36 inch minimum width of passage is generally required per section 403.5.1 , with an exception for small areas 24 inches in length and less, which can be 32 inches in width. Section 307.2 provides the maximum protrusion limit for objects with leading edges between 27 inches and 80 inches in height off the ground shall be 4 inches into the pedestrian path. Read more here .

A four foot minimum path is required under the Proposed Rights-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG) section R302.3 Continuous Width . Except as provided in R302.3.1, the continuous clear width of pedestrian access routes shall be 1.2 m (4.0 ft) minimum, exclusive of the width of the curb. Read more here .

Also the sidewalk is not an acceptable location for storage of items, such as garbage cans, which should be placed in the grass median.
Follow Us!
Use these links to get more information about the Connecticut Technology Transfer (T2) Center:
If you have any ideas or suggestions for future  Connecticut Crossroads  topics, please feel free to email the designer Regina Hackett at  [email protected]