- Connecticut Public Works Promotions & Announcements
- Safety Matters: Centerline Rumble Strips
- CT Public Works First Responders — WE NEED YOUR HELP! House Bill 7053
- Innovation Station: It's Garbage Can, Not Garbage Cannot
- CTI Research Corner: Connecticut Transportation Institute Using Black Box Technology on Cars
- But What Do We Tell the Public...
- Coffee & Conversation: Working Together Toward ADA Compliance (Video)
- REMINDER: Accepting Applications for TLP Cohort #11 and Submission for the CT Creative Solutions Award
- AgeWell Across Connecticut
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- Congratulations to the City of Meriden on receiving the 2025 American Public Works Association (APWA) Excellence in Snow and Ice Control Award. This award recognizes the city's outstanding planning, training, and communication efforts in keeping over 190 centerline miles of roadway and 19 miles of sidewalks safe each winter.
| | Let us celebrate your department's successes with our CT Public Works community. Please email Regina Hackett your agency's great news and we will publish it in an upcoming newsletter. | | | | |
Centerline Rumble Strips
We all know that Connecticut is dedicated to having ZERO traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all our roadways. One way we work toward that goal is through the Connecticut Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP). The SHSP is a “statewide data-driven traffic safety plan that coordinates the efforts of a wide range of organizations to reduce traffic accident fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads.” The SHSP focuses on this by establishing goals, objectives, and emphasis areas. These emphasis areas (EA) include Infrastructure, Behavior, Pedestrian, and Additional Safety Areas. Each EA has identified targets that can be worked on in furtherance of our Vision Zero goals. One of the ways the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) has worked on these targets is by creating technical briefs focused on several of the problem areas identified in the SHSP.
| | CT Public Works First Responders — WE NEED YOUR HELP! House Bill 7053 | |
For many years, the CT Public Works Community, led by a dedicated group of Public Works Leaders and the T2 Center team, has been working hard for legislative recognition of public works as First Responders.
We need your help now to provide strong support for the proposed House Bill 7053, "An Act Establishing A Working Group To Develop Uniform Statutory Definitions Of 'First Responder' And 'Essential Worker’." This legislation is a vital step toward recognizing and supporting the dedicated professionals who maintain our communities, including those in public works departments. Public Works needs to be part of the conversation when this working group is formed.
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What do we need you to do?
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Contact your representatives to ask them to support HB 7053, currently with the Public Safety Committee — click here to download a draft letter to make this outreach easy for you. Letters of support must be received prior to April 28th.
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Click here to download a letter you can send to your staff to let them know how important this is and how much you support them and this effort.
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Click here to download a flyer from APWA that you can share, outlining the importance of Public Works professionals as First Responders.
- Encourage your First Selectmen/Mayors to contact their representatives.
This will only happen if we all work together—so let’s make it happen!
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It's Garbage Can, Not Garbage Cannot
This is a playful reminder that, with the right mindset, even the toughest challenges can be overcome. The solid waste industry presents challenges every day. The power of resilience and determination suggests that just like a garbage can is built to hold waste, we, too, have the capacity to handle and contain tough obstacles. By shifting our perspective, we can transform what might seem impossible into something manageable, proving that we can tackle anything we set our minds to.
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The APWA Solid Waste Management Committee has fully embraced this motto. In the past six years, we have collectively explored the new frontier of organics composting, legislation improving recycling access and infrastructure, created a toolbox for public works directors, and we are ready to take on the future.
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Connecticut Transportation Institute Using Black Box Technology on Cars
If you’ve ever been in a car crash, you know a lot can happen in seconds.
State and local police accident reconstruction teams scour every detail. Now, the Connecticut Transportation Institute (CTI) is armed with unique technology to help police put the pieces together. News 8 got an exclusive look at the electronics.
Most of us know that planes have black boxes on board that measure mountains of data. But the transportation institute, which is part of UConn and works with the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is using state-of-the-art technology to read your car’s black box, and what it can see is fascinating.
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But What Do We Tell the Public....
For now, we live in a world where social media is used by many to get important information. And that means, whether we like it or not, we need to have a presence on social media to share information with the public about what we are doing. And please, do not think that if you do not have a social media account for your city or agency, you do not have a social media presence—you do; it is just that somebody else is providing it, which is less than ideal!
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So, how do we make the best use of our agency’s social media presence when it comes to winter operations (and some of these practices will be useful at other times as well)? The very first thing is to understand that the value of our communication (on social media and elsewhere) is directly tied to the level of trust that the public has in what we say. If people do not trust what we say or do not find value in what we say, they will ignore it. For example, it used to be that the state patrol in many states reported road conditions, and unfortunately, when it snowed, the default message seemed to be, “all roads are 100 percent snow and ice covered,” which was not an accurate picture! So, people ignored that message.
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Coffee & Conversation: Working Together Toward ADA Compliance
Catch the latest Safety Matters Coffee & Conversation featuring Thomas J. Roy, Simsbury Public Works Director; Mike Wilson, WestCOG Senior Planner; and Katie Hedberg, CTDOT ADA Coordinating Engineer, as they share real-world strategies and updates on ADA compliance at the local and state levels.
| | More Stories and Resources | | REMINDER: Accepting Applications for TLP Cohort #11 and Submissions for the CT Creative Solutions Award Program | |
The T2 Center will be accepting applications for the Transportation Leadership Program's Cohort #11 until June 6, 2025. For the program application and overview, click here.
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Please send your 2025 CT Creative Solutions Award Program submission form to Mary McCarthy by April 30, 2025. If you have a project that you think is worthy of recognition, fill out this year’s submission form.
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AgeWell Across Connecticut
AgeWell Across Connecticut recognizes places and programs that demonstrate age, dementia, and disability inclusivity — all across our state.
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In the summer of 2024, the Connecticut Age Well Collaborative asked Connecticut residents to tell us about the hidden gems in their communities — from the best accessible attractions, to the most welcoming local businesses, to the most inspiring programs and initiatives.
From those community nominations, we created our list of nearly 50 local picks of places and experience, in-person and virtual.
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Connecticut Training and Technical Assistance Center
University of Connecticut
270 Middle Turnpike, Unit 5202
Storrs, CT 06269-5202
Phone: 860-486-9373
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