June 2022
Issue 97
In This Issue:
  • Leaders to Watch: Tom Modzelewski, Town of Ellington
  • Welcome Bethe Greene to the T2 Center
  • Signal Spotlight: Technology to Make Signalized Intersections Safer for Pedestrians with Disabilities
  • Safety Matters: New Equipment Available for Loan – Pavement Marking Retroreflectometer
  • Innovation Station: Connecticut Takes a GIS-Based Approach to Digital As-Builts
  • Town Crier: East Lyme Public Works Department Videos Popular with Residents
  • Road Weather Spotlight Series – Road Weather Maintenance and Operational Challenges: Spotlighting Winter Maintenance Training Programs
  • LED Streetlight Replacement Projects Show Huge Savings
  • June is Trench Safety Month
  • NE APWA Chapter Connects: New Technologies in Public Works (Video)
Tom Modzelewski, Town of Ellington
In November of 2018, Tom was hired by the Town of Ellington as the Foreman for the Public Works Department. Tom had joined the private sector (construction and equipment services) after being the Town of Ellington’s Lead Mechanic overseeing a fleet of 80 rolling stock and small equipment used in public works. The town was very happy to welcome Tom back to be their Foreman. Tom has over 15 years of experience in the public works field along with being a Certified Tree Warden, holding his P-6 license, and being a Master ASE Medium/Heavy Duty Truck Mechanic.

Tom has shown his overall management skills on many levels, with the daily operational assignments of the staff and ensuring the staff is prepared for the various projects that need to be accomplished. Tom brings a high level of professionalism and a level thought process to his responsibilities. Tom has a commitment to the overall safety of the staff and takes time to schedule tailgate talks and safety training sessions. 
Tom continues to improve his overall knowledge of the various public works activities by attending classes sponsored here in Connecticut via the Connecticut Training and Technical Assistance Center (T2) and volunteering on various committees within the New England APWA. Tom has been an active member of the New England Chapter’s Education Committee and the New England Chapter Connects planning committee.

Tom has also taken a leadership role in ensuring sustainable winter operations in Ellington and in promoting the Green Snow Pro (GSP) educational effort for his Connecticut public works colleagues. Tom participated on the instructor team for several of the T2 Center’s GSP training programs and shared the best practices he had implemented in Ellington—a great success story.

Tom is also a member of the CT Transportation Leadership Program Cohort #7 and is building networks of friends and colleagues that will serve him well in his future. He is always available to pay it forward with information he has learned and to learn new ways of doing his job.

Tom has a bright future ahead and is certainly a Connecticut leader to watch.
Welcome Bethe Greene to the T2 Center
Signal Spotlight: Technology to Make Signalized Intersections Safer for Pedestrians with Disabilities
Transportation and mobility are key to quality of life, equity of opportunity, and economic well-being in urban environments. Yet for travelers with disabilities, navigation along city streets and access to public transportation present significant challenges and often impose severe limits on freedom of movement and the ability to accomplish normal daily activities. To explore the role of technology in addressing these challenges, the Federal Highway Administration established the Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI).

Pedestrians with vision or mobility impairments face challenges when crossing intersections. FHWA's Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative is funding the development of the PedPal app to help.
 
One focus of the ATTRI program is the problem of safe intersection crossing. "For a pedestrian who is vision impaired, navigating intersections poses a particularly daunting task," says Mohammed Yousuf, the director of the Federal Transit Administration's Office of Infrastructure and Innovation, and formerly the program manager for ATTRI at FHWA.

To continue this article, click here.
New Equipment Available for Loan – Pavement Marking Retroreflectometer
Pavement marking visibility is an important safety measure for road users. When drivers can adequately see center lines, edge lines, crosswalks and other pavement markings, they can make safe and appropriate decisions. Faded, non-reflective markings can create a hazardous situation for all roadway users. The Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), Part 3A.02 requires that “Markings that must be visible at night shall be retroreflective unless ambient illumination assures that the markings are adequately visible.” It is likely that the next version of the MUTCD, which is in progress, will have more requirements for pavement marking minimum retroreflectivity as well.

In an effort to assist Connecticut municipalities with ensuring the reflectivity of their pavement markings, the T2 Center has purchased a StripeMaster 2 Touch Pavement Marking Retroreflectometer, which measures road marking retroreflection, visibility, and saves the data.
To continue this article, click here.
Connecticut Takes a GIS-Based Approach to Digital As-Builts
Agencies have traditionally created as-built drawings by recording design and construction changes on paper plan sheets or PDFs and filing them away—which captures some details at the time of construction, but does not communicate them efficiently for maintenance, operations, and asset management. Many agencies are moving toward digital as-builts, which are created with the digital data collected in real time as the project is designed and constructed. Digital as-builts allow data to be contributed by various partners during project delivery, validated by agencies as part of an enterprise data management system, and easily used by others.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) is developing integrated applications and workflows to enhance its digital as-builts by leveraging geographic information system (GIS) data. In using this approach, important infrastructure elements (assets) are inventoried, maintained and replaced. CTDOT’s plan is that all highway infrastructure elements will be inventoried, maintained, identified, and programmed for replacement, removal, or rehabilitation using project development and asset management principles in a GIS-based system.
GIS in Lieu of Plans

CTDOT is currently using GIS for spatially challenged projects such as highway signs. Prior to 2016, signing projects were developed within a computer-aided design (CAD) environment that was time consuming and outdated for the designer, contractor, and inspector. CTDOT’s sign as-builts were done with PDF markups, which did not contain any data on location or sign removal. In 2016, CTDOT started requiring installation contractors to submit GPS installation data. “The intent was to put the installation data in our inventory as part of the as-built process,” said Barry Schilling, CTDOT transportation supervising engineer. “But we struggled to capture 10 percent of the projects.”

Click here to learn more.
East Lyme Public Works Department Videos Popular with Residents
The Town of East Lyme Public Works Department has been exploring various avenues to get information about their services out to their residents and businesses. Instead of just using conventional means such as the Town’s website and newspapers, they have started creating videos on various topics that they have been putting out on local Facebook and Instagram pages to reach the most people in the fastest time possible. Some of the video topics included “How Public Works Communicates,” "Recycling,” “Household Hazardous Waste Collections,” “What to Expect When Going to the Transfer Station” and “Why the Water Department Flushes Hydrants.” The Public Works Department has received a lot of positive feedback on this initiative. They are always looking into ways to improve the value that they provide to their taxpayers, and this is just one initiative that helps them accomplish this goal.
To view East Lyme’s Public Works Videos, click here.
Road Weather Spotlight Series – Road Weather Maintenance and Operational Challenges:
Spotlighting Winter Maintenance Training Programs
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Road Weather Management Program (RWMP) is pleased to present the Road Weather Spotlight, a monthly webinar series discussing the challenges of various road weather events, lessons learned, and practical solutions. The series runs the first Wednesday of each month and includes a facilitated panelist discussion with an open Q&A for attendees.

Please join us for our next webinar focused on winter maintenance training, public agency programs, industry opportunities, and Federal training courses on Wednesday July 6, from 1:00-2:00 P.M. ET.
Register today, here.
LED Streetlight Replacement Projects Show Huge Savings
A pair of companies has released data from LED streetlight replacements in six cities in Maine, New York and Massachusetts where the municipalities are now collectively saving nearly $1 million per year.
How much does a city save when it replaces its streetlights with LEDs?

It’s a lot — today, the companies Ubicquia and RealTerm Energy reported results from six LED streetlight replacements in Maine, New York and Massachusetts showing a collective savings of nearly $1 million per year in electricity.

The projects, which involved LED installations as well as more advanced controls for dimming the lights and gathering environmental data, reduced power consumption across the six cities by 69 percent.

Click here to continue this article.
June is Trench Safety Month
June 2022 has been declared “Trench Safety Month” by the National Utility Contractors Association. This declaration of safety further highlights the association's innovative educational and safety program, the “Trench Safety Stand Down” week, that was held June 20 - 24, 2022.
To help honor Trench Safety Month here in Connecticut, we have provided a few resources listed below.

NE APWA Chapter Connects: New Technologies in Public Works (Video)
Learn how technology is changing data collection and analysis in Public Works.
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If you have any ideas or suggestions for future Connecticut Crossroads topics, please feel free to email the designer Regina Hackett at regina.hackett@uconn.edu