March 2021
Issue 82
In This Issue:
  • Safety Matters: CTDOT Local Road Programs
  • Signal Spotlight: Flashing Yellow Arrows Coming to an Intersection Near You
  • 2021 National Work Zone Awareness Week
  • Innovation Station: Discover Home-Grown Innovations from Around the Country
  • 2021 Creative Solutions Award Program Kick Off
  • Planning for National Public Works Week (May 16-22, 2021)
  • Rumble Strips: The Sweet Sound of Safety
  • The Transportation and Climate Initiative Program (TCI-P) - Video
  • Submissions Due - 2021 Sustainable CT Spring Municipal Certification Cycle

CTDOT Local Road Programs
Recently, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) Division of Traffic Engineering solicited feedback from municipalities on two programs focused on locally-owned roads. The first was to gauge interest in a future Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) safety improvement project. The second was to identify eligible local roads with horizontal curves for improved curve delineation. As the CTDOT continues to move towards systemic applications of safety improvements, they are working to include local roads in these programs. Since from 2016 to 2018, approximately 50 percent of the fatal and serious injury crashes in Connecticut occurred on municipally-owned and maintained roadways, this is an important safety initiative and one that municipalities should be aware of and participate in.
Systemic applications are a change from the traditional way of applying countermeasures. In the past, a countermeasure would be considered for a location that had already experienced crashes of a type correctable by that countermeasure. For example, if a horizontal curve experienced a number of roadway departure crashes, it might have been considered for curve signage. A systemic approach takes a broader look at a system of roadways with similar characteristics and risk factors and applies the countermeasure to them, before crashes occur. In the simplest terms, a systemic approach is a more
pro-active means of improving safety. The Federal Highway Administration has been encouraging states and municipalities to take a systemic approach, and the CTDOT has recognized the value in doing so on both state and local roads.

To continue this article, click here.
If you have any questions about local road safety concerns, you can contact:
Melissa Evans, Safety Circuit Rider at (860) 486-5847 or melissa.evans@uconn.edu.
Signal Spotlight: Flashing Yellow Arrows Coming to an Intersection Near You
What is a flashing yellow arrow?

The figure on the left below shows a typical “doghouse” display used for permitted-protected left turn phasing in Connecticut. When the green ball is indicated, left turning vehicles must yield to oncoming traffic. The figure on the right shows the typical arrangement for a permitted-protected left turn using a flashing yellow arrow. When the left turn movement is permitted, the flashing yellow arrow is displayed.
Why are flashing yellow arrows used?

Engineers design traffic signals with permitted-protected left turn phasing because it can increase the traffic capacity at an intersection, but it can also create an issue known as the “yellow trap.” The yellow trap occurs when a left-turning driver enters the intersection with a green indication to wait for a gap in the oncoming traffic. When the signal turns yellow, the driver mistakenly believes oncoming traffic also has a yellow indication. The driver expects the opposing traffic to slow down and stop, so he or she makes the left turn and is t-boned by an oncoming vehicle.

To continue this article, click here.
If you have traffic signal systems questions, please contact:
Theresa Schwartz, P.E., P.T.O.E. - Traffic Signal Circuit Rider
(860) 486-4535 or theresa.schwartz@uconn.edu.
2021 National Work Zone Awareness Week
National Work Zone Awareness Week 2021 is scheduled for April 26-30. This year's theme is Drive Safe. Work Safe. Save Lives.

National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) has been successful in spreading awareness for work zone safety across the country because of participation from organizations and individuals just like you. Hundreds of companies and individuals reach out to ATSSA on social media each year using #NWZAW. 

Everyone plays a role in work zone safety. NWZAW highlights the deadly dangers of inattention at highway work areas. Wear orange on Wednesday (April 28) to provide a visible reminder and to show your support for the families who have lost loved ones in work zone crashes.

Learn more on how you can participate and make your voice count on the importance of work zone safety.

The National Work Zone Awareness Week poster is available to download in a PDF format here.
Discover Home-Grown Innovations from Around the Country
Printed in EDC News: February 25, 2021
Are you interested in homegrown innovations being used by your peers in other parts of the country? Check out the National STIC Network Showcase, a component of the EDC-6 Virtual Summit. Over 200 innovations, submitted by state DOTs, local agencies, and other STIC members, are grouped into 8 topic area categories for easy navigation. This site features a convenient one-time registration that will allow you to continue accessing information throughout 2021.
Topics like Traffic Incident Management feature prominently in the Operations category. Learn about Washington State’s Work Zone Database, which gives real-time awareness of active work zones statewide; Frisco, TX’s SAFER program, which provides first responders critical incident information for situational awareness; and the New Jersey DOT’s Safety Service Patrol iCone Technology program, which uses connected vehicle technology to alert the monitoring public to the presence of safety service patrol workers at incident sites.
Celebrate the ingenuity of your peers and read about these innovations—developed and deployed
in-house at transportation agencies nationwide. Additionally, we invite you to watch the one-hour presentations on-demand that feature several of the highlighted innovations.
2021 Creative Solutions Award Program Kick Off
As we all look ahead to a brighter future, don’t forget to look back at everything you accomplished and the innovative ideas generated by you and your crews to improve your operations.
 
We are excited to announce that we will be doing just that! We are kicking off the 2021 Creative Solutions Award Program with a virtual roundtable discussion where a few past winners will share some details on their winning innovations and we will be on hand to answer questions about the program!   Please mark 10:30 – 11:30 on April 29th on your calendars and stay tuned for more details on how to join.
 
We want to hear about your innovative solutions to everyday problems! If you have created or developed something that is helping your crews, it is bound to be helpful to others as well. Share that best practice and knowledge with your counterparts across the state and even across the country!
We want to hear about:

  • Tools you developed
  • Gadgets you created
  • Equipment modifications you have made
  • New or streamlined ways of doing everyday tasks
 
The Creative Solutions Award is a way for us to help share your great idea with the public works community. Winners receive recognition and a prize at our annual Graduation and Awards Ceremony, and their creative solutions will be entered into the National Build a Better Mousetrap Competition sponsored by FHWA where they can win even more prizes for their agency. We will also highlight the winning innovation in our Crossroads newsletter and across our social media outlets.
 
Not sure your innovation would make the cut? Check out our online guide to see examples of past winners—and maybe get inspired to try something new! 
 
Deadline is May 21st—submit your entry today! Click here to get the entry packet.
Planning for National Public Works Week
(May 16-22, 2021)
It's that time of year to start planning for National Public Works Week!

APWA is proud to announce "Stronger Together" as the theme for the 2021 National Public Works Week poster. This year's exciting poster challenges our members and their citizens to think about the role public works plays in creating a great place to live. By working together, the impact citizens and public works professionals can have on their communities is magnified and results in the ability to accomplish goals once thought unattainable.
On March 24th, the New England APWA held a virtual seminar as part of the Chapter Connects Program. The topic was Planning for National Public Works Week and Beyond. The one-hour seminar was packed full of great suggestions on how to celebrate National Public Works Week in your agency and how to hold a COVID-19 friendly Fill a Public Works Truck Food Drive. You can watch the video here. A resource document was developed to go along with the presentation; it has a list of helpful websites and other resources to assist you with your planning.
Rumble Strips: The Sweet Sound of Safety
Printed in EDC News: February 18, 2021
Rumble strips are proven to reduce severe roadway departure crashes. However, some communities do not like the sound they make near residential areas. To change this mindset, FHWA created a video to reframe the discussion.

Instead of thinking of the "rumble strip sound" as annoying, the video encourages people to think of it like other sounds that warn of us danger – fire alarms and snake rattles.
People do not complain about those sounds because they are associated with safety. Rumble Strips: The Sweet Sound of Safety frames the sound of rumble strips the same way. Celebrate the sound of rumble strips when you hear it, because someone’s life could have just been saved!

To learn more about rumble strips or how to reduce rural roadway departures in your state, please contact Cate Satterfield with the FHWA Office of Safety or Dick Albin with the FHWA Resource Center.
The Transportation and Climate Initiative Program (TCI-P) - Video
The Transportation and Climate Initiative Program (TCI-P) is a historic multi-jurisdictional collaboration to cap and reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the transportation sector and accelerate investments in an equitable, cleaner, and more resilient transportation system for Connecticut and the region.

On December 21, 2020, Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, Governor Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, and Mayor Bowser of the District of Columbia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreeing to work to implement TCI-P in their respective jurisdictions.

On March 3rd, the Commissioner of CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Katie Dykes and the Deputy Commissioner of CT Department of Transportation, Garrett Eucalitto, sat down with us to discuss the TCI-P. Click on the video below to learn more.
Submissions Due - 2021 Sustainable CT Spring Municipal Certification Cycle
Submissions for the 2021 Sustainable CT spring municipal certification cycle are due no later than Tuesday, April 6th at 12:00 p.m. (noon). 

For more information, visit sustainablect.org or contact info@sustainablect.org.
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