News

Snow that accumulates in an agency’s maintenance yard can make it harder for vehicles to maneuver and reduces efficiency and productivity.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) typically removes snow from its maintenance facilities by loading it onto trucks and hauling it offsite, which can add up to significant time, labor and economic costs for the agency throughout a winter season.

To investigate the potential savings of an alternative approach, Caltrans evaluated a commercially available snow melter and calculated the costs and benefits compared with traditional snow-removal methods.

Read the final report: Evaluation of a Portable Snow Melter for Use in Caltrans Maintenance Yards, July 2023

Image source: Caltrans

Highway roadsides can offer valuable habitat for pollinators, but often lack the plant diversity required to attract a wide range of butterflies and insects.

To determine the seeding and mowing practices that effectively improve the health and variety of roadside plants, the Nebraska Department of Transportation implemented different treatments at sites in the southeast region of the state and monitored the results for two growing seasons.

The findings will be used to inform Nebraska’s land management guidance in the future.

Read the final report: Establishment of Wildflower Islands to Enhance Roadside Health, Ecological Value, and Aesthetics: Phase II, March 2023

Image source: Nebraska Department of Transportation

As dynamic and intelligent warning devices become more common, the need for routine maintenance will become increasingly important.

To help the state’s maintenance workers keep these different devices in good working order, the Minnesota Department of Transportation developed a reference guide that includes considerations for cleaning, testing and replacing various components.

Read the report: Guidelines for Using Intelligent Warning Devices, January 2023

Image source: Minnesota Department of Transportation

The September/October 2023 issue of Innovator, the bimonthly newsletter of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), recognized the efforts of a number of No Boundaries member states.

New York State DOT has been working for more than a decade with internally cured concrete and has a specification for its use on all of the state’s multi-span bridge decks. A 2015 performance review revealed that the state’s bridges that used the technology have 70% less cracking than those that did not.

And in an effort to reduce their greenhouse emissions, both California and Minnesota DOTs are implementing policies that require suppliers of construction materials – such as cement, concrete, asphalt, and steel – to provide environmental product declarations (EPDs), which can help agencies make informed purchasing decisions by listing the amount of embodied carbon that is contained in the materials. Colorado DOT is even taking EPDs a step further by using them to monitor and limit the agency’s contributions to global warming.

Sign up to get the next issue of Innovator delivered to your inbox.

Snowplows have traditionally been operated by men. But as recruiting and retaining qualified operators becomes more challenging, No Boundaries member states and transportation agencies across the country are getting creative to change this occupational stereotype.

To market the profession and encourage more women to consider driving plows, the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) is hoping to paint the blades on its women-driven snowplows a bright shade of pink.

Sandi Sauter, Maryland SHA’s Deputy Director of Operations, discussed the strategy and the importance of diversity in the workforce on the new episode of the popular Talkin’ Winter Ops podcast.

Learn more best practices for recruiting and retaining transportation workers by listening to Episode 92: Why’s that snowplow pink?

And check out other practices No Boundaries member states are using to attract and keep maintenance staff in the No Boundaries Synthesis: Responses to Staffing Shortages.

Image source: AASHTO’s Winter Weather Management Technical Service Program