Madison's Everyday Engineering

Raking would be so much better if we didn’t have to do it, right? Well, how about ditching the rake, and mulch instead this fall? Mulching is a great option for any homeowner with a ton of benefits to the environment, soil, the lawn, and it’s less work than raking, bagging and loading or moving them to the curb for pickup. In this podcast episode, you’ll learn proper leaf management technique, how...

Garages, sidewalks, lakes, you name it, salt is ruining or weakening it. Why should you care? Salt Certification may not mean much to anyone, except winter maintenance professionals, until now. In this episode, salt certification and why you should be selecting professionals who responsibly use the common tabletop standby is explained in a way you haven’t heard of before. Not only is salt impactin...

After a large conversation about bus stop and pad placement in the City of Madison over the summer, Engineering wants to share what the City can and can’t do within the Public Right of Way. In June 2018, a resident was unhappy about a bus pad, or concrete slab, being installed in her front yard. After consistent media coverage about the bus pad involved in an Engineering project, the division hear...

Each year, hundreds of thousands of homes undergo some sort of renovation. The average cost to finish a basement, according to smartasset.com, is about $30,000. When anyone invests that much into anything the last thing they want is the money to go down the drain, figuratively and literally. Basement drainage, moisture and flooding is an important topic for any resident to understand, and if you d...

In the last few years, heavy rains have become heavier and more frequent in the Madison area. After major flooding in August of 2018, the City continues to work toward possible solutions to prevent the flooding from happening again. In this podcast, City of Madison Engineering Division Public Information Officer Hannah Mohelnitzky hosts engineers Jojo O’Brien and Phil Gaebler to learn about what h...