Talkin Winter Ops

Recording at the TRB Annual Meeting, Wilf Nixon returns to SICOP Talks Winter Maintenance to visit about winter maintenance and the new Professional Snowfighters Association (PSA).  The PSA is a new non-profit professional association dedicated to creating a community of practice, improved knowledge and practices in the pursuit of safe, sustainable snowfighting.   If you want more information abou...

In this episode Steve Lund, SICOP Chairman and Rick Nelson, SICOP Coordinator, recap SICOP activities from the past year.  From producing episodes of SICOP Talks Winter Ops to hosting State Showcase Webinars to collaborating with other winter maintenance organizations, SICOP has had a busy year.  AASHTO’s technical service programs are supported by voluntary contributions from state DOTs.  For SIC...

When you talk about maintaining mobility during inclement weather, one group of folks that can make it or break it for the maintenance crews are the weather forecasters.  On this episode of SICOP Talks Winter Ops we’re going to get some perspective from that side of the fence from a someone who’s no stranger to the winter maintenance community, Chris Albrecht, Director of Business Development and...

No part of the country is immune from the effects of winter weather.  Winter storms in the southern reaches of the US are particularly difficult to deal with.  Events severe enough that require attention, frequent enough you have to plan for them, and the challenge of dealing with budget realities of not enough to address all your maintenance activities. Listen in as SICOP Talks Winter Ops with Da...

SICOP Talks Winter Ops with Rod Schilling from the Nevada DOT as he talks about Integrated Mobile Observations.  Obtaining data about the weather and other things happening onboard snow plows helps managers and the public know what's happening out there during winter storms.  Rod discusses the experiences and growing pains surrounding this newest way to gather data on the fly. FHWA has a coll...

SICOP Talks Winer Ops with Laura Fay .   Who are you going to call when you have a perplexing problem in Winter maintenance, Laura Fay at the Western Transportation Institute .  Winter maintenance is much more than salt, trucks, and snow plow drivers.  Without the folks behind the scenes supporting the practitioners we could not have progressed as far and as fast as we have over the past 20 years....

SICOP talks winter ops with Dan Eriksson from the Swedish Road Administration.   While State DOT’s here in the United States self perform the vast majority of winter maintenance they are relying more and more on contracted workforce and equipment to meet the level of service demands with the limited resources available.  On the other hand, The Swedish Road Administration has been providing winter...

SICOP talks winter ops with Paul Pisano.  Paul had a very productive career with the Federal Highway Administration retiring as the Road Weather Management and Work Zone Team Leader.  During his time with the FHWA Paul and his Road Weather Management team saw the development of several significant projects to benefit the winter maintenance community.  Projects like the Maintenance Decision Support...

One of the benefits of the Connected Vehicle Pilot Project is the ability to generate weather alerts including high wind blow over hazard warnings.  This system is proving to be most helpful to commercial traffic along Interstate 80 through Wyoming.  During last years Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting Rhonda Young made a presentation on this topic  The material she shared is being revis...

Weather Responsive Management Strategies is one of the rapid deployment initiatives that is part of the FHWA program Every Day Counts.  Every Day Counts is a program that helps states rapidly deploy proven but underutilized technologies.  When it comes to managing the transportation system during adverse weather events there are three actors involved in making this a success. The maintenance opera...

Controlling drifting snow has been a winter maintenance challenge for as long as there has been the desire to have mobility.  Departments of transportation have using these structures for many years to help keep blowing snow from the roadway.  One way to look at the effectiveness is how well they keep snow off the road and another is to see what positive benefit there is for the driver.   On this...

Keeping the public moving in all weather conditions is an orchestrated dance between the maintenance forces, the network operators, and the public.  The actions of one influences the reactions of the others.  Road weather management strategies are employed by both the maintenance forces and the network operators independently or in unison to help mitigate the mobility challenges for the motorists...

Maintenance is used to responding to severe weather but when the storm escalates into a state of emergency maintenance becomes just one of the players addressing the event.  Clear Roads commissioned a project - Emergency Operations Methodology for Extreme Winter Storm Events.  SICOP Talks Winter Ops with the Principle Investigator, Jim Sullivan from the University of Vermont - Transportation Resea...

SICOP exists to support member states in fulfilling their winter maintenance mission.  As one of AASHTOs Technical Service Programs we are supported through voluntary contributions made by state DOTs.  Throughout the year SICOP performs many different activities in this cause.  In this episode, SICOP Steering Committee Chair Steve Lund from the Minnesota DOT talks about the accomplishments of the...

You can’t manage what you don’t measure.  Agencies have been performing winter maintenance in one manner or another for a hundred years.  Measuring how well we’ve been doing is a much harder proposition largely because no two storms are alike and the fact that they come and go so quickly and often overlap.  Our two guests on this episode are no strangers to winter maintenance;  Steve Lund is the S...

Why do travelers make the decisions they do during bad weather is a much more difficult question than many transportation agencies are geared up to answer.  The trinity of successful winter operations is the maintenance operation, the road weather, and the motorist.  Highway agencies have focused much resource on the maintenance operation and road weather but not so much on understanding why motor...

The Transportation Research Board is a lot more than the week long Annual Meeting that happens every January.  Listen in as SICOP Talks Winter Ops with James Bryant, TRBs Maintenance and Preservation Engineer, as he shares whats on the calendar this next year for the TRB committees on Winter Maintenance and Surface Transportation Weather. The TRB eNewsletter is another way to keep on top of all th...

How did the evolution of modern winter maintenance take place? What significant milestones ushered in the tools that make up the modern winter maintenance tool box? Lee Smithson, formerly of the Iowa Department of Transportation and a past SICOP Coordinator, was one of the few individuals leading the charge that produced significant advancements in winter maintenance technologies. Listen in as SIC...

Many agencies have been collecting a lot of data, GPS/AVL coordinates, RWIS, mobile observations, photos and the like. Now comes the time to ask So What? Until you do something with it its just a bunch of 1s and zeros occupying peta bytes of space. There are however great opportunities to mine these data and turn it into information that can help transportation agencies manage the system and their...

Agencies have been using salt brines and a variety of other liquid concoctions for years as a winter maintenance strategy. Pre-wetting stockpiles, pre-wetting at the spinner, slurries, direct application for anti-icing have been tried and true practices. Now some have taken the use of liquids to the max , and now, utilizing direct liquid applications through the course of the storm. Some would say...

Having an efficient and effective winter maintenance program is built largely on having the right resources at the right place at the right time. This begs to question, Which way should the snowplow go? Route optimization made the top-10 list of things for a world class winter maintenance program and is front and center on the minds of state members of the SICOP winter maintenance technical servic...

It’s no surprise that having the right equipment, in the right place is one of the top-10 things you should have to be a world class winter maintenance operation. Caltrans Division of Equipment have a daunting task of keeping snow fighting crews outfitted with the best snow removal equipment to keep people and goods moving throughout the winter. Their winter operations mirror many situations acros...

The true value in a forecast is when folks actually use them and make smart decisions in response to the weather. Road weather forecasts are specifically focused on how the weather will impact the roadway. There are hundreds if not thousands of places where you can get some information on the weather but when a department of transportation collaborates with the National Weather Service and special...

Having timely and accurate road weather forecasts is one of the top-10 things you should have to be a world class winter maintenance operation. Utah DOT has a program where meteorologists are positioned in their traffic management center and are an integral part of their winter maintenance operations. Jeff Williams, UDOTs Weather Operations and RWIS Manager talks winter operations with SICOP and d...

Using sustainable winter maintenance practices is one of the top-10 things you should be doing to have a world class winter maintenance program but what does being sustainable mean? Sustainability requires balancing three factors – economics, the environment, and the public need. Building a winter service program around these three legs creates a system that can provide optimal benefits to all. So...