Tuesday, April 24

Donuts & Dialogue

Wake up and pour some coffee because we’re serving donuts! Join your peers in a relaxed and informal setting where you can listen to one of these early sessions and chime in with your questions and observations. Sharing donuts and discussion with your peers, networking, and learning—it’s the ideal way to start your day!

Four Leadership Principles for Transportation Professionals
Speaker: David Ray, Ohio Department of Transportation, Garfield Heights, OH
What does “VETC” mean to you? To one organization, it stands for “Vision,” “Empowerment,” “Teamwork,” and “Customer Focus,” and serves as the foundation of its operations. This presentation stresses the concept that in order for an organization to function at its highest capacity, it needs a guiding force in its leadership. Transportation professionals can use VETC to motivate their employees to a new level of customer service. The results will be superior customer satisfaction and being the vendor of choice.

Experiences in Blending Chemicals for Anti & Deicing Use
Speakers: Mark DeVries, McHenry County Highway Department, Woodstock, IL; Bret Hodne, West Des Moines, IA; Michael Silvestri, City of Lake Forest, IL; Robert Miller, Algonquin Township, IL; John Thorpe, Ohio Department of Transportation, Akron, OH
Chemical blending is an emerging tool in the winter arsenal for combating snow and ice events. Arm yourself with information from the panel of experts. They will cover critical issues such as program implementation, costs, equipment, and field operator input, as well as some challenges and successes they’ve encountered.

Education Sessions

Taming the Slippery Slope: Mountain Liquid Anti-Icing
Speaker: Lynn Bernhard, Utah Department of Transportation, Salt Lake City, UT
The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has a formidable foe in a stretch of I-80 that consists of extended steep grades, curves, shady spots, commuters, heavy truck traffic, and the “greatest snow on Earth.” In order to keep traffic flowing smoothly on I-80 and other mountain canyons, operators have devised some sound liquid anti-icing strategies, including employee-developed brine making systems. UDOT will give an overview of its operations. Find out if they will work in your hometown.

How to Choose a Chemical Deicer
Speaker: Wilfrid Nixon, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Do you freeze at the thought of having to choose a chemical deicer? You’re not alone. Attend this session to learn about the basics of chemical deicer selection. Follow a foolproof process to determine which formulation will be best suited for your agency. While this session will not recommend specific products, you’ll leave better equipped to make the right choices based on your community’s roadways and weather conditions.

A “F.A.S.T.” and Cost-Effective Solution
Speaker: Brad Estochen, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Roseville, MN
The Mn/DOT Metro District has evaluated and implemented Fixed Anti-Icing Spray Technology (F.A.S.T.), also known as Stationary Anti-Icing Systems, for snow and ice control. In order to manage costs and plan for funding and budgeting, the agency developed criteria for a ranking system to prioritize locations for installation within the I-35W - TH 62 Crosstown project. Learn how to perform a ranking analysis of potential locations for Stationary Anti-Icing Systems within a single project or within a city, county, district or region. There will also be a discussion about how to evaluate systems from different vendors.

Snowfighting in the Pacific Northwest
Speaker: Tim Martin, City of Coeur D’Alene, ID
There are so many varieties of challenges facing the Pacific Northwest, from annexations and population exploding overnight, to 4,000 feet elevation changes in snow plow routes, to ice storms. Find out how our neighbors in the Pacific Northwest have taken on these challenges and what did or did not work for them.

Simulator Training: Put Yourself in the Driver’s Seat!
Speakers: Dennis Burkheimer, Iowa Department of Transportation, Ames, IA; Brian Miller, Iowa Department of Transportation, Independence, IA
In 2005, the Iowa DOT purchased a snowplow driving simulator to train its 1,200+ operators. Find out more about the functionality and features of the snowplow driving simulator and how the Iowa DOT uses it to supplement operator training. You’ll also learn the results of an Iowa State University study on the effectiveness of this type of training methodology. The Iowa DOT snowplow driving simulator will be available on the exhibit floor. Don’t miss this really “cool” opportunity to check it out!

Education Sessions

Voice Messaging and GIS: Powerful Outreach!
Speaker: Mike Kennedy, City of Minneapolis, MN
Recognize the potential that modern automated voice messaging and GIS systems can provide in notifying your community about snow emergencies, and more! Once thought of only as an emergency tool, outbound dialing combined with GIS can alert citizens about street sweeping, road closures, storm clean up responses, you name it. See how one public works department has used the power of these technologies to reach out to their community.

Know Snow in Arizona
Speaker: Joel Miller, Arizona Department of Transportation, Globe, AZ
Arizona’s climatology ranges from dry and arid to conifer forests and wetlands. Elevations extend from less than 1500 feet to more than 9000 feet within a span of 75 miles. These extremes pose major challenges in planning a snow and ice program, particularly when the same equipment is used on all roadway conditions. Learn tips and techniques for combining chemical formulations and simulator training and how to work best with nature’s best snow fighting defense—the sun.

Advanced Anti-Icing – Taking it to the Next Level!
Speaker: Mark DeVries, McHenry County Highway Department, Woodstock, IL; Andrew Kubista, Minnesota Department of Transportation, St. Paul, MN
You’ve been doing anti-icing for a few winters now, but it seems like you are not seeing all the benefits you had hoped for. There are a few issues you would like to resolve and enhance. Come to this session and hear about agencies that have been constantly building and improving their anti-icing efforts. You will be sure to leave with ideas to try in your own agency.

By the Book: Developing a Winter Weather Operations Manual
Speaker: Dave Bergner, City of Overland Park, KS
How well organized are your agency’s winter weather operations policies and procedures? If you need a little help getting everything under control, then this session is for you. An agency will share its first-hand experience of going from cluttered to coordinated by developing an outline for a comprehensive operations manual—then filling in the gaps in the content. You’ll learn useful techniques for writing detailed plans, policies, procedures, and practices for winter weather operations and how to disseminate and communicate the information.

The Five Steps of Customer-Driven Benchmarking
Speaker: Gary Niemi, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Baxter, MN
The premise is simple—increase customer satisfaction while driving down operating costs. How is this accomplished? Through customer-driven benchmarking—a process used to identify, assess, and implement best practices that have been shown to provide the highest levels of customer-oriented outcomes relative to the services used. Sound complicated? In this session, you will learn the five steps to successfully implement this system in your agency. The end result will motivate you to continually improve performance, learn from the successes of others and avoid repeating mistakes of the past.

Education Sessions

They Hold More Than a Grain of Salt
Speakers: Norm Ashfeld, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Roseville, MN; Thomas Scaramuzzo, City of St. Paul, MN
Salt storage facilities are an imperative component of every agency’s ice control program. Increasing amounts of traffic and skyrocketing public expectations for service delivery have resulted in salt sheds growing to the size of airplane hangars. Join us for a photo tour of Minnesota’s salt storage structures that feature a variety of designs at different locations, and take home some salt supply management ideas.

So, I Can’t Just Blame the Weatherman? (Forecasting Solutions)
Speaker: Jon Tarleton, Quixote Transportation Technologies, St. Louis, MO
With so many outlets available for forecasting information, why do you still need to do your own forecasting? This session will outline the specific benefit a private weather service can provide over generic forecasts that you can get from television and the Internet. Learn how to identify the most reliable sources of weather information, determine what forecast information is the most important to the particular situation, and formulate the right questions to ask weather service providers.

Training Partnerships: A Sure Cure for the Wintertime Blues
Speaker: Don Lint and Glenn Longworth, City of Norfolk, VA
Don’t let lack of training and preparation get the best of your employees. If your agency has limited resources, consider partnering with your State DOT to help fill in the gaps. The focus of this presentation is on a DOT’s Snow Removal Operations Training program that is being used by local jurisdictions to enhance their snow and ice-fighting programs. This session will also include discussion of one such partnership that is working successfully.

Why You Need a Maintenance Decision Support System
Speaker: Curt Pape, Minnesota Department of Transportation, St. Paul, MN
One of the latest innovations in winter maintenance, the Maintenance Decision Support System, can help you pave the way to higher efficiency. The system processes input from a variety of sources (forecast conditions, desired level of service, equipment, personnel, cost, etc.) to recommend treatment responses. Learn how decision support can impact budgets, safety, and chemical use and what you need to do to take full advantage of these capabilities.

Welcome to the Freak Snow – Snow Storm that is!
Speakers: Mike Lashmet, New York Department of Transportation, Albany, NY; Steve Meyer, City of Springfield, MO; Larry Schneider, City of Fort Collins, CO
From 24 inches of snow in 24 hours, to hundreds of thousands of citizens without power, to flooding from snow melt, this panel of professionals has seen it all…and then some. Hear about how these agencies across the U.S. dealt with this past winter’s “freak” snow events. Find out how they cleaned up, and the lessons they learned.

Closing General Session

Woods & Water, Snow & Ice: Experiences of a Legendary Outdoorsman
Speaker: Babe Winkelman

Click here for a description of Babe Winkelman's presentation.

Gangster Buffet & Cabaret!

Click here for a description of this event. Included in full and guest/spouse registration categories only. Additional tickets are $50 each.