This session will detail how the City of Farmington Hills planned, budgeted & built a state-of-the-art brine production facility, including liquid storage & distribution system. This facility is used to produce, store and distribute on-demand blending of anti-icing liquids. It also provides secondary containment for the liquid storage and has an easy access salt storage bin. It was constructed of materials to help with the longevity of the structure in such a corrosive environment and is used during the summer for storage and distribution of dust control liquid for gravel road maintenance.

If your agency is considering a new facility, then this is a session you will want to attend.

Winter maintenance managers have to make many decisions about the weather. This session makes it simple, focusing only on what matters, and provides you with a path toward using these tools. Discussion focuses on the road weather parameters, and how to measure them effectively. Starting with only your eyes and simple tools, the session goes through the different reasons why using the correct tool is so important. Some tools are new, such as the detection of friction, while others are older like air temperature and dew point. When completed you will have a better understanding of the weather and how you can become more efficient.

Learn the nuts and bolts of how to orchestrate and host a successful Roadeo.

Regional, state and national Snow Equipment Roadeos are becoming a popular way for public works staff to network, train and compete. Roadeos are great for improving essential training while offering bragging rights to the elite operators and professionals in your target area.

Hear from representatives of three top-level rodeo events, Loveland Colorado Western Snow Conference, Iowa Snow Plow Roadeo and KC Metro Snow and Equipment Expo; explain the steps to planning and presenting a meaningful program. They will discuss lessons learned, what to avoid and what to target in the beginning. There will be ample discussion time for you to voice concerns and present questions of people that have served on highly successful Roadeo Boards.

Join the Center for Sustainability (C4S) for a roundtable discussion on the challenges, solutions and resources that can help communities develop a comprehensive sustainability plan for winter road maintenance including materials management and how to best utilize technology and training.

Public works departments of various sizes from different regions will compare their approaches to winter road maintenance technology, training, salt management and alternatives to salt.

Discussion topics include:

• Best practices for winter maintenance planning and operations
• Chemical usage and selection
• Environmental impacts of winter maintenance practices
• GPS/AVL uses and
• Effective operator training programs

Members of the Fleet Services Committee will address the top ten most common and critical performance measures to a fleet manager's success:

• Developing Fleet Charge-Back Rates
• Conducting Preventative Maintenance
• Tracking Fleet Availability and Downtime
• Measuring Technician Time
• Determining Cost Per Meter (CM)
• Setting Repair Hours Number and Cost
• Monitoring Scheduled Repair Rates
• Tracking Annual Parts Inventory Turns
• Assessing the Parts Demand Fill Rate
• Achieving Customer Satisfaction

Join the discussion to see how your fleet compares.

Come join this forum of seasoned snow professionals from around the continent as they discuss their failures and challenges and learn how they were solved in both the short and the long term.

Topics will include equipment, liquids, personnel, and operations. This is a great opportunity to pose questions and get help with your agency's challenges.

Every year, around 20% of all crashes, injuries and fatalities on the roadway are weather related and over 30 billion vehicle hours are lost due to weather-related congestion at a cost of $2-$3 billion dollars to trucking companies. State, provincial and local agencies are meeting these challenges in new ways by utilizing customized weather observations and forecasts to minimize the impact of snow and ice on the road network.

Alberta Transportation has installed over 100 road weather stations throughout the province to collect accurate, timely weather data to provide intelligence on road weather conditions, making this network one of the largest in North America. Emerging mobile observation technology now enables similar sensors to be installed directly on Alberta Transportation vehicles, which was utilized for the 2015-2016 season.

This session provides a comparison of the mobile sensors with Alberta Transportation's existing sensor network, an analysis and review of Alberta Transportation's use of this mobile technology, an overview of experience gained and lessons learned as well as an outlook of the potential future uses of the mobile weather sensor data.

The mission of the National Weather Service is, "the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy". In order to meet this mission, the NWS focuses on four main areas related to weather; forecasting, observing, analyzing and communication.

Many products produced by NWS are very beneficial to public works operations. In this session, you will learn what NWS products are available to public works departments and how the information can help in your decision-making, specifically in winter weather events.

The Winter Maintenance Assessment Tool (WMAt) is a new and free online tool to help you assess your winter maintenance operations. It was developed as a part of the Minnesota Chloride Management Plan. This session will show you where to find it, how to create an account and how to use it.