The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), which is published by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), provides the standards, guidance, and options used by state and local government agencies nationwide to design, install, operate, and maintain traffic control devices on all public streets, highways, bikeways, and private roads open to public traffic.

This session will familiarize you with the format, applicability and compliance aspects of the significant revisions to the MUTCD that have been incorporated into the 2009 Edition. The program will address the nine parts of the Manual and the significant changes in each.

The participants in this seminar will become familiar with the revised format of the new MUTCD, learn about the most significant revisions to the standards, guidance, and options included in the MUTCD for all traffic control devices including signs, pavement markings, traffic control signals and more.

Participants will have an opportunity to ask the presenters about the changes and why they were made.

After viewing this program participants will be better able to:

• Conceptualize the significant changes in the 2009 MUTCD
• Explain why these changes were made
• Determine when these changes need to be made in the field

Improvement Projects

Today, we are in a period of our nation's history that has a drastic need for an upgrade, expansion, and rehabilitation of our roadways and infrastructures. In order to undertake the necessary tasks so these are sustainable for future generations, project coordination utilizing new technology, along with tried and true practices of working together, often in limited rights-of-way (ROW), must be undertaken.

As part of the preservation and sustainability of underground space in the ROW, there is a need for developing and maintaining a comprehensive knowledge of where utility lines are located and protecting or methodically relocating them for proposed maintenance and improvements. Some states in the USA and many more internationally have experimented with consortium mapping concepts that involve developing repositories for all utility data within a defined geographic region.

This program will discuss coordinating utilities using current methods as well as new research under way to develop new technologies to leverage recent advancements in data management and visualization, and communication. An overview of the technologies will be presented along with a discussion of the administrative, security and financial considerations that may result from their use. The presentation will address both project design and excavation damage prevention perspectives.

While the element of sustainability must be addressed in design stage work, it is critical that it is considered for already existing utilities in ROW.

This program will:

• Introduce the participants to the concept of Utility Coordination during project design;
• Describe the process of Utility Coordination during project design; and,
• Enumerate the benefits of using and pitfalls of not using, Utility Coordination during project design.
• Introduce the participants to new technologies being developed to enhance Utility Coordination.After viewing this program, participants will be better able to:
• Illustrate the benefits of utility coordination
• Evaluate the advantages of utilizing new technology
• Establish best practices for improved project planning

Opinions differ between agencies if it is more prudent to do planned asphalt pavement preservation or to react to crisis situations resulting from poorly constructed or poorly maintained roadways. This program presents information about the importance and value of developing preservation maintenance strategies for asphalt.

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:

• Identify proven asphalt treatment strategies.
• Prepare a strategy to convince elected officials and the public of the long-term financial gain to using preservation strategies.
• Recognize different strategy applications from case study examples

How would you begin if you were asked to determine your agency's carbon footprint? Are you looking for ways to improve sustainability and reduce greenhouse gas production?

This program presents an overview of the tools available to calculate carbon footprint, an explanation of trading carbon credits, and discussion of pending governmental regulations regarding emission of greenhouse gases. Practical examples of methods used to calculate carbon emissions will be included as well as tried-and-true methods to reduce your agency's energy use and greenhouse gas production. You'll come away with valuable information on identifying which carbon footprint reduction alternatives fit the needs of your agency.

After viewing this program, you will better be able to:

• Describe the meaning of the term "carbon footprint" and how accepted protocols are used to calculate greenhouse gas emissions
• Understand the tools available to calculate carbon footprint
• Identify which carbon footprint reduction alternatives may be applicable to their needs

Retroreflectivity is a measure of a sign's ability to be read by sensitive driving populations during nighttime and other non-optimal conditions.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) enacted changes to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) that require new retroreflectivity maintenance standards for signs. By January 2012, local jurisdictions must establish and implement a sign assessment or management method and all regulatory, warning, and ground mounted signs must be in compliance by January 2015.

Local and state governments must begin preparing for compliance within their jurisdictions.

Developing a plan for compliance begins with an understanding that retroreflectivity (where light is reflected directly back to the source) is not the same thing as reflectivity (where light bounces off at an angle, as in a mirror) and this webinar will by demystifying this cumbersome word. Nighttime visibility challenges will also be examined.

Will both legitimate and illegitimate civil cases be brought against local governments when someone has an accident and could this expose those agencies to considerable judgments? Based on past experience, this seems very likely.

Hence, a local government should establish policies, procedures, and documentation of effective implementation that will provide an affirmative defense, should it be needed.

This program will help you understand the requirements, legal implications and importance of having a plan.

After viewing this program, participants will be better able to:

• Explain the difference between retroreflectivity and reflectivity
• Discuss the origins and reasons for the new retroreflectivity standards in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
• Facilitate planning processes within their agencies that will result in effective policies and procedures for compliance with the new MUTCD retroreflectivity standards

Every public works agency is responsible for facilities and activities that require special measures to prevent pollutant runoff into storm sewer systems and local waterways such as: equipment storage and maintenance yards, parking lots, landscape and park maintenance activities, salt storage and snow removal, fueling operations, etc.

This program examines "Good Housekeeping" practices implemented by public works agencies to control runoff both at the source and through materials management.

Topics include:

• runoff control plans
• operational practices for spill prevention control
• employee training tools
• structural measures for storm drainage
• floatable control

Various types of porous/pervious pavements have been in use for some time, but how are they performing? This program features case studies from agencies that have been maintaining and monitoring porous asphalt, pervious cement, and interlocking paver systems and the pros and cons of their performance.

Topics covered include:

maintenance issues relating to different climatic conditions, maintenance costs, aesthetic considerations, quality control, and mixed design issues.

At the conclusion of this program, learners will be better able to:

(1) identify the various types of permeable pavement systems

(2) evaluate how each system performs under various climatic conditions

(3) determine maintenance options to promote better porous/pervious pavement performance.

Public works employees must maintain their performance so that it results in public trust and confidence. Obtaining that trust filters into both official conduct and personal affairs. Find out how to balance this relationship and "give off the impression" that you have forged an ideal set of ethics for both yourself and your organization.

Ethics are personal - how will you evaluate those grey areas? How do you make good decisions when there are no good choices?

Participants, at the end of the program, will be able to:

• Identify their ethical line and the importance of thinking through scenarios and being prepared to act ethically
• Walk the talk with behaviors saying more about ethics than words. Seemingly small actions can have big and long-lasting consequences.
• Represent yourself, your organization, your family and your profession understanding why ethical behavior is so important in today's climate of mistrust of government and sensationalistic media.

Project Civic Access is a Department of Justice project to audit a municipality's compliance with the Americans with Disability Act (ADA).

The project now includes 185 settlement agreements with 171 localities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Compliance review sites were chosen based upon the Department's desire to visit every state, the population of the site, and, in some cases, its proximity to a university or tourist attraction. The majority of the compliance reviews occurred in small cities and towns, because they represent the most common form of local government.

These reviews are ongoing. Many of the original sites where selected based on a compliant, but a complaint is not necessary for the DOJ to initiate the audit.

This program will help you understand what to expect if your municipality is selected for a review. Representatives from the Department of Justice will provide an overview of the program and explain the goals of Project Civic Access.

This will be followed by a firsthand account of one municipality's experience with the compliance review.

After viewing this program participants will be better able to:

• Anticipate what to expect
• Conceptualize how to prepare
• Construct a plan and response