Don't  miss out on this year's Road-E-O, to be held adjacent to the Baltimore Raven's stadium! Public works agencies from around the region have been conducting their local competitions in preparation for this year's event. Come cheer on your local public works practitioners as they show off their talents with the judged contests.

Access the Chapter's Road-E-O website for registration!

In the Public Works Waste Management Recycling Bureau, there has been a flurry of activity and progress toward making Virginia Beach an even more beautiful city. With the collaboration of multiple city departments, the Recycling Bureau collected facts on valuable resources that members have been collecting to reduce waste and recycle effectively. 

Recently, the Virginia Beach recycling program garnered a national MarCom

The award-winning City of Virginia Beach Landfill and Resource Recovery Center collects electronics and a number of other items for recycling to encourage waste minimization.

Award for professional communications for work on the rebranding of the City Landfill and Resource Recovery Center. NewsChannel 3 covered the award with a week of pre-promotes and a very positive story. This was followed by participation in the annual national Keep America Beautiful (KAB) conference in Washington, D.C. Soon after, a presentation was made to the 1st Precinct's Citizens Advisory Committee to promote the proper disposal of recycling and debris including plastic bags. The Recycling Bureau's news release sent on February 3 drew attention by NewsChannel 3 resulting in another favorable story about waste minimization.

With spring on the horizon, there will be more presentations to youth and adults, promotion about not putting dirt in trash carts, collaboration with Parks and Recreation on the KAB Litter Index and Great American Cleanup, participation in Earth Day, and more!

For more information on the City of Virginia Beach's Waste Management Services, visit www.VBgov.com/wastemgt  For details on the Virginia Beach Landfill and Resource Recovery Center, visit www.VBgov.com/landfill.

Linda S. Minner, Recycling Bureau Manager, is accredited in Public Relations by the Public Relations Society of America, a Certified Dale Carnegie Trainer, and a member of the Public Works Department Waste Management Division. A native of Hampton Roads, her career in media and communications spans more than 25 years including work as a Sister Cities Association of Virginia Beach Board Member. She is a graduate of Virginia Wesleyan College pursuing a Master of Divinity degree from Regent University in Virginia Beach.

The Diversity of Inclusion

 "Create inclusion - with simple mindfulness, that others may have a different reality than yours" ~Patti Digh

What does diversity look like in your workplace?  If asked the question "Does your workplace embrace diversity, and if so how do you know?" More than likely it would be a "yes", followed by "just look around", but what if the next question were, "How can you be so sure if you've never asked those in your workplace?"

Diverse work environments should ensure opportunities that welcome new technologies, creative ideas, collaborative tasks and projects, inclusive professional growth, mentoring/coaching, fiscal responsibility and truly promote these opportunities on all levels and across a broad spectrum of the workforce.  The possibilities of where we end up when diversity is intentional will always be greater than the roads traveled in the past.

So what does Diversity look like in your workplace?  Email your responses to [email protected] and stay tuned for the next newsletter issue where those responses will be shared.

Sherry Wright is the Administrative Coordinator for the Department of Public Works in the City of Newport News and member of the Diversity Committee.

Prince William County's Plan for New Organic Waste Processing Facility

By Deborah K. Campbell, Communications Specialist, Prince William County Solid Waste Division

Prince William County, VA has an agreement with Freestate Farms LLC (Freestate), a local agricultural services and production company, to construct and operate a new facility to process yard waste, food scraps and wood waste at the County's Balls Ford Road composting facility, and to provide organics waste management services at that site and at the County's landfill. The Balls Ford Road facility presently uses low-tech windrows for composting, which takes 9-12 months compared to the new advanced aerobic composting process, which will take less than three months.

When fully developed, the Freestate facility will recycle over 80,000 tons per year of organic waste into high-value compost, soil products, and non-synthetic fertilizers; it will also generate baseload renewable energy and environmental attributes; and it will produce sustainable and locally-grown fresh fruits and vegetables for sale back into the community.

After completion of the new facility, scheduled for July 2017, Freestate, in conjunction with its technology partners, will perform several new operations and double the throughput capacity of the current Balls Ford Road facility.  New processes/operations include:

• Advanced Aerobic Composting of Yard Waste - A reversing aerated static pile composting system will process leaves, grass, and agricultural waste to produce high-quality nutrient-rich compost products.  Process odors will be captured and scrubbed through biofilters.
  
  
• Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste - A fully enclosed and airtight tank reactor will process food waste and other organic material (e.g., fats, oil and grease) into both high-quality nutrient rich fertilizer products and biogas (methane) for use in renewable energy applications.
  
  
• Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Production - Raw biogas produced during the anaerobic digestion process will fuel a combined heat and power generator set to provide heat and power to the Balls Ford Road facility, with surplus renewable energy available for off-site uses, potentially including transportation fuel.

• Greenhouse Operation - Freestate will construct and operate an integrated commercial-scale controlled environment agriculture greenhouse at the Balls Ford Road site to sustainably grow fresh local produce using the renewable energy, compost, and fertilizer products generated on-site.

 To Read More, Click HERE

SafetyWall ADA-Compliant Pedestrian Barricade serves here as an interlocking, pedestrian channelizer. SafetyWall features an upper surface that is smooth for hand-trailing, and a lower surface for walking canes.

The agency launched The Central Mesa Light Rail Extension construction project in July, 2012; completion is scheduled for late 2015. Cost is estimated at $200 million, with funding provided by county and federal sources. The project will add 3.1 miles of transit service through downtown Mesa.  Four stations will serve the Mesa extension, and the line will carry an estimated 5,000 passengers per day.

The project involves far more than laying a track. A new streetscape is being built along the extension to better serve drivers, pedestrians, light rail passengers and bicyclists. The project launched with the relocation of the underground utilities (water, gas and electric). Once the utilities were relocated, work began on street and sidewalk removal and replacement, track and station construction.

Though not part of the design/build plans, the City of Mesa specified that the project re-route pedestrian traffic in a safe manner. The city called for, in essence, Temporary Pedestrian Access Routes (TPAR), to replace existing pedestrian pathways. ADA-Compliant TPARs provide pedestrians with safer guidance and passage through construction.

 To Read More, Click Here...

Newport News Public Works Crews Restore a Piece of History

By Karen E. Self, MPA, Management Analyst, City of Newport News, VA Public Works

Signal before restoration

One of the unique capabilities of the pump station section of Newport

Restored Lee Hall Train Depot signal

News' Wastewater is that much of the day-to-day maintenance work, to include major and minor repairs to the mechanical and electrical systems, are primarily done

The Street Maintenance Division of the Department of Public Works helped to complete the project by pouring a structurally sound concrete base for the signal. What an excellent example of teamwork and collaboration!

The members of the project team all agreed that the opportunity to work on the project in and around their regular duties was a great way to give back to the community. For those with families, it was a chance to show their children a piece of Newport News history that they had a chance to be a part of for many more years to come.

Regenerative Stormwater Conveyance:

Existing riprap lined stormwater channel before start of project.

Numerous solutions were evaluated to reduce the discharge of sediment from the site (i.e., sediment basin modifications, use of Polyacrylamide flocculants, vegetation enhancements, etc.) by the Cecil County Department of Public Works (CCDPW).  However, these approaches were expensive to implement and could not routinely achieve the discharge standard required by MDE.  To avoid actively treating stormwater, CCDPW decided to pursue an innovative application of Regenerative Stormwater Conveyance (RSC) techniques to augment traditional E&S practices at the site. 

RSC systems are natural open channel systems made up of a series of flat, shallow step-pools that convey a large portion of surface water flow to shallow groundwater flow.  Stormwater conveyance and passive treatment is accomplished through a network of sand/mulch seepage berms, step pools, cobble weirs and cascades.  This network reduces water velocity and volume and facilitates the removal of suspended particles and associated nutrients. This innovative approach has been demonstrated with much success as a post construction stormwater facility; however, the CCDPW project is the first of its kind to use RSC techniques to treat stormwater from construction activities.

To Read More, Click Here...

Mid-Atlantic Public Works Institute Update

By Scott A. Smith, PE, LS , PWI Chair

 The Public Works Institute (PWI) Steering committee has been diligently working to develop the PWI for its inaugural launch on September 22-24, 2015. Save the date! Applications will be available in May and the program is open to all people affiliated with Public Works.

You may ask what's a PWI?The Mid-Atlantic PWI is an educational/training program designed to address the supervisory and management needs of current first-line supervisors and up, and those individuals aspiring to be better leaders and supervisors. This will be a nationally recognized program covering 11 core areas as designed by APWA.

The committee has been meeting monthly to develop the program, work out the operational details and establish quality assurance measures to ensure delivery of top quality training to our members. We are currently working to develop an instructor pool among the Chapter membership and will be making instructor applications available in the near future.

If you would like more information, or wish to volunteer to instructor or help out at the September 22-24, session please contact, [email protected]

By Pete Garner, Operations Engineering Manager for the City of Norfolk's

The City of Norfolk was blanketed with 5 to 6 inches of snow Wednesday night, February 25 into Thursday morning, February 26, 2015. This was the second storm in two weeks for Hampton Roads that required plowing, which is a rarity for this area. Snow plow operators received plowing assignments and set out to clear their morning routes. It was going to be another long day pushing snow for Terre Ebron (pictured below). Less than a mile from the Public Works Operations facility while driving along Ballentine Blvd, Terre noticed the vehicle in front of her swerving erratically before stopping on the front lawn of a nearby residence. It appeared that the young woman driving was being attacked by a male passenger wielding a knife. Ms. Ebron parked near the vehicle, at which time the young woman escaped and sought shelter underneath the plow truck.The assailant followed the young woman continuing to strike her with the knife.  Immediately Ms. Ebron used the truck radio to contact the Operations front office, frantically requesting assistance. With quick wit and a brave countenance, Terre also yelled at the assailant to stop the attack advising that police were on the way. The attacker fled the scene shortly thereafter and Ms. Ebron, with the help of others also witnessing the scene, rendered assistance to the victim until medical and police support arrived. Ms. Ebron's willingness to assist beyond the call of duty possibly saved the young woman's life, and is yet another example of the heroic spirit of employees who make up the City of Norfolk's Department of Public Works.

Do you recognize this Baltimore attraction?

Plan to join us in Baltimore, May 6-8, for the Chapter's annual conference. The annual Public Works Road-E-O, Wednesday opening reception, conference hotel, Thursday night social, equipment show and technical sessions are set. Special thanks to the hard efforts by the 2015 Chapter Conference Committee. Technical sessions and equipment show will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center. For conference information visit our website, or email: [email protected]

For area attractions, access Visit Baltimore's website Here