Planning Today for Tomorrow’s Maintenance

1. Planning Today for Tomorrow’s Maintenance ACEC Conference March 5, 2012 Trudy Elsner P.E., Metro Maintenance, Engineering Services Sheila Johnson P.E., Metro Maintenance, Traffic Services

2. A flexible plan is essential.

3. Plan ahead and strive to minimize …material costs …equipment …labor …impact to traffic and exposure of our employees to perform maintenance in the future

4. Snow & Ice

5. Snow and Ice Requests: • Provide 10’ or more for snow storage on roadways and bridges. Keep noise walls more than 10’ from roadway. Balance distance from frontage roads. • Always look for possible snow storage locations • Consider drainage pattern for area of snowmelt/re-freeze • Design mountable curb at snow storage locations. • Keep structures (hand holes, signs, etc.) as far from driving surface as possible to help with our winging operations-10’ from shoulder PI.

6. Projects can… • Improve the road surface – less patching

7. Repair erosion – improve drainage

8. Bring assets up to new standards • Provide infrastructure improvements that reduce the near-term maintenance efforts

10. They can also add… • Lane Miles increasing overall maintenance – snow removal, striping, sweeping, patching, etc. • Square Footage to structures increasing inspection, preventive and reactive maintenance costs • Non-standard items such as bridge rail or fencing

11. Competing Priorities • Bridge at 35W and County Rd E2 • Minimize structure size vs. Maximize clear zone

12. Hastings Bridge Project • Benefit from full evaluation of shoulder width t

13. Crosstown Improvements 62 and 35W • Provide access for future maintenance of all drainage infrastructure • Cayuga Project • Snow Storage Considerations

14. Temporary Traffic Control • Minimal/No shoulder forces maintenance into traffic lanes

15. Pavement Markings • Metro District restripes 2,300 line miles annually with latex and HPS4 • Consider pavement joint location and effect on pavement markings • Groove edge lines into concrete pavement • Fog seal bituminous shoulder prior to grooving edge lines and rumbles prior to striping

16. Pavement Messages • Four crews dedicated to Metro District have refreshed up to 150,000 sq. ft. annually • Prefer bike lanes over sharrows because the markings are removed from the wheel path

17. Signs • Over 100,000 signs on trunk highways in Metro District • Sign densities on Metro’s trunk highways are 34 to 133 signs/mile • Repair over 7,000 signs annually • Install gore area signs and other frequently hit locations on slip bases • Consider installing signs on retaining walls to minimize obstacles for snow and ice removal

18. Graffiti Removal • Addressed 362 tags over the past year • Standard practice is to paint over the graffiti • Paint colors are matched to original construction specifications but structure color changes due to wear and exposure • Exposed aggregate or stone facing require soda blasting, chemical or power washing • Consider anti-graffiti film for signs in higher risk locations

19. Summary: • Start with the end in mind. • Look for ways to minimize the impact to traffic. • Evaluate lifecycle costs, the lowest initial cost may not be the best value. • Be open to alternatives, they may prove beneficial in more than one way.

20. Contact Information Questions? Engineering Services-Trudy Elsner 651-234-7924 Trudy.elsner@state.mn.us Traffic Services-Sheila Johnson 651-234-7935 Sheila.m.johnson@state.mn.us