Transportation Association of Canada

Maintenance and Construction Standing Committee ____________________________________________________________________________________

Meeting Minutes Spring 2014, Ottawa, ON

1. 9:00 AM Opening Remarks and Introductions (Chair)

2. 9:15 – 9:45 AM: Regular Business

2.1. Introduce Executive Members 2.2. Review Minutes from Fall 2013 meeting in Winnipeg

No issues or comments 2.3. Messages from Chief Engineers Council

TAC secretariat – Winnipeg conference well attended

Excited about Montreal – double number of sessions – approximately 300 speakers, 1400 delegates expected.

All presentations to be recorded in Montreal.

Talk of a joint round about subcommittee – TOMS, road safety, geometric design…active transportation. MCSC would be interested in having involvement. Spans couple different councils.

2014 – Montreal - Westin

2015 – Charlottetown, PEI

2016 – Toronto, ON

2017 – Saint Johns, NB

Discussion regarding TAC publications – should the publications be free?

Copy right laws dictate fee. Provinces pay, should be free for members. Third party company publishes documents (free electronic copies, pay for hard copies).

If want people to use documents/specifications should be free electronically. 2.4. Montreal Fall Conference MCSC Sessions and Submissions (Len Frass)

Forty-six papers submitted

23 accepted

Six sessions o History o Innovation o Construction x 2 o Maintenance

o Low Volume Roads Session Chairs

Robert Shamess

Mike Knight

Larry Halayco - Construction

David Cogswell -

Jason MacNeil

Hector Moreno - Innovation

3. 9:45 – 11:15 AM: Reports From Subcommittees and Others 3.1. Public Utilities Management Subcommittee (Steve Murphy)

Good attendance

Elected new co-chair

Updated utility guideline

Reviewed natl utility relocation flow chart manual

Round table – invite utility companies to the sub committee

Reviewed papers for Montreal

Reviewed T of C for connection to flow chart – referenced Minnesota

Canvassed volunteers to review sections of the guideline

Issues across the nation are similar

Next steps – finalize flow chart and complete 1st draft of manual for Fall conference (Montreal), want to commission a third party to review the manual for content.

3.2. Summer – Winter Maintenance Subcommittee (Heather McClintock)

Meeting Thursday – greater than 20 people attended

AB paid for teleconference – nobody called in

EC updated on national targets, guide and SVA’s

Round Table – extremely hard winter, increased salt usage nationally, pot holes have increased

Cycling interest expanding

RWIS usage increasing

Snow Plow Lighting project review in ON

MDSS – AMEC presented on their system, can compare historical salt usage to present salt usage

AB – have high usage, mostly for confirmation of treatment

MTQ – updated on winter practices

U of Waterloo – real time image capture of road conditions, MTO has expanded on this that feeds info to the 511 network instead of operator calling in conditions

Recommended Projects – drop winter severity index – taking too long and agencies have moved forward

Guardrail guiderail project –

Finding projects taking too long to get funding and agencies are moving forward and completing projects themselves (pooled funds).

Committee volunteers – finding 6 year commitment is too long, need more flexibility. Committee and subcommittee have flexibility to determine their executive.

Heather McClintock to talk to Katherine Perez to determine a better time for the subcommittee.

TAC looking into the pooled fund process. Suggestion that agencies donate to pooled funds at end of fiscal year if have surplus funds.

CEC considering that organizations donate certain amount annually and then a council determines which projects get funded.

3.3. Construction Subcommittee (Larry Halayko)

Chair – unsure if current chair can continue

National guidelines for workzone safety – waiting for funding

MSE Walls

Surveys – sharepoint site for agencies to share information for surveys.

NB sharing dispute resolution process

Timely completion of projects a general concern – SK survey

Knowledgeable owner – all agencies trying to retain some level of knowledge.

Break 10:15 to 10:30

3.4. Environmental Council (Don Snider)

See attached document. 3.5. Asset Management Task Force

SAMBP (Synthesis of Asset Management Best Practices) – focus on roads and bridges with secondary emphasis on secondary assets.

Survey of AM practices across Canada

Cross Asset Optimization and trade off analysis

National survey to be conducted.

ARA successful bidder for SAMBP contract

Fall Conference – 2 sessions on Tuesday am and Tuesday pm.

Jointly sponsoring panel discussion with Climate change Task Force

Joint session with Pavement Standing Committee

Comments from PADMG course indicated need for more advanced training in AM

Round Table – issues and challenges across Canada

Discussed safety integration into asset management

Consistency in AM plans, data collection, stds

Haas & Cowe Falls – Presented Education and Evolution on AM in Canada

New Secretary appointed.

Highest attendance at 2014 Spring Meeting (28 attendees). 3.6. Climate Change Task Force

Mandate ends April 2014, going to council requesting 2 year extension. Mandate is to raise awareness.

4. 11:15 – 12:00 noon: Round Table Discussion 4.1. Issues, Advances and Innovations Across Canada

City of Toronto

Significant construction to complete this summer ($250M) in preparation for Pan Am games.

$60 M work for sewer and water

$30 M for traffic management projects

Hard winter – lots of potholes this spring (131,000 to 160,000) compared to previous year (60000). Average budget is $3M to $4M per year, council providing additional funding to deal with potholes.

Challenge will be delivering projects.

Engaged external consultant to survey internal staff about morale. Approximately 78% were satisfied with serving the public. Opportunities were in the area of communication and engagement.

New GM has visited all yards and has conducted follow up meetings. Was very appreciated by staff.

York Region

Construction of bus rapid transit (metro links project). Building bus dedicated lanes in city. Some challenges with utilities and managing expectations. Maintenance of corridors after projects will present some new challenges.

Hatch

Waterloo Region – numerous projects – heavy transit and buses. Newfoundland

Tough winter – extreme snow events, Salt Mgt has been key

Problem with Moose vehicle accidents. Installed large animal sensors and fences. Has not been successful. Moose not native to the island. Class action law suits from survivors and families of non survivors.

Ontario

Interesting winter, salt domes have collapsed due to snow loading.

Minister promoting cycling provincially, Ontario biking manual developed.

Snow Plow lighting study.

Only province in Canada where Trans Canada is not twinned

Becoming more multimodal (beyond hwys)

Cycling coordinated through MTO

Potential election

Focus will be on bridges (50 to 60 yrs) - end of useful service life Alberta

Budget trends – maintenance steady (lost inflation), rehab budgets have been reduced. Government borrowing to keep budgets near historical numbers.

Going through an organizational renewal review. Struggling with multi modal transportation and what that means.

Undertaking Flood recovery from previous fiscal year.

Is the infrastructure suitable for future events?

Two large PPP projects around Calgary, tight timelines and deadlines New Brunswick

Province gave $25M to CN to upgrade a section of rail.

Election coming in September 2014

No funding increases

Tough winter and have been tasked with reducing costs. Expecting a 5% increase to winter expenditures.

Dispute resolution process is being revised.

Summer and Winter Maintenance operating reports for all areas (Fleet, Mtce, Construction, Pavement Marking, etc).

Saskatchewan

Timely contract completion – why not completed on time

Regina Bypass PPP project

Issue with contractor capacity

Professional services procurement processes has been revised

$25K – 3 quotes

$25K to $75K – short form tender City of Winnipeg

Coldest winter on record

Wind days have increased – made winter maintenance challenging.

Budget $26M – expended $41M

Frost down to 8 feet – normal is approximately 5 feet.

Fall election

Flooding not a concern at this time

Potholes have increased.

Rehabs falling behind, inventory increasing due to development, no increase to budget

Manitoba

Raised PST 1% for core infrastructure

$460M budget for 2014 – challenge to deliver

$50M cost share program with municipalities (50/50) – adding to work

Oil growing in southeast – negotiating upgrading cost with oil companies

Rewriting traffic control manual due to fatality

Increase in 2014-15 budget, new preservation maintenance guideline, winter LoS reviewed, equipment utilization, public education increased through 511 website, moving into RWIS and cameras, 511 site has been very popular

Transport Canada

Changing requirement for audits – reducing the requirement

New Building Canada Plan – through infrastructure Canada, 10 year project, online information, application regulations regarding qualified projects.

NWT

Struggling with planning and delivery of projects on capital side

Short construction season introduces challenges

Retention is a challenge

Low number of contractors contributes to cost

Started Inuvik Hwy - $300M project. Clifton

Flood work in Calgary

3 tenders closed with no bidders – due to no rip rap available

Mobile mapping – used truck mounted unit, completed in an afternoon, large amount of data, was a positive experience.

Calgary

Infrastructure is in good shape

Rip rap on river banks

Budgets – asked to reduce maintenance budget for this fiscal year.

12:00 Noon - 1:00 PM: Lunch Break 5. 1:00 – 1:45 Presentations

5.1. Electronic Tendering including Bonding (Presentation, Q&A and Discussion)

Refer to attached presentation.

Adds efficiency and effectiveness of tendering process.

Leads to competitive bidding.

5.2. City of Toronto – Summary of Winter Services Review

Refer to attached presentation

6. 1:45 - 2:30 Project Activity Report and Updates 6.1. Snow Plow Lighting Review (Joint with Traffic Operations and Management SC)

Meeting attended by SWMSC members only.

Develop national guideline and possibly move to a standard for snow plow lighting on back of truck.

AB and Toronto have contracts coming up for renewal

ON moving forward with standard development this summer

Review MTO work – field review, analysis, human factors

Intent is to present to CEC September 2014

Requesting MCSC present to CEC to move forward for the light package and signing only, does not include human factors and education mechanics.

MOTION – Working group of SWMSC proposing to go forward and develop a national guideline for lighting on back of snow plow trucks.

o Unanimous decision 6.2. Guidelines for Underground Utility Installations Crossing Highway ROW

Reviewed National Utility Relocation Coordination FLOW CHART

Reviewed National Utility Relocation Coordination TABLE OF CONTENTS

Determined action plan. 6.3. National Guidelines for Work Zone Safety in Canada (Road Safety SC)

Waiting for funding to start project.

Road Safety Standing Committee leading the project

MCSC would like to have someone involved in the project.

6.4. Winter Severity Index

Brought forward by Quebec.

Insufficient funding received by TAC

Quebec completed study internally and recommends removal of project from list.

MOTION - Remove the Winter Severity Index from the TAC project list.

o Unanimous

7. 2:30 – 2:45 BREAK 8. 2:45 – 3:15

8.1 Future Directions for MCSC 8.1.1. Emerging Issues and Initiatives/Priorities/Projects

Guide Rail Best Practices – volunteer committee due to difficulty getting funding

Active Transportation – seems to be gaining momentum

Social Media, information management, information sharing (facebook, twitter, etc)

Agencies are providing more information today than they have historically

Concern is when you start you cannot stop

More information you can provide to public – likely receive less complaints (enabled society)

Have to be cautious regarding what is promised and then expected

Service Levels, best practices – Jim Berezowsky and (Nova Scotia representative) will develop and circulate a survey and provide results at the 2014 Fall meeting.

Knowledge retention and succession planning

Innovation – adaptation of new technologies

Timely completion of federally funded projects – government becoming less tolerant of projects not completed on time. Provinces and municipalities underestimate what they can accomplish. Transport Cananda has many projects that are not completed and have additional funding.

9. 3:15 – 4:00 MCSC Agenda Topics /Presentations for Fall 2014 in Montreal.

Snow Plow Lighting Guideline

New Regulations for Railway Crossings

Communications Survey Lunch – Montreal Conference (TBD)