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3 City of Manchester simplifies leaf cleanup4 Steeling against inclement weather4 Useful web reading5 On the road: recycled asphalt shingles6 Spin your web: helping users navigate

your site7 New training opportunities through

Iowa LTAP

COLD, HARD DATA. That’s what the Iowalegislature has asked for in regard to theeffects of implements of husbandry—

specifically, their axle weights—on Iowa’s roadways.

The Center for Transportation Research andEducation (CTRE) has contracted with the IowaDepartment of Transportation (DOT) to providesuch data to the General Assembly by January 1,2000. CTRE will investigate the effects of graincarts and tank wagons on flexible and rigid

pavements. CTRE will also determine how flotationtires or tracks on such implements affect the distri-bution of axle weights to the roadway.

BackgroundAs the size of Iowa’s farms has increased, so have thesizes and weights of implements of husbandry. Liketractor-trailers, today’s multi-ton tractors and com-bines distribute their weight over multiple axles,minimizing their stress on roadways. Other

Implements of husbandry—Just how much do they stress Iowa’s roadways?

IMPLEMENTS . . . continued on page 2

Reports of the effects ofimplements of husbandry onIowa’s roadways vary widely.

(Top) For example, no significantwear is apparent on this section ofroadway, even though a fully-loaded, 10,000-gallon, multiple-axle tank wagon has reportedlymade more than 1,000 trips overit. (This view looks east in westernSioux County.)

(Below) On the other hand, 26repair slabs were required on this

half-mile section of roadwaybetween a feedlot and a field over

which a large, single-axle,dry manure spreader reportedlytraveled often. (This view lookseast in northern Sioux County.)

At the request of the Iowa legisla-ture, the Iowa DOT is sponsoringresearch to measure the effects on

Iowa’s roadways that can be directlyattributed to variously configured

implements of husbandry.

9 Iowa’s LTAP has new home10 Safety short: new size, reflectivity

requirements for street signs10 Tip from the field: handmade

forks do heavy lifting11 Conference calendar11 Iowa winter expo and “roadeos”

Photos courtesy of Sixth District StateRepresentative, David Johnson.

TECHNOLOGY NEWS 2 AUG–SEP 1999

The preparation of thisnewsletter was financed through theLocal Technical Assistance Program

(LTAP). LTAP is a nationwideeffort financed jointly in Iowa by

the Federal HighwayAdministration and the Iowa

Department of Transportation.The mission of Iowa’s LTAP:

To foster a safe, efficient,environmentally sound

transportation system by improvingskills and knowledge of local

transportation providers throughtraining, technical assistance, and

technology transfer, to improve thequality of life for Iowans.

Subscriptions toTECHNOLOGY NEWS are free, and

we welcome your comments,questions, and suggestions. To

subscribe, or to obtain permissionto reprint articles, contact the editor

at the address below.

Center for TransportationResearch and Education

2901 S. Loop Drive, Suite 3200 Ames, Iowa 50010-8632

Telephone: 515-294-8103 Fax: 515-294-0467

www.ctre.iastate.edu/

Tom MazeDirector

tmaze@iastate.edu

Duane SmithAssociate Director for Outreach

desmith@iastate.edu

Marcia BrinkEditor

mbrink@iastate.edu

Tom McDonaldSafety Circuit Rider

tmcdonald@iastate.edu

Sharon ProchnowProgram Coordinator

prochnow@iastate.edu

Stan RingLibrary Coordinator

stan@ctre.iastate.edu

Michele RegenoldAssistant Editor

mregenol@iastate.edu

The opinions, findings, orrecommendations expressed

here are those of theCenter for Transportation

Research and Educationand do not necessarily reflect

the views of the FederalHighway Administration or the

Iowa Department ofTransportation.

Iowa State University and theCenter for Transportation

Research and Educationprovide equal opportunities and

comply with ADA requirements inprograms and employment. Call

the Affirmative ActionOffice at 515-294-7612

to report discrimination.

Printed onRecycled Paper

implements, however, which carry extremely heavyloads on one or two axles, may quickly stress pave-ments to failure. Some single- or tandem-axleimplements carry loads well over the maximum axleweights allowed on commercial vehicles (20,000pounds/single axle, 34,000 pounds/tandem axles).These include some grain carts and manure tankwagons.

In Iowa, implements of husbandry have tradition-ally been exempt from complying with postedweight embargoes on bridges or with regulationsregarding axle-weight limitations on roadways.For the last several years state and county officialshave worked together to communicate with thelegislature, equipment manufacturers, and farmersabout the dramatic impacts of some of these imple-ments on Iowa’s roads and bridges.

This year, with House File 651, the Iowa GeneralAssembly initiated a phased program of weightrestrictions for implements of husbandry. First,effective July 1, 1999, implements of husbandrymust comply with weight restrictions posted onbridges. Second, grain carts, tank wagons, andfence-line feeders manufactured on or after July 1,2001, must be within 20 percent of commercialvehicle axle-weight restrictions to travel legally onIowa’s roadways. Finally, all grain carts, tankwagons, and fence-line feeders must comply withthese axle-weight restrictions by July 1, 2005.

The phase-in schedule for compliance with axle-weight restrictions gives equipment manufacturersand farmers time to respond to the new legislation.To help the legislature answer additional questions,HF 651 directed the Iowa DOT to conduct a studyof the possible mitigating effects of flotation tiresand tracks on the transfer of axle weights to theroadway.

The studyIdeally, such a study would involve testing loads ona variety of pavements, during all seasons, for severalyears. Such a long-term study is impossible underthe legislature’s timeline, so CTRE is conducting alimited project using field tests to validate analyticalresearch.

In pavement technology, the reference designvehicle configuration for axle loads is an18,000-pound, single-axle vehicle. Other axleconfigurations are expressed in terms of equalpavement wear, or “equivalent single-axle loads”

(ESALs). Axle weight alone does not determinepavement wear; the configuration of the load(contact area or “footprint,” tire pressure, suspen-sion, and wheel spacing), as well as temperature,contributes decisively to ESALs.

For this study, basic modeling software will be usedto analyze the response of given pavements (rigidand flexible, thick and thin, well supported andpoorly supported) to specified applied loads on cartsand wagons, some with and without flotation tiresand/or tracks. The model will obtain strains,deflected shape, and other information. The resultswill be used to guide the field tests described below.

The response of each pavement to each vehicle con-figuration will be compared to the response to thestandard ESAL. Conclusions will then be drawnabout the relative effect of each type of vehicle oneach type of pavement.

The approximate response of shoulders (limited todeformation in the vertical direction only) will beanalyzed by examining very thin pavements underdifferent loads. Although of great interest to coun-ties, the response of gravel roads to various loads isbeyond the scope of this study.

This analytic study will be validated by a field study.Test sections of two roadways under constructionthis fall, a portland cement concrete (PCC) road inJones and Jackson counties and an asphalt cementconcrete (ACC) road in Crawford County, will beinstrumented with strain gages, thermocouples, anddeflection-measuring plates.

The Jones-Jackson County road was instrumentedin late August, and researchers hope to conduct testsin September. The Crawford County road will beinstrumented and tested later in the season. Datawill be collected using a high-speed, 16-bit datalogger while vehicles are driven across the testsections at various velocities.

Legislators, manufacturers and distributors ofimplements of husbandry, agriculture associationrepresentatives, county engineers, and members ofthe Iowa State Association of Counties providedinput regarding issues to be addressed in theresearch. A variety of these stakeholders are partici-pating in the project. For example, Firestone Agri-cultural Tire Division (Des Moines, Iowa) isproviding technical data about flotation tires.Eldon C. Stutsman, Inc. (Hills, Iowa), Kinze

IMPLEMENTS . . . continued from page 1

IMPLEMENTS . . . continued on page 3

TECHNOLOGY NEWS 3 AUG–SEP 1999

Center for Transportation

Research and Education

CTRE

LTAP Advisory Board

The people listed below helpguide and direct the policiesand activities of the Center forTransportation Research andEducation’s Local TechnicalAssistance Program (LTAP)The board meets at leastannually.

Contact any of the advisorycommittee members tocomment, make suggestions, orask questions about any aspectof LTAP.

Saleem BaigLocal SystemsIowa Department ofTransportationTelephone: 515-239-1051

Gary FoxTraffic andTransportation DirectorCity of Des MoinesTelephone: 515-283-4973

Kevin GilchristSenior Transportation PlannerDes Moines MetropolitanPlanning OrganizationTelephone: 515-237-1316

Neil GuessDirector of Public WorksCity of NewtonTelephone: 515-792-6622

Becky HiattIowa Division, FederalHighway AdministrationTelephone: 515-233-7321

Raymond HollandCity EngineerCity of BettendorfTelephone: 319-344-4055

Harold JensenStory County EngineerTelephone: 515-382-6581

Larry JesseLocal SystemsIowa Department ofTransportationTelephone: 515-239-1528

Bob SperryWebster County EngineerTelephone: 515-576-3281

Manufacturing, Inc. (Williamsburg, Iowa), andBalzer Inc. (Cedar Falls, Iowa) are providing equip-ment for the field tests.

For more informationFor more information about the research, contact

Fouad Fanous, professor of civil and constructionengineering at Iowa State, 515-294-9416,fanous@iastate.edu; or Brian Coree, CTRE’smaterials engineer, 515-294-3973,bcoree@iastate.edu. •

IMPLEMENTS . . . continued from page 2

Thanks to Larry Schmidt, street superinten-dent for the City of Manchester, for tippingus off to this story when he sent in his readersurvey this summer. (For a brief report on thereader survey, see page 12.)

OCTOBER is baling season in Manchester,Iowa. That’s when the city’s reconfiguredhay stacker travels the streets, scooping

up leaves raked there by residents and baling theleaves in large, loaf-shaped bundles for composting.

A couple years ago street superintendent LarrySchmidt and his crew adapted a rented hay stacker,intended for picking up and baling corn stalks andhay, to collect leaves. Their first modificationinvolved clamping rubber skids underneath thestacker to pick up leaves. Eventually they replacedthe skids with rubber gathering wheels mounted onthe front of the stacker. Then they supplementedthe scooping action of the rubber wheels by addinga flipper bar that kicks leaves under the stacker toenhance its intake capacity.

The redesigned stacker “gobbles up the leaves,”Schmidt says. He is working on a patent applicationfor the design modifications.

Schmidt estimates the modified stacker can com-press eight or ten five-cubic-yard dump truck loadsof leaves, maybe more, in each stack. The stacks aredeposited at the city compost site, where they aremixed with other yard waste.

Schmidt’s final design works so well that the City ofManchester has purchased its own hay stacker—aHeston Model 10 “Stack Hand”—just for leaf col-lection. Drawn by a tractor, the modified stacker

City of Manchester simplifies leaf cleanup

replaces four dump trucks and two loaders that thecity once required for leaf collection during theautumn. Leaf pickup operations are now accom-plished by the stacker followed by a street sweeper,generating significant savings for the city and free-ing other crew members and equipment for othercity maintenance projects.

For more information contact Larry Schmidt,319-927-4011. •

The City of Manchester’s baler“gobbles up” leaves on the streets.

TECHNOLOGY NEWS 4 AUG–SEP 1999

IT’S A TONGUE TWISTER, but StoryCounty’s maintenance crew takes itseriously: Their stainless steel salt and

sand spreader is a shining new tool in the county’ssnow and ice-fighting arsenal.

Story County Maintenance Superintendent JeffBiddle first encountered stainless steel spreadersduring his 20-year tenure with the IowaDepartment of Transportation. When he joined theStory County staff in 1996, the idea went with him.Now, stainless steel spreaders replace those madewith mild steel.

“Longevity is the biggest benefit of stainless steel,”says Biddle. Salt and sand are hard on mild steelspreaders, even though they sport a coat of paint foradded protection against chemicals. Stainless steelspreaders, however, are up to the challenge.

Other counties are also taking note of stainlesssteel’s resistance to chemicals, especially as theyconsider employing brine systems for snow and icecontrol. As opposed to older control methods,which rely on moisture from snow to activatechemicals, brine solutions are activated beforeapplication, exposing spreaders to increased wear.

Biddle says there are only two significant differencesbetween stainless steel and mild steel spreaders:durability and cost. He believes stainless steel’sincreased durability cancels out its higher cost.Biddle explains that the initial cost of stainless steelspreaders is “a bit more,” but this cost is soonabsorbed because the spreaders outlive more thanone truck. In contrast, mild steel spreaders must bereplaced frequently.

For more information, contact Jeff Biddle, 515-382-7364. •

Steeling againstinclement weather

GOT A STACK of transportation magazineson your desk? Reduce the paper shuffle!The following serial publications are

available, all or in part, on-line:

www.betterroads.com/betterroads/Better Roads Magazine’s on-line version offers thelatest news on transportation and traffic safety.

www.sgcpubs.com/roadsbridges.htmlRoads & Bridges on-line covers national, state, andlocal transportation news and legislation.

www.pubworks.org/reporter/The APWA Reporter on-line is published monthlyand dedicated to public works projects and updates.

www.ota.fhwa.dot.gov/pubs/index.htmlFocus is published monthly on-line and in print.Originally the newsletter for the Strategic HighwayResearch Program, the publication has expanded itsmission to report on “innovative products and strat-egies for building better, safer roads.”

www.gpsworld.com/article/features.htm#columnsGPS World Online publishes excerpts from its hard-copy version, a news magazine devoted to GPS ap-plications in both public and private sectors.

www.transit-center.com/index.htmlMetro Magazine’s Transit Center includes news andclassifieds for public transit agencies as well as an-swers to frequently asked questions about TEA-21.

www.ctre.iastate.edu/pubs/Tech_News/Technology News, your Local Technical AssistanceProgram newsletter, is on-line at CTRE’s web site.Find back issues, as well as LTAP newsletters fromother states. •

Useful web reading

“Longevity is thebiggest benefit of

stainless steel.”

Stainless steel spreaders generallyoutlive snow plow trucks, according toJeff Biddle, Story County maintenancesuperintendent.

TECHNOLOGY NEWS 5 AUG–SEP 1999

SEVERAL MILLION TONS of used or wasteroofing material end up in the nation’slandfills each year, with Iowa alone con-

tributing 130,000 tons to the pile. Iowa Departmentof Transportation (Iowa DOT) researchers estimatethat 20 to 40 percent of the material in asphalt roof-ing shingles is liquid asphalt, and the remainingmaterial consists of sand and other binding materi-als. Used or waste asphalt shingles are thereforeprime candidates for recovery and reuse in roadwayprojects. Options for recycling shingles includemelting them for crack filling asphalt pavements,and using ground shingles as a cold mix for dustcontrol.

Iowa DOT tests of bituminous shingles demonstratethat their asbestos content is extremely low, typicallytwo to three percent. The little asbestos present isgenerally encapsulated in asphalt cement, so crush-ing the shingles does not produce dangerous asbestosdust.

A 1995 abstract issued by Robert F. Steffes, IowaDOT assistant research engineer, and ShaneTymkowicz, secondary road research coordinator,discussed an initial field test sponsored by the IowaHighway Research Board (HR-207). The studyevaluated the use of ground, recycled asphaltshingles for hot-pour crack filling in Spencer, Iowa.At that time, the authors stated that initial resultswere very encouraging; for a variety of reasons, how-ever, the study was not completed.

The same year in Benton County, ground asphaltshingles were cold mixed on a quarter-mile stretch ofroadway for dust control purposes. The groundshingles were spread on top of a crushed limestonesurface and bladed to mix with the limestone, result-ing in a surface of equal volume shingles and lime-stone. A year later, the “shingled” roadway remainednearly dust-free and workable. Two years after theinitial application, the county had collected enoughwaste shingles to apply the dust control method totwo more miles of roadway.

Benton County Engineer Myron Parizek says thatvisual inspection of the project revealed “much dif-ferent dust patterns. Instead of that big, rolling ballof dust that’s kicked up by limestone, the dust fromthe asphalt mix doesn’t roll.”

“Our biggest obstacle is getting the nails out of theasphalt materials,” Parizek adds. “But each year the

On the road:recycled asphaltshingles

party who grinds the shingles has improved themethods for removing nails.” Parizek explains thathanging long bar magnets from maintenancevehicles also helps to remove nails from the roadwaymix.

Dallas County has also joined the recycling move-ment. Recycled shingles are being used as dust con-trol on three miles of bypass roadway this summer.Having witnessed the duration of Benton County’sdust control measures, Dallas County Engineer JimGeorge hopes that his county will experience similarsuccess, consequently balancing out the project’sexpense over several years.

“The total cost of processing the shingles, haulingthem for 25 miles from Des Moines, and applyingthem is around $11,000 per mile, while the materialused in more traditional dust control, such as cal-cium or tree sap, runs around $1,500 per mile,”George explains. He adds that a county can avoidsome of the expense by establishing its own recy-cling center rather than trucking the materials froma distant location.

Ground shingle material may be an effective substi-tute for aggregate in asphalt paving mix and has infact been used for this purpose in trials in Nevada,Minnesota, Nova Scotia, and elsewhere. MarkDunn, research engineer at the Iowa DOT, says thedepartment is tentatively planning to produce anexperimental lab pavement mix using recycledasphalt shingles. The mix will conform toSuperpave standards, which limit recycled materialsto no more than 10 percent of the mix.

For more information contact Mark Dunn,515-239-1447; Jim George, 515-993-4289;or Myron Parizek, 319-472-2211. •

Recycled asphalt shingleshave been helpful in thebattle to control roadwaydust.

TECHNOLOGY NEWS 6 AUG–SEP 1999

Spin your web:helping users navigate your site

WEB. . . continued on page 7

This is the fourth article in a seriesabout web site development for localtransportation agencies. The first

three articles covered planning a web site,acquiring the tools for creating it, andchoosing and organizing content.

CHOOSING AND ORGANIZING content for a web siteis a big job. To make sure the visitors to your siteappreciate what a great job you’ve done, you needto label things clearly and well, and provide an easyway for visitors to navigate your pages.

What are good labels?• Labels are the names you give to sections of your

site and to links within it. See the City of DesMoines web page below. Clicking on the “CityClerk’s Office” button, an example of a link la-bel, will take you to a page with the same label.Labels are part of a whole labeling system thatshould be consistent throughout your site.

• Good labels are specific and descriptive from theperspective of the site’s users. “EmploymentOpportunities” and “Breaking News!” arespecific, descriptive labels that visitors to yoursite would readily understand. “EngineeringDivision” may be meaningful to people in youragency, but it doesn’t tell outsiders much.Would that link allow users to contact the engi-neering division or learn more about what theengineering division does? Ambiguous labels cangenerate confusion, which doesn’t help create apositive impression about a site.

Problem labelsOne great thing about the World Wide Web is howmuch we can learn (and borrow) from other sites’strengths and weaknesses. One metropolitan publicworks department we found has developed a wellorganized site chock-full of helpful content for itspublic. Some labels, however, are a little confusing.

For example, the label “Index” on the department’smain page sets up specific web user expectations—mainly that the index is an alphabetical listing ofmain topics or ideas within the department’s website.

But the index doesn’t fit users’ expectationsbecause it is neither alphabetical nor a consistentlisting of main topics. At the time of this writing,the index looked like this:

Mission/Vision StatementServices at a GlanceStreet Closings[___] Road EIS Executive SummarySnow Emergency InfoRecyclingOther Public Works[___] Bridge OpeningNewsDirector’s GreetingStreet Construction

If the list were alphabetical, two related ideas such as“Street Closings” and “Street Construction” wouldbe next to each other in the list.

As to the link labels themselves, some are specificand descriptive, giving users a clear idea of wherethe link will take them. “Snow Emergency Info”and “Director’s Greeting” are two examples.

Other labels are more ambiguous. The bridge open-ing sounds like a news item. Will the general public

The City of Des Moines’sweb site presents a good

example of a clear,consistent navigation

system.

TECHNOLOGY NEWS 7 AUG–SEP 1999

+ =NEWLTAP

trainingopportunitiescurriculum

CTRE’scomputertrainingfacility

Duane Smith, Associate Director of Outreach

TWO IMPORTANT ITEMS have come togetherat Iowa’s Local Technical Assistance Pro-gram (LTAP) center that will ultimately

support exciting new training opportunities for localgovernments.

The first item is the completion of an intensive three-month training program for new transportation tech-nicians—Cool Careers—which was sponsored by the

New training opportunitiesthrough Iowa LTAP

Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT)and facilitated by Iowa LTAP. During thesummer, trainees took 40 hours of classes eachweek at Iowa State University.

The second item is a new computer training labat the Center for Transportation Research and

TRAINING . . . continued on page 8

WEB. . . continued from page 6

know what an EIS executive summary is? “OtherPublic Works” is also unclear; the link takes you to alist of national organization’s web sites rather thannearby cities’ public works departments, as usersmight guess.

Even when you think your labels make perfect senseand can’t be misunderstood, it may help to get somefeedback on them, especially from people outsideyour agency.

Navigation systemsA user dealing with ambiguous labels will haveproblems navigating the site. Effective labelingsystems work together with navigation systems tohelp users develop a mental map of a site so they canfind the information they’re seeking.

A popular and useful method of helping users getaround a site is a navigation bar. A navigation bar is aset of related links that presents the basic informationhierarchy of a site. Using navigation bars consistentlythroughout your pages helps users understand wherethey are and where they can go from there.

The City of Des Moines’s web site (www.ci.des-moines.ia.us/) uses graphic and textual navigation barsto show users the main categories of information thatcan be linked from a given page. For example, click-ing “Mayor and Council” on the home page will take

you to a page with a photo of the mayor and citycouncil and another navigation bar with links suchas “Leave a Message,” “Meeting Agendas/Info,”and “Request to Speak.”

The navigation bar on the “Mayor and Council”page is a completely new set of links. Each link inthis bar is the same color as the “Mayor and Coun-cil” button on the home page. This color consis-tency is a subtle hint to users that all the links withthe same color are related.

The graphic navigation bars are repeated as simpletext links at the bottom of each page. This kind ofredundant navigation system is helpful for acouple of reasons: 1) users who have graphicsturned off in their browsers can still get around thesite, and 2) visually impaired users who havescreen readers to read aloud the contents of a webpage also have full access to the site.

No matter who designs your site—someonein-house or an outside professional—your insideknowledge and input about the consistency, andespecially the specificity, of labels and navigationsystems will make all the difference to the userfriendliness of your site.

The next article in this series will discuss web sitedesign. •

✍

TECHNOLOGY NEWS 8 AUG–SEP 1999

Education (CTRE), the home of Iowa’s LTAP.The lab is equipped with 20 Gateway workstationsand can accommodate up to 40 students at a timefor hands-on training.

How are the technician training program andCTRE’s computer training lab related?

The technician training pro-gram provides aframework of newtraining modulesthat can easily beadapted for localtransportation agen-cies. For example, wenow have modules formath fundamentals,roadway design,surveying, and Micro-Station. Some of thesenew modules are heavilycomputer based, which iswhere the new computerlab comes in. For the firsttime, we can regularly offerconvenient computer-basedtraining for local govern-ments via CTRE’s computertraining lab.

To help us take advantage ofthese unique training opportu-nities, we have recently sent aworkshop interest survey toIowa’s local agencies and IowaDOT shops. The survey describes possible work-shop offerings for the upcoming year. Theseinclude tried-and-true safety workshops, many ofwhich can be brought to your shop. Other possi-bilities include new modules from the techniciantraining program.

Categories of workshops described on the surveyinclude• engineering elements for technicians (math,

surveying bridge inspection, highway design)

• writing that gets results (business writing,proposal writing)

• safety training for local governments (flaggertraining, signing practices, roadside design, chainsaw/excavation/backhoe safety, traffic calming,ALAS)

• World Wide Web for transportation personnel(intro to the web, web-basedservices for county engineers,web site development)

• computer applicationstraining (word processing,database, GIS, CAD,other)

Some of these workshopswould be offered inCTRE’s new computertraining lab in Ames.

Help us tailor our train-ing program to meetyour agency’s needs bycompleting andreturning the work-shop interest survey.Let us know what wecan do for you.

If survey responsesindicate sufficientinterest in a newtopic, we willassemble an

advisory committee, designthe curriculum, and schedule the course.

If you need a survey, contact Georgia Parham, LTAPsecretary, 515-294-8103; georgia@ctre.iastate.edu.Or you can download the survey from CTRE’s website, www.ctre.iastate.edu/. •

TRAINING. . . continued from page 7

TECHNOLOGY NEWS 9 AUG–SEP 1999

13th St

ISU

Lincoln Way

Highway 30

Elw

ood

Airport Rd

Main entrance

CTRE

S. Loop Drive

(map not to scale)

Ames, Iowa N

THE BOXES ARE UNPACKED, the computersreconnected, the library reorganizedand improved. Iowa’s Local Technical

Assistance Program (LTAP), housed in the Centerfor Transportation Research and Education, hasmoved.

We’re still located in Iowa State University’sResearch Park south of Highway 30 in Ames. Wejust picked up our gear and moved across AirportRoad to a brand new building on South LoopDrive. The move gives us more space for conduct-ing workshops (we now have an in-house computertraining lab and a videoconferencing classroom)and more parking space for workshop attendeesand visitors to our transportation library.

Only our address is new; telephone numbersand web and e-mail addresses remain the same.

Center for Transportation Research and EducationIowa State University Research Park2901 South Loop Drive, Suite 3100Ames, Iowa 50010-8632515-294-8103 (voice)515-294-0467 (fax)www.ctre.iastate.edu/

Stop by and see us when you’re in Ames.Iowa’s LTAP center is here to serve you. • I-35

Iowa’s LTAP has new home

CTRE

Iowa’s LTAP crew,from left to right:

Stan RingLibrarian

Marcia BrinkEditor

Jan GrahamAccount Manager

Tom McDonaldSafety Circuit Rider

Georgia ParhamSecretary

Duane SmithLTAP Director

Diane LoveAccount Clerk

Sharon ProchnowWorkshop Coordinator

Missing:Michele RegenoldAssistant Editor(She’s taking thephoto!)

TECHNOLOGY NEWS 10 AUG–SEP 1999

safetyshorts

----

OSHAApproved

by Tom McDonald, Safety Circuit Rider

ATTENTION cities and counties responsible formaintaining street-name signs, including thosecommonly called “911” signs: Just a reminderthat Federal Highway Administration rules nowinclude new minimum size and reflectivityrequirements for these signs.

Section 2D-39 of the Manual on Uniform TrafficControl Devices (MUTCD) now recommends aminimum of six inches in height for uppercaseletters, four and a half inches for lowercase letters,and three inches for street abbreviations or citysections.

New size, reflectivity requirementsfor street signs

These minimum size requirements apply to street-name signs on any streets or roads with speed limitsgreater than 25 mph. For lower-speed streets, theoption remains to use four-inch uppercase letteringon street-name signs.

Additionally, in the future all street-name signs mustbe retroreflectorized.

These changes don’t become effective until January2012, allowing sufficient time to correct any currentsigning deficiencies during your normal signreplacement cycle. Whenever you replace any streetor road signs, take the new FHWA requirementsinto consideration. •

STEVE DRISCOLL, the building and grounds supervi-sor for the City of Asbury’s public works depart-ment, developed a simple tool to do heavy lifting.He created handmade forks for a tractor loaderbucket.

The forks are made of worn-out snow plow cuttingedges from 11- and 8-foot plows. The two sizes arewelded together for strength. The forks slip underthe edge of the bucket and tighten down from thetop. They are adjustable to any width.

Handmade forks do heavy lifting

The forks save the public works department valuabletime and help prevent back strain among employees.Driscoll says, “We can now carry loads of lumber,steel pipe, road sign posts, picnic tables, and manyother items. This project cost us nothing but thetime it took to weld them together.”

For more information about the forks, contact SteveDriscoll, 319-556-6410. •

tip fromthe field

TECHNOLOGY NEWS 11 AUG–SEP 1999

October 1999

September 1999

conferencecalendar

Iowa Winter Training ExpoSeptember 27–28, 1999Scheman Building/Hilton ColiseumIowa State University, Ames, Iowa

10th Annual Iowa Snow Plow Roadeo2nd Annual Motor Grader RoadeoSeptember 29, 1999Scheman Building Parking LotIowa State University, Ames, Iowa

CITY, COUNTY, AND STATE winter mainte-nance personnel: these events are for you.

Expo participants will select from 16sessions on chemicals and abrasives, anti-icing strategies, weather forecasts, snowremoval equipment, customer service, andoverseas winter operations. They will view displaysof technology, equipment, materials, and services byvendors from around the country, including hands-on demonstrations. They will also enjoy an old-fashioned hog roast and social.

Iowa winter expo and “roadeos”

Roadeo contestants will challenge their ability tomaneuver a snow plow and/or grader. This year thegrader roadeo will be judged and awards given. Itrequires frame and moldboard positioning thatsimulates the many different job requirementsoperators face daily.

For registration materials,contact Carole Seifert,515-294-1400. Ordownload the

on-lineform:www.ctre.iastate.edu/ •

9–10 Iowa Section ASCE Annual Meeting Ames Duane Smith515-294-8103

27–29 Iowa Winter Maintenance Expo and Ames Duane SmithSnow Plow/Motor Grader “Roadeos” 515-294-8103

6–8 Iowa League of Cities Annual Conference and Expo Sioux City Jim CableAnnual Conference and Expo 515-294-2862

jkcable@iastate.edu

12–13 Airport Conference Waterloo 515-294-6222(Iowa State University Extended and Continuing Education) 800-262-0015

19 Hazardous Materials Management at the County Level Ames Tom McDonald515-294-8103

20 ASCE/ICEA Surveying Conference Ames Jim Cable515-294-2862jkcable@iastate.edu

20–21 Iowa Secondary Roads Maintenance Ames Duane SmithSupervisors Association Annual Conference 515-294-8103

20–21 ASCE/ICEA Surveying Conference Ames Jim Cable515-294-2862jkcable@iastate.edu

21–22 ITCSA Fall Conference Ames Tom McDonald515-294-8103

27 Short Span Steel Bridge Design Ames Jim Cable515-294-2862jkcable@iastate.edu

28 Culvert Design Ames Jim Cable515-294-2862jkcable@iastate.edu

TECHNOLOGY NEWS APR–MAY 199912

Iowa State UniversityCenter for Transportation Research and EducationISU Research Park2901 S. Loop Drive, Suite 3100Ames, IA 50010-8632 ExtensionLocal Transportation

P486-0524

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

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