Symposium To Feature New Advances in Winter Maintenance Technologies

Blue skies and warm temperatures may abound right now, but highway winter maintenance personnel will soon have snow and ice on their minds as they participate in the Second Annual Eastern Winter Road Maintenance Symposium and Equipment Expo. Designed for Federal, State, county, and municipal staff, the symposium is scheduled for September 4, 1997, in Hagerstown, Maryland. It is being cosponsored by the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), with the participation of Maryland’s Transportation Authority, State Highway Administration, and Transportation Technology Transfer Center.

The symposium presents "a great opportunity for maintenance employees to mingle with their peers from other States and be exposed to new advances in the area of winter maintenance technologies," says Richard Shelton of the Maryland State Highway Administration.

The event will feature sessions on operations and equipment, new technologies and materials, and communications strategies. Among the highlights will be a presentation on technologies that automatically deice bridge decks and a demonstration of a prototype winter maintenance truck with computerized road sensing capabilities.

The Maryland State Highway Administration’s "Snow College" will also be featured in a presentation at the symposium. This innovative training program holds 1- or 2-day brush-up courses for highway personnel, covering such topics as plowing techniques, deicing materials, and road weather information systems. The program also emphasizes the importance of communication and teamwork.

Accompanying the symposium presentations will be an equipment expo featuring the latest in snowplows, snowblowers, zero-velocity spreaders, and special-purpose equipment, such as the plows used to clear airport runways. Nearly 90 vendors are expected to have their wares on display. (Exhibit space is available for a nominal fee [$300 per 10x8 booth]. To reserve vendor/exhibitor space, contact Deborah Vocke at FHWA, 202-366-4855 [fax: 202-366-7909; email: deborah.vocke@fhwa.dot.gov]).

The first Eastern Winter Road Maintenance Symposium, held in September 1996 in Washington, D.C., drew more than 600 participants from States as far north as Maine and as far west as Ohio. As word spread about that event, "interest in this year’s event has snowballed," says Vocke.

The symposium will be held in a different location every year, so that as many State and local practitioners as possible can participate.

There is no registration fee to attend the symposium. To register, contact Richard Shelton at the Maryland State Highway Administration, 410-582-5535 (fax: 410-582-9862).

Preliminary Agenda

8:00 a.m. EXHIBIT AREAS OPEN

8:30 a.m. OPENING REMARKS

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