infrastructure Archives

By Jim Hegarty, PE

I have been called in to look at a fair number of pipe failures over the course of my engineering career. One thing I notice is in the rush to fix the failure, there is often little focus on figuring out why the failure occurred. It is easy to miss clues to a systemic problem unless someone on your team plays “Columbo” and gathers some clues to analyze when the dust settles. Here are 12 things I think you should do every time a pipe fails:

Get to the site as soon as possible, before too much damage spreads.
Photograph everything. The ground, the pipe, the hole, any damage. Take as many photographs as you can, from several different angles. They may help you recall the state of the site later when you try to piece everything back together.
Mark the top of the failed pipe as soon as it is exposed. The location of the failure relative to the top of the pipe can tell you a lot about why it failed.
Make a sketch of the pipe layout. It will help you to reconstruct the scene later.
Remove the failed pipe carefully to preserve its condition. The closer it remains to intact, the easier it is determine how and why it failed.
Number or mark each piece of pipe shown in your layout sketch. Save and preserve each marked pipe you remove.
Collect and mark soil samples from the pipe trench, preferably not wetted by the failure. Take care to sample soil representative of the soil in contact with the pipe. This can be a valuable tool to diagnose either an external corrosion or soil-structure failure.
Check pump records if the pipe operates under pressure. Surges (also called transients or water hammer) can put tremendous stress on buried pipes. Power outages, valve closings and pump starts and stops can create dangerous surge pressures.
Ask questions to understand anything you think may have played a role in the failure.
Review the construction plans, as they may harbor clues to a contributing cause of a break.
Study the construction inspection reports.
Keep a map of your breaks or incidents. They can help you identify trends or patterns that otherwise may not be obvious.

By James Hegarty, PE

I’m encouraged by Michigan’s state-wide movement toward adopting asset management as a financial planning tool for key infrastructure systems. This article supported my belief that to enjoy the current level of service from our infrastructure into the future, it’s going to cost more money.

It’s easy to see the results of neglecting to maintain and invest in roads. Potholes are more than an annoyance and failed streets are more expensive to fix than failing streets. Voters will decide on a road-funding tax proposal this Spring.

It’s less obvious to users to see what’s happening with buried infrastructure like sewer, water and storm sewer pipes. As more communities develop asset management plans for buried pipes, I’m sure we’ll need more money to keep them operating in line with our future needs.

You can contact Brian Vilmont or me to learn more about developing an asset management plan and a rate structure to support it.

This article summarizes an inspiring talk given by our traffic engineer, Ariana Jeske, PE, at the 2013 Institute of Transportation Engineers conference.

Preventative traffic engineering refers to an approach to traffic engineering and planning that prevents, rather than reacts to, dangerous situations and accidents. The key is keeping walkability in mind. The term “walkability” has surfaced recently due to increased concern over accessibility, and because walkability can increase public health, decrease vehicle traffic, and drive economic development.

Traffic engineers use complex models to justify the traffic infrastructure that guides our behavior. The “stereotypical” traffic engineer tends to focus on:

Antiquated suburban development patterns (built for cars, not pedestrians)
Inflexible road design standards
An unchanging, unadaptable system

As the model of mobility changes, traffic engineers can lead the way to a safer world, rather than being “in the way.”

“It didn’t meet the warrants.”

Warrant, to a traffic engineer, means justification. To justify a traffic signal installation, a traffic engineer completes a signal warrant study using a set of guidelines outlined in the Michigan Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MMUTCD)–the manual that forms the legal basis for all the State’s signs, traffic signals, and pavement markings. Conventional warrants tend to treat pedestrians as vehicles. Rarely can traffic signals be justified solely for facilitating pedestrian movements, since signal warrants are not based on the intersection’s performance, but on detailed research from the 1970s.

So what about new projects and approaches? When a non-motorized path needs to cross a busy four-lane road, how will we know how many pedestrians will be crossing it? Pedestrian forecasting is not as developed as vehicular traffic forecasting. Often, a wait-and-see approach is taken to see if a problem develops. Isn’t there a better way?

Don’t respond, prevent.

Traffic engineers need to enter pedestrians into the equation. Pedestrians need 39% more time to cross a two-lane road than a car does, and pedestrians are ten times more likely to be fatally injured in an intersection crash than a vehicle driver.

Preventative traffic engineering, then, is the meaningful evaluation of a multi-modal mobility network to identify areas of increased risk and mitigating those risks. Traffic engineers need to recognize that pedestrians are legitimate users of public mobility systems – whether or not we design for them – and have an inherent vulnerability.

How to lead the way

Every detail matters: Consider curb radii, pedestrian data, road width, signage, cycle lengths, parking zones, pavement markings, lighting, and bicycle facilities.
Standards can be flexible: Use context-sensitive design. Make standards fit your projects, not the other way around.
Use multiple sources: Use all the books on your shelf, and even look internationally for case studies and examples.
Use your engineering judgment: Safety isn’t rocket science. Trust your instincts and prove them right.
Be proactive and holistic: Projects should not just be a road widening, or a pavement reconstruction, or any one single facet. Evaluate safety problems, find the data out there, and integrate walkability and pedestrian safety into the planning of your transportation projects. Especially when you have funding. (In fact, adding a walkability component can sometimes get you more funding.)

Case study

It seems likely that putting a non-motorized trail crossing at a busy four-lane roadway might result in some safety issues. Here is a case study that took a more proactive approach to ensure safety.

Grand Valley Rail Trail: a major community project for Ionia and Saranac, the GVRT is an AASHTO-compliant non-motorized trail that repurposes an abandoned rail bed, including seven trestles over various water bodies.

The trail also crosses M-66 (Dexter Street) in Ionia, which averages about 15,499 vehicles per day. To determine if the estimated 100,000 yearly users of the trail would have enough time to cross the street, we conducted a pedestrian gap study, which determined how long of a window (16 seconds) a pedestrian would need to cross the street. From traffic data we found that there weren’t enough time gaps during the day for the expected volume of pedestrians to cross M-66 safely. The study helped secure funding for a pedestrian bridge across M-66/Dexter Street, which will be built next summer.

By James R. Hegarty, P.E., Barbara Marczak, P.E., and Brian Vilmont, P.E.

Our infrastructure provides the foundation on which our communities are built: the roads that enable our transportation, the watermains that provide our drinking water, the sewers and treatment plants that put clean water back into our environment, and the buildings upon which our communities depend for services and support. All the assets that make up our infrastructure systems must be managed in order to maintain their value to our communities. Without asset management, our limited funds will continue to be depleted with reactionary repairs instead of leveraged to maximize the value of each dollar spent.

Asset management is not a new concept. The old Aesop fable of the grasshopper, who sings during summer instead of preparing for winter, and the ant, who stores up food for winter during the summer, ended with this lesson: “It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.” We know that our assets will not last forever, but we can get the most value from them if we invest in their management and maintenance. Like the ant, it is important that we do our work now and not wait for the proverbial winter for our assets to fail. To be able to choose from the many tools available for asset management, it is important to understand the fundamentals first.

How asset management works

The goal of asset management is to provide the desired level of service from our assets at the lowest, long–term costs. Proactive asset management can reduce short–term reactionary expenditures and make the most out of the available funding. To accomplish this, we need to follow these basic steps:

1. Appraisal

Identify Assets
Document System History & Concerns
Determine Existing & Proposed Level of Service
Select Desired Management System
Develop Work Plan *
*Required to apply for SAW Grant Funding

2. Inventory

Mapping
Criticality Review

3. Assessment

Condition: Physical & Capacity
Risk
Cost: Maintenance & Rehabilitation/Replacement

4. Asset Management Plan

Maintenance Strategies
Capital Improvement Plan
Funding Alternatives & Strategies

5. Implementation

Public Education
Culture: Staff & Community Investment
Funding: Internal & External Sources
Tracking & Reporting: Community Dashboard

Grants Available

The State of Michigan is moving forward with funding of asset management plan development for municipalities through the Stormwater, Asset Management, and Wastewater (SAW) Grants. Later this summer, MDEQ will accept grant applications for this program, providing up to $2,000,000 in grant funding per municipality. SAW Grants will be awarded on a first–come, first–served basis. For more information about Asset Management Plans and MDEQ SAW Grants, contact Jim Hegarty, P.E., Brian Vilmont, P.E. at (616) 364–8491, or Barbara Marczack, P.E. at (231) 798-0101.

Not everyone is aware of downtown development authorities (DDA), or why they are important. Many cities have one, and Michigan has 35 of them. Prein&Newhof often works with DDAs on projects related to streetscapes and downtown infrastructure.

Downtown is considered the heart of the city. It is an expanse of a few streets that are pedestrian-oriented and often show the historical aspect of the community. It is an important driver for commerce, a stage for public events, and a representation of the city’s identity.

Many cities’ development has focused on suburbs and subdivisions in the last 60 years. This pattern stems from the invention of cars and streetcars. Streetcar suburbs are now often the main thoroughfares of major cities, since we build where transportation is available. Although downtown living has been abandoned in the past century, the resurgence in the last ten years has been significant. We still value our downtowns and direct special funds and efforts to keep them vibrant.

DDAs use incremental property taxes from downtown property owners to make public improvements, which encourage private investment. DDAs are formed by the municipal government after public hearing and approval, and are given boundaries as a district.

Place-based economic development has become a popular issue in response to the economic recession of the last few years. Michigan cities have seen that local identity can drive local commerce, which stabilizes local economies.

Prein&Newhof was happy to be involved with the design of Greenville’s streetscape for M-91, which built the character and identity of Greenville’s downtown and was partially funded by Greenville’s DDA.

Do you think downtowns are worth our investment?

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