Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Releases Revised Temporary Traffic Control Guidelines - Part 1

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 

Releases Revised Temporary Traffic Control Guidelines

                Penn DOT (Department of Transportation) has released the March 2014 Edition of Temporary Traffic Control Guidelines. The manual has been expanded with additional diagrams and schemes of various type of situations which are most common in the field. The colored version of the publication is especially helpful in drawing attention to different aspects of the traffic control depiction. Penn Dot is placing a firm emphasis on reducing work zone deaths, and this is an excellent stepping stone for that goal. 

                Penn DOT has indicated that the publication applies to contractors, utilities, Federal, State, County and Municipal governments, while performing construction, maintenance, emergency, permit work, utility work, and any other type of work on highways, or so closely adjacent to a highway that workers, equipment and or materials encroach on the roadway or interfere with the normal movement of traffic. Customized temporary traffic control setups, which differ from the various drawings in the publication will require Penn DOT District Traffic Unit approval prior to any implementation. 

                Penn Dot also has three Regional Traffic Management Centers for the state. Western, Central and Eastern Regions. The centers operate 365 days a year and 24 hour a day. When you will be establishing a work zone you must contact the regional center for the area (a map with the regions and their phone numbers are located on page 2 of the publication) at least 15 minutes before beginning work within the roadway. Additional information you will be required to provide to the regional management center will be:

a)      The location of the work (county, state route number, etc.)

b)      The beginning time of the traffic restrictions

c)       The type of traffic restrictions drivers will encounter

d)      The PATA number of the traffic control Diagram being utilized

e)      The expected time you anticipate traffic patterns to return to normal

f)       Your information – company name, phone number for contact, your position with the company, what type of work you will be performing and anything else the center may request from you. 

There are various other changes and information D. E. Gemmill Inc. intends to share with our customers and readers over the next several months. If you have questions regarding the new publication please feel free to contact D. E. Gemmill Inc. and we will do our best to provide you with answers or assist you in making contact with the appropriate state agencies.

“ Let’s all work to make work zones safer for motorist and workers alike.” 

*Information contained in this article was taken from Penn DOT Publication 213 – March 2014 Edition.

David E. Gemmill

D. E. Gemmill, Inc

1-866-755-9794

www.degemmill.com

http://www.degemmill.com/relevant_links.html

ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/PubsForms/Publications/PUB%20213.pdf

Asphalt Seal Coating and Maintenance - Find out What you are Getting!

Asphalt Seal Coating and Maintenance

Find out What you are Getting!

Spring’s rolling around again, the grass is getting green, the leaves are budding from the trees and the seal coating and pavement maintenance people are out in full force, looking for your business.

Being in the pavement maintenance and marking business for over 29 years, I’ve had a lot of people that asked me “Is it really worth it? Seal coating you know.”  Well, that is really a wide-open question, and one that I can answer a variety of ways. Now if you’re calling up your local seal coating contractor, or have someone knocking on your door, asking you to seal coat your driveway, you need to be educated about this process.

Oh I know, nothing to this, go down to your local hardware store and buy the product, and they will tell you everything you need to know about it. Or you can call the local contractor and get some estimates, look at who is the cheapest and sign that contract. Well, maybe, maybe not! Remember that old saying let the buyer beware? Or you get what you pay for? Well it is no different in the world of seal coating and pavement maintenance.

I guess you really need to know a little bit about asphalt before you make a decision about whether to do any pavement maintenance or seal coating. First, do you even know what holds the asphalt together or what’s in the product?

Asphalt is made of aggregate, stone and bituminous, or in common terminology a type of tar. Well really these terms have been simplified so that anyone can understand them. See the asphalt is just the finished product. There is a lot more that goes into paving then simply putting the asphalt down. You need to have a good stone base, something that allows water to drain away from it, something that is solid. The depth and type of the base depends a lot on what kind of traffic you’re going to be driving across the asphalt surface.

Once you have your stone base, then they apply the asphalt. Asphalt may be put down in various layers if you’re trying to build a base for heavier traffic, again all dependent on what your intended use may be. After all that is completed, you should have a nice paved area. Then you wait! Yes you heard me - wait, wait, wait! You see, most seal coating manufacturers recommend that you do not seal coat new asphalt for at least a year. And remember you don’t need to seal coat every year, even if that guy comes around and wants to do it every year. Parking lots should be done on a rotation of about every 2 to 5 years depending on the traffic volume and winter conditions. Driveways should probably be sealed about every 3 to 5 years.

Now we get into the down and dirty. If the only thing the contractor you’re talking to wants to do is make that asphalt look new again, with a nice coat of sealer, send them packing! If you have cracks, they need to be addressed. Yes, I know somebody is going to tell you, that the seal coating material will fill in the cracks. If the cracks are more than a quarter inch wide and this is what you’re told, you better get your boots out because it’s going to get deep.

You see cracks are the place where water enters the base of your asphalt. This is where water gets in during the winter, freezes and thaws and then causes potholes or bigger cracks. A good reputable pavement maintenance contractor will want to seal those cracks properly and preferably with some kind of hot rubberized crack sealer. And no, it’s not the same as seal coating material. Even if you don’t have enough money to seal coat the driveway you should at least fix the cracks. Yes I know, it will look like there are all these black snakes all over your parking lot or driveway. But the question you need to ask yourself is if I would rather have this look, or be paying thousands of dollars to repave my asphalt surface.

If you have the money you can still seal coat. There are protective factors to seal coating material that extend the life of your asphalt surface. But your first priority should be the cracks. Now with all this being said, there are times when an asphalt surface is so cracked up, that it is beyond the repair of crack sealing and seal coating. For instance if your asphalt surface cracks look like one big spider web, you may be past the point of crack sealing and seal coating. Or at the very least you may need to do some asphalt paving repairs before you seal the remainder of the asphalt surface. But you need to have a reputable person tell you the truth. There are a great deal of reputable people out there.  Just ask questions, and you will find one.

Remember, they should be a licensed contractor. You should not have to pay them before the work is completed, if they can’t buy the material up front, ding, ding, ding a bell should be going off in your head! Check the Better Business Bureau to see if there any complaints about them. Ask for a certificate of insurance, including workers compensation. Always pay with a check or credit card. Don’t give them cash! Get a receipt and get a written contract, that both of you have signed before any work begins.

The Internet provides a lot of opportunities to become educated about what you are purchasing. Seal coating is no different. Like everything else if it is performed correctly and by reputable people, I’m sure you will get a good product. But be wary of that person that wants to promise you the world, because you can’t buy that for free. 

David E. Gemmill - D. E. Gemmill, Inc.

www.degemmill.com

http://degemmill.com/services_pavemaintenance.html

Work Zone Driver Safety: Not just for National Work Zone Awareness Week

"Work Zone Driver Safety: Not Just for National Work Zones in Awareness Week”

By: Colleen Gemmill

     While it is great to have a week dedicated to Work Zone Awareness it is an even greater idea to be aware in work zones every week, every day, and especially every time we drive through a work zone. Why such frequency? We’re talking lives here that’s why.

     According to national statistics a work zone fatality happens every 10 hours and a work zone injury occurs every 13 minutes. Now why wouldn’t everyone want to be aware of their driving while in work zones? 

     Awareness can go a long way when driving in any situation, but becomes vitally important when in a work zone. Speed and inattention are the most common causes of work zone accidents. Why wouldn’t everyone want to be aware every time they drive in a work zone?

     Slow down and be aware in all work zones at all times. You’re lower speed and awareness will go a long way in keeping you from becoming one of the four out of five fatalities that are motorists in work zones.

www.degemmill.com

Sources: Federal Highway administration

“Why are Those Barrels in My Way?”

National Work Zone Awareness Week April 7 - 11

Work Zone Speed, a Costly Mistake

 

“Why are Those Barrels in My Way?”

By: Colleen Gemmill

      It never fails, you’re running late and now you see signs, barrels, and an array of workers you are sure are there only to inconvenience you. Now because of this person holding a sign that says “STOP”, you are certainly going to be late!

      After what feels like an eternity, that annoying person finally turns the sign to “S-L-O-W”! You don’t have time for “slow”, so you speed away in an attempt to make up time. Moments later you regain consciousness and find yourself tangled in a mass of metal.

      You have just become a statistic. You have become one of the 1,124* people injured in a work zone accident.   You have caused one of the 1,661* work zone accidents in the United States.   And to top it off you have caused one of the 21* yearly work zone deaths when your out of control car hit a worker behind the barrier, who then also became 1 of 3* workers killed in work zone accidents.

      While the scenario may be made up the numbers are fact. The fact is, according to the US Dept. of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, 1,661 accidents occurred in Pennsylvania work zones in 2012. These accidents ended in 21 deaths (3 of which were workers) and 1,124 injuries. All of which could have been prevented.

      So even in the fast paced world we live in, slow down, pay attention and make it through the work zones uninjured, alive and allow those working there to do the same. 

www.degemmill.com

http://degemmill.com/temporary.html

*2012 US Dept. of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration Statistics.

http://www.dot.gov/

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/resources/pubstats/