Many of you know our mission, but some are just coming in to our fold having registered for a webinar or one of our training sessions. For those of you who are new and want to catch up, please head over to http://blairbarnhardt.com/ and click your way around.

Worth a quick listen to is our plan to save America billions of dollars each year http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1243694 and have a listen to this podcast session where Scott McDonald, APM and I discuss setting up your pavement management system http://ipma.co/betterroadsradio/2014/01/16/episode-3-the-one-where-blair-corners-scott-mcdonald-ipma-advisory-board-member-and-paver-guru/ . If you are wondering how excited our TBG clients get after we finish serving them up a fresh new pavement management implementation watch Mayor Shelley here https://ipma-1.wistia.com/medias/q9qtijhjaz . Here is a video that was created by the local news team to explain what our crews were doing out there on the roads https://ipma-1.wistia.com/medias/32gs5ghka7 .

Our 2016 PDH Power Hour Webinar Series will walk you through everything you need to purchase, or hire out to begin saving your Agency millions of dollars each year. In fact our learners and clients routinely perform pavement management with The Three Legged Stool™ System of pavement management, and go on to save about million dollars annually for every 250 center lane miles of roadway they have. For example, in Rockdale County GA, Miguel Valentin, PE, APM and Brian Frix, PE, APM are saving about 2 million dollars per year with their 510 center lane miles of roadway after their StreetSaver® implementation with us.

Every time we kick start a new implementation of pavement management with a City or a County anywhere in America it seems one of our team members is sitting down with the local agency and asking the same group of questions. For this reason, in our most recent meeting I promised myself I would simplify the questions by making this check list. Feel free to share it amongst your staff and peers!

• Does your local agency have a GIS (Geographical Information System) Guru on staff?

If YES, we usually always recommend that your agency pay the $1,750.00 one time integration fee to MTC StreetSaver.

As Brian Frix, PE, APM (Rockdale County GA and IPMA™ Advisory Board Member states, “To gain maximum potential out of StreetSaver® it’s best to utilize the agencies centerline shape file. It’s a small initial investment that provides a more complete and accurate database upon completion.

Always maintain an accurate PCI map. This helps non-technical and elected officials the ability to see the “big picture” without going thru a comprehensive technical report.

• Does your staff have a list of unit prices for typical treatments you have used in the past, i.e. Hot Mixed Asphalt, High Density Mineral Bond, Cold in Place Recycling etc. It is imperative that the pavement management consultant get local regional unit prices as well as first hand knowledge on what treatments are not regionally available.

As Mr. Frix, PE, APM states, “Utilize local unit pricing for decision tree setup. And locals decision/ability to utilize certain treatments.” Now is the time to get off the proverbial pot and do some of the more innovative treatments you have been dreaming about doing!

• Have you in the past rated your roads in any way shape of form?

Now is the time to come clean with your consultant, if you have done a windshield survey a while back, and or an Excel spreadsheet, now go ahead and give your consultant every stich of paper you may have, in the form of scribbled notes or maps. This information will help provide a solid scientific evidence to ensure a robust pavement management implementation.

• Would you prefer MicroPAVER™ or StreetSaver® implementation?

Now is the time to commit to one program or the other. Even though there are other rating systems and tablet programs proliferating the marketplace, I think the only two programs that a PS related are as follows

MicroPaver™

StreetSaver®

You can demo a free version of StreetSaver® for 30 days here http://www.streetsaveronline.com/ worth noting is that MTC or Metropolitan Transportation Commission who provides the StreetSaver® Software is actually a governmental agency much like you! In fact they have over 400 users worldwide including some of the largest Cities and Counties in America such as Seattle, WA and Houston, TX.

• Do you have a paper map for us and a list of roadways?

Blair is old school and loves his paper maps, while Jason and some of the other team members love their PDF maps on their iPads in the field! In any case, if you could provide a 36” map that clearly shows all of the roads we can sit down with you and determine the roadway network as a whole. For example, we can determine if you don’t already know what roads will be entered as Arterial, Minor Arterial, Collector and Local. We can decide which roads you may share with the County if you are a City and visa versa. Also, we will discuss our standard operating procedures for accurate measurement.

It pains me as a former vice president of a paving firm to see other pavement managers paying little if any attention to detailed quantities and accurate square yard measurements. What good is your budget if no one takes the time to add up all the cul de sacs, turnouts, widenings, round a bout s etc.? In fact, when we have something a little difficult to measure in the field with our digital devices we turn to http://goipave.com/ to do digital take offs.

• Can we get a list of street names as they are entered into your GIS software?

In order to ensure that the StreetSaver® auto linkage works at its maximum efficiency and in order to minimize the time that Brian Frix, PE, APM will take performing manual GIS linkage, it is best for Lea and our data entry team to replicate the nomenclature for street name inventory on the GIS files. If you are using the US Tiger GIS Files, the process will take more manual linkage.

• Do you have an idea of what your annual budget for roadway maintenance and rehabilitation will be?

As Jonathon Heese, APM Master states. “Just do it!! Figure out how much money you have to spend per year. We ran multiple scenarios at Arapahoe County, Colorado with Blair and fine-tuned our budgets. We also ran several what if unconstrained scenarios and target scenarios.”

“Nothing more affordable than StreetSaver® (or MicroPaver). Maybe you have been doing pavement management for years but your efforts have floundered. StreetSaver® and boots on the ground survey can reinvigorate you pavement management and give you the confidence to begin again. This time though, right sized and much more sustainable than before. Even very small towns are using StreetSaver® effectively. It has been said the right exercise for you is the one that you will do. The same could be said for pavement management. This is the easiest way and most cost effective method to save your agency money!”

Here is a short video of Jon discussing his set up in Arapahoe County, Colorado (the oldest County in Colorado) https://ipma-1.wistia.com/medias/yv7a57o3i2

Here is a sample final report that we did for City of Winder, GA https://ipma-1.wistia.com/medias/9gus5nnh31

• Do you have some of your own equipment for preservation and rehab?

Many of our clients perform some of their work in house. Whether paving or crack sealing and filling or otherwise, we need to know so we can customize your work plan and requisite Decision Tree to maximize your return on investment as well as recommend other types of equipment you may benefit from owning. We will also determine when it is time to hire out to contractors rather than use your in house equipment.

• Do you have accurate unit prices for all of your previous work?

In order for us to customize your StreetSaver® Decision Tree it is imperative that we are using current pricing. Ask me one day why The Barnhardt Group exists and I will tell you the story of when I was taking care of all of the Public Works Services for the largest privatized City in America, The City of Sandy Springs. They paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for pavement management from a high level consultant and got unit prices from 7 states away and two decades ago!

If you want to save millions following the Three Legged Stool™ System of pavement management that I outline in the Amazon Number One Best Seller The Book on Better Roads, then it is imperative that we are dealing with current and accurate unit pricing! Further we are utilizing ALL OF THE TOOLS IN THE TOOLBOX. Many consultants will leave you with a binder full of PCI ratings with three repairs, namely, thin overlay, medium overlay and thick overlay. SHAME ON YOU if you fall into that trap!!!!

Where I come from, the State DOT used to overlay their roads on a 7-year cycle, now one of their officials stated at a recent national meeting that due to budget constraints they could only overlay on a 99 year cycle. One day I will find that video clip and produce it as an IPMA™ Tip of the Week for your enjoyment!!!

• Are there any dangerous areas of town we shouldn’t be in after dark?

We have to know the answer to this question just so we can stay alive to manage more pavements and make more videos.

OK this list is still in the works and I will edit it as I prepare the PDH Power Hour 2016 webinar series, but for know, I need to get out on the Prowler and survey some more roads for The City of Kingman, AZ. For those of you in AZ, recall that we have the cooperative bid clause set up with the City so you can bolt onto that contract at your earliest convenience!

Blair

Call me at 404-316-9792 anytime 7 days a week or blair@ipma.co we love serving our Circle Of Pavement Management RockSTARS!!!!