TowPLow Follow Up - DOT Replies With More Details

[There are a number of well known epistolary novels.  Well, this is an E-pistolery blog post.  I didn't intend it that way, but my correspondent said what he had to say succinctly and it doesn't make sense to rearrange his words.  And blogs have no space limitations. This way you get everything in context including the interchange between blogger and the department's public relations officer.  Including my dumb mistake which we got past with civility.] 

Overview:  
I got more details

• On the costs of the snow plows and transportation
• Why Juneau and Soldotna got the first two
• Why they came by barge instead of ferry (Jeremy mostly said Alaska Marine Highway)

Basically, tow plows are one-third the cost of a regular snow plow, but they have to be towed by a regular plow.  So if you have four lane or bigger roads, it can make sense to use them and free up a regular plow to do other roads.
 
Intro:

Before I posted up my previous post on the Alaska TowPLow experiment I sent an email reply to the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOTPF) Public Relations Officer, Jeremy Woodrow, whose contact information was on the original press release and asked a few questions about the costs and benefits of the new equipment.

I asked:

"is there any information on the costs of the TowPlow compared
 to regular equipment and analysis of whether the extra costs will be
 balanced by savings or just by faster clearing?"

Meanwhile, I saw that the ADN already had up an article that included the costs that they'd gotten from DOT and so I added that into my piece and posted.

Then I got an email back from Jeremy:

Thanks for your inquiry. The numbers you requested are as follows:
 
 New Snowplow = $260K
 New Towplow = $90K   

Monthly Operating and Replacement Costs for Snowplow = $3700 Monthly Operating and Replacement Cost for Towplow = $1100   

While the cost savings are significant with the towplow, I should point out that a towplow might not necessarily work for every snow removal situation. This is why the department is taking a slow approach with introducing the new device across the state. With that said there will also never be a situation where we can replace snowplows outright, as there are many situations where the benefits of a snowplow outweigh that of a towplow.   

Please let me know if I can be of any more help.
 

Since my initial inquiry, I'd done online research and so I had more questions:

"Jeremy, I appreciate your reply.  Since I emailed you, the ADN had the $90,000 figure and said it included "shipping and installation."  I found reports online that said North Dakota and Pennsylvania paid right around $74,000 for their tow plows.  Does installation refer to modifying the existing plows to attach the tow plows to them?  How much was installation and how much was transportation?  How did they get to Juneau and Soldotna?  Did the Juneau [tow plow] come by ferry from Bellingham? 

That would seem a good way to go since DOT also owns the ferry system and traffic in the winter should mean there was plenty of room.  At  the very least, the state ferry would get the payment."

And I got a pretty quick and long response that answers a lot of questions.

 Hi Steve,

 I read your blog post regarding the towplow. Journalists and bloggers usually identify themselves, which helps folks, such as myself, provide timely and accurate information. [This is a valid point and I shouldn't have assumed that he would know I was a blogger simply because I was on their mailing list and my email address contains the name of the blog.  There are things that good journalism training would have embedded in me.  I do introduce myself as a blogger when I talk to people and I shouldn't have made assumptions here.  I did apologize in the next email, which he graciously acknowledged.] I've worked with numerous bloggers throughout my career and appreciate the personal viewpoint that bloggers can convey where many professional journalists cannot.   

I noticed that you found some very good information online and raised some valid questions as to what DOT's must consider when purchasing a towplow. Those, among others, are all items that Alaska DOT&PF must weigh against the benefits before ultimately deciding to purchase any snow removal equipment (snowplow, towplow, grader, etc.). In your blog post, you cited PennDOT's break down of the cost for modifications from the actual cost of the towplow. In order to provide you similar numbers, I spoke with our State Equipment Fleet (SEF) manager and was able to gather the following information.
The actual cost for each towplow was $89,127, which included shipping to Seattle and installation and training by the manufacturer. The cost of the towplow has a few variables which include the ballast used on the trailer (tanks, sander, etc) and number of towplows purchased.  

Each towplow then had to be shipped to the respective destinations. The cost to ship the towplow to Soldotna was $7,170, a little less to Juneau. The department did not ship via Alaska Marine Highway because it would have actually cost much more when combining the cost of trailering the towplow from Seattle to Bellingham, modifying a truck in Washington that would be capable of trailering the towplow, and then having a truck on the receiving end be capable of trailering the towplow from Whittier to Soldotna. Logistically and fiscally this did not make sense. The best solution for safe transport of the towplow was to pay for shipping from Seattle to Soldotna/Juneau and then
arrange to modify only the truck intended to trailer the towplow at each location.

[The tow plow has to be pulled by an existing snow plow, so the snow plow has to be modified so the new tow plow can be connected to it.]

The required truck modifications came to $5,700 in Soldotna and $10,000 for Juneau.  The Juneau cost was higher because it's an older truck that required more equipment. In both locations the modification cost included a rear-facing camera on the trucks that provide the operator a more complete view of the trailer while in motion - the department viewed this as a necessary item for both the safety of the operator and other drivers.  

From my understanding the first weekend deployment for the towplow went well in Soldotna. Juneau is still waiting for snow, as it's been unusually warm and rainy the last two months. In both situations, only time will tell if the towplow is the right piece of equipment for Alaska's roads. The potential cost savings, as illustrated in my  previous email, are significant but more importantly the towplow must meet the performance standards that our Maintenance and Operations crews have set for clearing roadways in a timely, safe and professional manner.  

Lastly, Alaska DOT&PF is always actively researching new or improved methods for operations. This is in an effort to operate the department, as a whole, more efficiently. The towplow serves as an excellent example by providing an improved level of service through more efficient means.

 If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

 Best Regards,
 

I did have more questions, but first let me just point out that the company that makes these tow plows has offices in New York and Missouri.

Missouri is the headquarters for people ordering TowPlows from the Midwest and Western US.  So the cost to ship it to Seattle should be more than to North Dakota or to Pennsylvania, the two places I found significantly lower purchase costs for (@$74,000).

Also, Jeremy followed up with info on their subscription list:

Hi Steve,

 I didn't mean to put you on the spot, but apology accepted. As an FYI, your email
is on our distribution list managed through the department's GovDelivery
email service. You can manage your subscription via the following link:
https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/AKDOT/subscriber/new

Regards,

 -Jeremy

When I looked there I saw different types of stories checked off and I vaguely remembered doing that.  I clearly did subscribe, but I can't remember what instigated it.  Other releases come by email too and I know I didn't ask for them.  But it's interesting to  see what I get and then see what other media do with the releases.  And sometimes I find something interesting enough to post about it.  Like this one. 


My last two questions:

Jeremy, not an issue, it was a good reminder for me.  But as I'm trying
to write this, I have a couple more questions:

1.  Why were Soldotna and Juneau picked instead of Anchorage or Matsu or
Fairbanks which have a lot more road where the tow plows could be used? 
I got a comment from a Juneau reader that they only have ten miles of
four lane road, the ADN got comments on Soldotna.

2.  I understood that the Marine Highway wouldn't have made sense for the
Soldotna tow plow, but I don't see why the Juneau one couldn't have been
shipped directly to Bellingham.  I'm assuming that they didn't come on
one truck from the manufacturer to Seattle.  Bellingham's only 90 miles
from Seattle and the added distance would probably be less if it was
going directly to Bellingham from the factory, so I can't see that that
would add that much after the a cross-country trip.  I'm sure there's a
good reason and I don't want to waste your time unnecessarily, so I'll
stop at just these two questions.

My assumption, based on what you've written so far is that there are
good, if not obvious to the outsider, reasons.  And those details will
probably reassure my readers that DOTPF was doing their job.  We all seem
to know much better than those involved when we don't have the relevant
details.

Thanks,

Steve

And a speedy response from Jeremy:

Good questions. Soldotna and Juneau were both selected because each
location was in need of an extra snowplow truck for its maintenance
fleet. Given the price of a brand new plow truck, the department did not
have the funds to purchase a truck for both locations. It would have been
one or the other. This required the department to think outside the box
and explore alternative methods for how we could achieve the same
function of two trucks with limited funds. In both cases a towplow seemed
to be an appropriate solution given that it would allow one truck to
clear the major multi-lane arterials using a conventional snowplow truck
trailering a towplow while freeing up a second truck to clear other
roads. Anchorage, Mat-Su and Fairbanks did not have an immediate need for
a new snowplow truck. If/when either of those locations expresses the
need for a new snowplow truck, then the department will evaluate whether
a towplow would be an appropriate replacement/addition. In regards to
your Juneau reader: whether there are 10 or 50 miles of four lane road,
it still requires two trucks in procession to safely and timely clear the
road.

In regards to shipping via the Alaska Marine Highway. DOT&PF often uses
AMHS to transport construction equipment, etc. when space is available
and it is usually the first option explored when transporting any item.
The shipping to Seattle was negotiated as part of the purchase price for
each towplow. I'm not sure how they were actually shipped (rail or
truck). I do know that the department explored the ferry option and, due
to logistics and the expense, it made more sense to ship via barge to
both locations.

If you would like more information, please feel free to call me and I can
explain my above answers with further detail

Thanks again for you interest,

Jeremy

And that's it.  We could drill down further - and Jeremy seemed to enjoy providing the information - but I don't think there's anything here to 'uncover.'   Instead I'd say we probably had public officials doing their jobs well. 

New Blogging Partner Needs A Lot of Attention

When you take on a new partner in any activity, there's a period when the new person is learning the ropes and you wonder if it isn't more trouble than it's worth.  And so it is with my new partner.  She sleeps a lot on the job which often means I'm typing with just one hand.  And after meals she's given to me in my new role as digestion specialist and we do a lot of moving around to get those bubbles percolating through her system.  Movement of all kinds - rocking, calisthenics, up and down, back and forth, back patting - seems to do wonders in distracting her and giving the server some time to sleep or do other things.  (One thing she can do as well as any adult - hiccup.)

But this is a long term partnership and if the blogging gets a little behind, I hope you'll understand.  And the training investment will have big long term benefits.

Seattle Chilly Rain Back - We Go To Flower Show

I remember being entranced by the giant flower shows in LA as a kid and have wanted to check out the one in Seattle for years.  So now I find myself a ferry ride away when the flower show began in downtown.

My childhood memories set me up for disappointment.  There was lots of stuff to see (and buy) and really big fancy displays.  I was a bit overwhelmed - there was too much going on.  It took a while before I even got my camera out.

I thought these narrow vases were cool. But you do need lots of flowers to put in them.

Here's another thin vase with calla lilies in it.  I got too many reflections on the glass, so I used the photshop colored pencil filter.  The lilies were under water in the vase.

 This booth had art pieces made out of dried fruit and vegetable slices.  I liked the kiwi.

 

This was the Washington Park Arboretum's display - a hobbit garden.  It won a gold medal.

 

Returning to rainy Bainbridge by ferry.

Spring Preview

It was sunny today and suddenly all the crocuses that were about to open, opened. 

Can You Teach Corporations To Care? Carol Sanford Gives My Brain A Workout - Part 2

Part 1 is here.

Carol Sanford works with corporations to help them see how their operations can be more profitable if they treat the environment and human beings (employees, clients, and suppliers) well.  I sat in on a presentation she gave at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute.  This is Part 2 of my reactions. I'm not claiming to represent what she thinks.  These are my interpretations.  You can read her book The Responsible Business or go to her website.

Carol’s focus, as I understood it, is:

1.  To transform corporations by challenging the leaders and employees to expand how they envision their personal and organizational mission to include making positive rather than negative externalities - the side effects their operation has on the environment and on the lives of all the people - from employees to customers to suppliers. 

2.  When she goes into an organization, her role is not, in her mind, as a consultant paid for a short period of time.  While she does get paid, and given her client list, I have to assume she gets paid very well,  the way she described herself and her intent makes me think the best word here is ‘adopt.’  She adopts the organization and, with the care a parent has for a wayward child, helps the adopted employees connect to their essence. 

3.  Essence.  I’m making leaps here as I take fragments of evidence from a few hours of observation, maybe 20 minutes of conversation, and blending in what's in my head, to conclusions which may be what I want them to be rather than what Carol would say.  But perhaps this will be part of a discussion Carol and I continue. 

So, essence.  She said this was the goal - to reach the essence.  I’ve talked about something that seems similar by using the term ‘authentic conversation.’  By that I mean that two people talk openly, from the heart, dropping  the protective veils that project what we think the world wants us to project rather than what we really feel.  As a professor advising graduate students, I had the luxury of asking prospective graduate students to tell me what was missing in their lives that they wanted to make such a huge time and financial commitment.  This usually led to glimpses of their essence and in return I would share as well, and we had authentic conversations.  This doesn’t mean therapy and it doesn’t mean we shared all our deepest secrets, but that we dropped a few of the canned responses and talked, human to human, heart to heart. The student stops trying to impress me by hiding fears and exaggerating abilities and I'm honest about what to expect of the program.  Authentic conversation is a very energizing experience, which is why I say it was a luxury.  Having had that regularly has made me seek it in other situations and it’s really available if one knows how to be genuine oneself.  Maybe it’s the ultimate drug that artists and musicians and theologians exalt - love.  Maybe not.

So, my understanding of what Carol does is help people find their essence.  To look past  all the facades the world seems to demand - the right clothing, the right opinions, the right facial expressions, tone of voice, words and phrases - so they can see who they really are.  And once they’ve connected to themselves, she has them engage in conversation with each other to talk about what is really important in life and how their organization is contributing to or preventing those things. 

Does it always work?  I’m sure it doesn’t.  But when it does it’s great.  Is she always right and always consistent?  That’s not a standard anyone could meet.  It’s silly to not allow people mistakes - that’s how one learns, if one pays attention. 

4.  Why corporations?  That’s where much of the power to do harm and good resides.  It’s where she believes she can get the most miles of positive impact for the fewest gallons of  effort.  Plus, not incidentally, that’s the world she was mentored into. 

Why does this matter so much to me?  I’m balancing a bunch of ideas here. 

Am I focused right?  Should I be doing more?  While I think it is important to try to make the world a better place, the Buddhist influences on me also say that instead of fixing others we should fix ourselves.  But then those who are closer to enlightenment attract adherents who learn from them.  Perhaps that is where Carol is.  Corporate leaders hear about her from their colleagues and come seeking her wisdom. 

Part of me has concluded that helping take care of myself and those nearby is the right path.  If half the people in the world did just that, most of the world's problems would go away.  Another part of me says I should do more good.  It’s a constant tension. 

How do Carol's thoughts affect what I'm working on?   The intellectual puzzles that are my life’s challenge, include the understanding of organizations and the role of people in them.  And Carol’s take on this looks a lot like mine and I’m trying to figure out how close or far apart we are and how what she knows might help me get a couple of pieces of the puzzle into place.  (Of course I know that the puzzle isn’t static and the pieces are constantly changing shape and size.)  Plus, I’m writing a paper for a May conference and these ideas impact the paper.  My sense is that this is leading to a bigger project - one already on the agenda - more than the coming paper. 

I thought there would be two posts here.  But I think this is a good pausing point, and I’ll try to do one more on the role of human beings in organizations and what I think that means for what people in organizations should know. 

Studs On Bikes

Studded bike tires, along with LED lights, have transformed winter biking in Anchorage in the last ten years.  But while we think of ourselves as state of the art in these things, I discovered this studded tire in Michael Embacher's Cyclepedia that is listed as 1966! 























UPDATE 4:25pm:  Sorry, I was in a hurry and didn't get this part up. 

Another part of winter biking is being in a community where bike trails are cleared of snow.  Some Anchorage bike trails are cleared fairly quickly by small snow plows, though there is the problem of street plows then throwing street snow back into the bike paths. 

For another view on this, here's a post from BicyleDutch  about bike trail clearing in Holland:

When I mentioned the city of ’s-Hertogenbosch had forgotten to clear one new cycle route of snow in my post two weeks ago, the city quickly responded and the route was gritted right away. For the future the route is now included in the ‘to be cleared main cycle routes’. That was possible because the ‘city’ is of course a number of people working hard. One person read my post and contacted another person who is in charge of planning the actual gritting. A few days later I was contacted, and asked if I’d like to have a look at how ’s-Hertogenbosch works to keep its city streets safe, by clearing the main routes for motorised traffic and those for cyclists of snow and ice. Well, yes of course I was interested!

 There's pictures and more of the story if you go to the site.

Carol Sanford Gives My Brain a Workout - Part 1

Carol Sanford at Bainbridge Graduate Institute

Carol Sanford doesn’t waste time.  There’s no small talk.  No pussy footing around.  She tells you what she’s thinking and she doesn’t allow you to bullshit her or yourself.  She asks a student how she felt doing a class exercise.  The student talks about the outcome, but not her feelings.  Carol looks at her and says, ok, but how did you feel?  The student pauses and tries again, without answering the question.  After a third prompt, she says something like, “uncomfortable.”  Carol says, “Good.  Nothing really changes until you’re destabilized. It’s hard to escape all the expectations society has of you.  Being uncomfortable helps you break loose so you can find your essence.”  [Since I didn’t record this, that’s a rough reenactment.]  

Language was a focus throughout the class as Carol asked people if they knew what the difference was, say, between ‘triangle’ and ‘triad.’  Or what the Latin root of education meant.  Words matter, how we use them or misuse them.  Are we saying what we mean or just using cliches to cover our lack of a real answer?  And words shape how we think.  Someone said their activity didn't work.  Carol said: Nothing ‘didn’t work.  It moved.’

Movement was a key issue.  We’re developing,  always.  We’re works in progress.  If something 'didn’t work' the way we expected, we at least know a little more than we did.  We've eliminated one option.  We've moved.

Carol’s work is to move corporations toward discovering their essences, by seducing their humans into looking deep inside of themselves to escape the traps of traditional ways of doing things.  The cliche behaviors maybe.   She’s trying to get the people to manage themselves, to find themselves and take control, be who they really are, not what the world has told them they should be.

Her critique of most management paradigms is that they treat humans as machines or lab rats.  Even when they treat them as humans, they are manipulating them, creating all sorts of external incentives.  What’s important to her is to liberate people’s internal will so that they will do things because they are the right things to do and because the people have a passion to do them. 

All of this was fascinating to me because it overlaps much of what I’ve studied and taught and ideas I’m writing up for a conference in May.  Carol's style is not at all like mine, though I can see her certainty and in-your-face delivery would appeal to corporate managers.  When someone asked about building trust before pushing people out of their comfort zones, she said bluntly:  “I don’t build trust.”  But she followed that up with, “I’m doing this with love.  I don’t work with an organizations unless I commit to them for the rest of my life.”   (She’s worked with large corporations on transformations of their thinking so they put environmental and social consequences into their business models.) 

She also reminded students that they must always test what people say with their own conscious reflective [and I can’t read my notes - was it ‘eye’ or ‘exp(erience)?] Basically, don't trust what I say.  Check it out.  Something I always warned students to do. 

This was a three hour encounter (I think that’s a more accurate word than ‘class.’)  There wasn't time to fill in all the gaps.  But when I asked about things while students were doing an exercise, she filled in the gaps I’d inquired about.  My guess is that with time to discuss the areas I questioned, we’d be pretty close on our assessment of things. 

The session sent my brain into over drive as I thought about my own models of the world and questioned how well I use what I know to do good.  Being with the students reminded me of the intellectual challenge (that's a good thing) that teaching is.  Finding who the students are so I can find ways to help them connect to the subject matter.  Once you do that, it's hard to hold them back. And despite her toughness, I felt like we were old friends within the first few minutes.

Her take on the part of the world I'm intellectually most interested in seems very close to mine - even in those parts where I usually feel out there on my own. Am I filling in the blanks to make them look like I want them to look?  Are the apparent differences real?  Would we would come together if we sat down and talked through them?  What has she figured out that I'm still puzzling over?  I need to read her book The Responsible Business.

OK now.  This post is just the warmup.  Next I'll take another swipe at this from a different angle. 

[This all happened at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute Intensive I mentioned yesterday]

Part 2  is up here.

Clearing Two Lanes at Once - TowPLows for Soldotna and Juneau

The Alaska Department of Transportation sent out a press release saying they're going to experiment with a tow plow that clears two lanes at once.   Here's a screen shot from a YouTube video of one of these machines in Pennsylvania.  

Screen Shot from Pennsylvania TowPLow YouTube video

The description (definitely promoting these) on the video says:

This is a video of the innovative TowPlow being used on Pennsylvania highways. Invented in Missouri and widely used there, the TowPlow is a steerable trailer equipped with a snow plow moldboard and cutting edge that allows the snow plow truck driver to plow a much wider path than could be done with the truck alone.

The DOT release says they're going to test them in the two locations to see how they work and they should allow other trucks to go clear other roads sooner.  One of the video commenters thought in Pennsylvania they'd use them to cut jobs.

An evaluation of the tow plow testing on three Ohio roads (pdf) in 2010-2011 did not mention costs or savings, but listed these performance benefits and concerns:

 Benefits
Incorporating the TowPLow into Ashtabula County’s snow and ice operations proved to be a valuable addition to their snow and ice removal fleet. The County discovered several aspects of their operations that significantly benefitted from utilizing TowPLow.

• Increases the overall level of service provided to the travelling public •    Provides safer road conditions 

• Plows and treats more lanes faster and more efficiently 

• Maintains favorable pavement conditions longe 

• Limits snow and ice from bonding to the pavement 

• Frees trucks to plow and treat areas of need – ramps, shoulders, other routes, etc. 

• Completes snow and ice operations faster – less fuel, labor, and material 

• Requires less cleanup after the storm •    Decreases equipment maintenance 

Concerns  -Ashtabula County identified the following concerns regarding the implementation of the TowPLow into their snow and ice operations

• Impeding traffic flow – most importantly emergency vehicles 

• Striking obstacles on the shoulder not visible in white-out conditions (e.g., stranded vehicles) 

• Visibility of the TowPLow in blowing snow – especially snow thrown from the front plow 

• Breaking down of the tow vehicle effectively downs two trucks unless another truck is capable of towing the plow

Image from Ohio Report on TowPlow testing

The study also recommended some improvements before purchasing the equipment:

Prior to purchasing the TowPLow, several improvements to both the TowPLow and tow vehicle should be considered. Although not necessary to achieve positive results, these advancements will simplify operation for the drivers, ensure the system is utilized to its maximum extent, and help to alleviate some of the concerns.

TowPLow improvements

• Include a polytank for pre-wetting salt  

• Add a laser alignment system to define the edge of the plow 

• Position a camera at the rear of the TowPLow to view traffic behind the unit 

• Install a hub odometer on the trailer wheel for tracking the TowPLow’s usage

Tow vehicle improvements

• Purchase a truck with added horsepower and torque to increase towing performance 

• Move the material spreader under the truck frame behind the cab to enhance material application coverage (current application is altered by the trailer tongue) 

• Clearly identify the hydraulic lines for easier trailer connection

A North Dakota study (pdf) is much more succinct and does include some cost analysis:

Summary
The initial cost of the TowPLow is $74,389 with a 17 year expected life. The Bismarck District estimated the labor and equipment cost (not including the fuel) for the regular snow removal operation is $1,754 per snow event. They estimate the TowPLow operation labor and equipment cost was $782 per snow event. This results in a savings of $972 per snow event when using the TowPLow. Using the TowPLow in the snow removal operation frees up three snow plow trucks to address other major routes to better meet service levels for the public. These costs are unique to Bismarck. Although different urban and rural roadways may require different equipment and labor hours than the Bismarck section, it appears the TowPLow operation does offer a cost savings to the regular snow removal operation.
Generally speaking, the Bismarck and Fargo District comments indicate that the TowPLow is more efficient in clearing snow, and maybe safer for the employee and the public (in terms of reduced snow fog)..

I tend to be skeptical of in-house evaluations. By the time the organization gets far enough along to test the equip for several months, there is often a bias to buy the glitzy new stuff, unless it does really terribly. The bias may well not even be conscious.  But little things point to it.  For instance in this Pennsylvania study, which looks more like a promotional pamphlet than an evaluation, there is a "What are the Benefits" section, but no "Costs" section.  Instead, there's a section called "Points to Consider."  Subtle, but significant. 


From a Pennsylvania study:

What Are the Benefits?
In addition to reductions in equipment use and personnel time, savings and benefits include:

• The added weight of the Tow Plow increases truck fuel consumptionby about 10-15%; however, compared to using two trucks to do the same job, this is actually a fuel savings of 85-90%. 

• The Tow Plow can be used in a plow train, in place of a truck thatcould be deployed on a different route, thus increasing overall level of service. 

• The Tow Plow requires standard plow and trailer maintenance — asavings compared to maintenance that a second truck and plow requires. 

• The Tow Plow can be used strictly for spreading/antiskid applicationswhen plowing is not necessary. 

• During non-winter months, the Tow Plow can be used as a water tank.

Points to Consider
Here are points to consider when making a Tow Plow investment decision:   

• The cost of a Tow Plow purchased through PennDOT’s DGS Plow Contract is $73,790. 

• Required truck modifications costing $15,500 include a rear hitch module, hydraulic upgrade, and two in-cab controls; no engine or transmission changes are necessary. 

• If the tow vehicle goes down for maintenance, then the Tow Plow is out of service unless another truck with the required modifications is available. 

• The Tow Plow can be configured for anti-icing at a cost of $25,820, or with an 8 cubic yard granular material hopper at a cost of $18,184. n    Operators require overview and familiarization training, provided by the vendor. 

• The Tow Plow should probably not be deployed in urban areas during periods of high traffic volume.

 A Maine report put the costs of fitting the truck much lower:

Fleet Services, Bureau of Maintenance and Operations retrofitted a 2009 Volvo Wheeler to accommodate the towing of the plow. Changes to the truck were relatively minimal and included installation of a 45 ton pintel hook and the installation of hydraulic hoses from the trucks wing tower to the tongue of the Tow Plow trailer. Hydraulic fluid from the wing up/down function operated the lifting and lowering motion of the tow plow and fluid from the D/A slide operated the two steering axles of the trailer. These axles articulate to a maximum (see Photos 1 and 2). The standard wing is not needed when using the Tow Plow. The 8 yard hopper mounted on the tow trailer was operated by utilizing the trucks existing spreader controls.

The retrofit of the truck took about 2 days to complete at a cost of approximately $1,000 including materials.

That's considerably less that the $15,000 costs Pennsylvania reported.

Ohio says the modifications of their truck was about $5000.


 An ADN story says the Alaska plows cost $90,000 each, which puts them about $16,000 more than Pennsylvania and North Dakota paid for theirs.  But the story said the figure included shipping and installation.  What does installation mean here?  Does that include the modification of the trucks that tow them?  If not, then $16,000 for shipping seems a bit steep.

Totem lists the cost to ship a 24 foot* truck to Anchorage from Seattle at $4,036.40.  That leaves $12,000 to get it to Seattle from the manufacturer.  And given the Alaska State Ferry, a part of the Alaska Department of Transportation, goes from Bellingham to Juneau, you'd think they could work out something much cheaper, given the ferry isn't that crowded in the winter.  

*Since the total clearing path of a regular plow truck pulling a TowPlow can reach up to 24 feet, I don't think the plow could be longer than 24 feet.

LENGTH	PER FOOT RATE	OCEAN FREIGHT RATE	ESTIMATED OCEAN FUEL SURCHARGE 32.5%*	PORT CHARGE	ESTIMATED TOTAL PER VEHICLE,US$
24	$123.00	$2,952.00	$959.40	$125.00	$4,036.40

The ADN story also says the

"The one on the Kenai Peninsula will be used in the urban areas like Soldotna and Kenai as well as wider sections of area highways from Sterling to Kalifornsky Beach Road"

But the Pennsylvania study concluded:

The Tow Plow should probably not be deployed in urban areas during periods of high traffic volume.

 But then 'urban' is a relative term and Soldotna and Kenai probably wouldn't qualify by Pennsylvania standards.

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/02/15/2791319/soldotna-area-sees-first-use-of.html#storylink=cpy

Energy, Caring, and Lots of Ideas at Bainbridge Graudate [Graduate] Institute Intensive

IslandWood Welcome Center

I got invited to the Bainbridge Graduate Institute intensive yesterday and today.  This is a small private school founded by Libba and Gifford Pinchot.  When I asked Gifford today how they came to this ambitious project, he said it happened after 9/11.  He had a meeting scheduled in the World Trade Center on 9/12.  His wife was somewhere on the Amazon on 9/11 and it took some time for her to find out he was ok.  After that they decided to do something meaningful and important.

I've been hearing about BGI because my son-in-law teaches there (which is how I got an invite.)  Underlying this all is a strong belief that people going into business today must have a strong sense of how the business affects the environment, their employees, their clients and a list of other things.  I also got the sense that these students are more likely to end up starting their own businesses rather than be looking for someone to hire them.

From the BGI Website:

BGI began an industry movement by offering the first MBA in Sustainable Business.

Our founders created the Bainbridge Graduate Institute to develop business solutions for the world’s most pressing challenges. BGI’s MBA and Certificate programs are specifically designed to integrate sustainability—environmentally and socially responsible practices—with traditional business education so that you can harness the power of business for good in the world.

Innovation is fundamental to the BGI spirit. Our community’s collective intelligence and energy drive industry breakthroughs that advance sustainability across the globe. Your BGI education introduces you to a dynamic community of change agents—industry pioneers, world-class faculty, business-leading alumni and talented peers—who are working together to change business for good.

Our graduates lead the evolution of business by developing their own successful ventures, guiding established companies and organizations towards more sustainable futures, and bringing sustainable practices to the greater business community. Join our community of business leaders, and you will learn how to create profitable solutions for a better world."

 This was a class on Entrepreneurship and each of the students is developing a business plan for an organization they are creating.  They'd gotten the lecture beforehand online and the class time was spent working on their projects and presenting where they were to the others in the class.  Lots of interesting idea, good exchange, and enthusiasm.  Clearly these students have a goal in mind and the class is helping them get there.



The intensive is Thursday afternoon, Friday, and Saturday at IslandWood - a beautiful and very environmentally correct (they even have composting toilets) conference/education center type place in the middle of a forest on Bainbridge Island.  The focus this weekend is

Sustainable Food and Agriculture Systems: Feeding Our Passions

Currently, the world’s population stands at over 7 billion and counting.  It is no small feat to determine ways to feed our expanding population using sustainable practices. One of the key messages from the United Nations 2012 State of Food and Agriculture Report is “Investing in agriculture is one of the most effective strategies for reducing poverty and hunger and promoting sustainability.”
February’s theme, Sustainable Food and Agriculture Systems, will spotlight the important areas where work is being done to solve local and global food issues, as well as focus on others where we still need to innovate and design solutions that will allow all people to thrive.

The evening featured a panel discussion with some of the visiting faculty and moderated by Board Chair Pinchot (second from the left.)  The others, starting on the left (using the bios from the website) were:

Tim Crews is broadly interested in what agriculture can learn from the prairie or forest about sustainability. Tim’s current research focuses on reducing and eliminating dependence on synthetic fertilizers in perennial agriculture. For 18 years prior to coming to The Land Institute in September 2012, Tim was a Professor of Environmental Studies and Agroecology at Prescott College in Arizona. He was a visiting researcher in Australia with CSIRO in 2002 and with Rothamsted Research in the U.K in 2009. Tim received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and was an Ecology post-doc fellow at Stanford University before taking his faculty position at Prescott.


Carol Sanford has been leading major consulting change efforts in both Fortune 500 and new economy businesses for more than 30 years. Her client list includes long-term relationships with Colgate Europe and Africa; DuPont Canada, US, Asia and Europe. She also works with new economy companies like Intel, Agilent and leaders of corporate responsibility such as Seventh Generation. In addition, Carol is a judge and mentor for University of Washington Global Business Center Social Entrepreneur Competition in Seattle.

She combines her economic development experience with her extensive business education and background when working with Responsible Governance in Community, Provincial and Regional Policy and Education. Carol has published dozens of works in 10 languages, including a series of articles in Executive Excellence, Stephen Covey’s newsletter and At Work, a Berrett-Koehler Journal. Her book, The Responsible Business: Re-imagining Sustainability and Success, was published in February 2011.


Frederick Kirschenmann is a longtime national and international sustainable agriculture leader. He served as the Leopold Center‘s second director from July 2000 to November 2005, when he was named a Distinguished Fellow. He joined the board of the Stone Barns Center in 2004 and was elected president in 2007. In January 2008, he assumed a half-time appointment at Stone Barns, dividing his time between Iowa and New York, to explore ways that rural and urban communities can work together to develop a more resilient, sustainable agriculture and food system. He has held numerous appointments, including the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board and the National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production operated by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and funded by Pew Charitable Trusts.

Upon his return to North Dakota in 1976, he converted his family’s 2,600-acre farm in south central North Dakota to a certified organic operation. He has developed a diverse crop rotation that has enabled him to farm productively without the synthetic inputs of fertilizers and pesticide, while simultaneously improving the health of the soil. Kirschenmann’s farm has been featured in National Geographic, Business Week, Audubon, the LA Times and Gourmet magazine.

As you can imagine, the discussion was full of challenging ideas.  Tim raised more issues I hadn't heard about before like the life cycle of soil including his study of the soils of the Hawaiian Islands which range from some of the youngest to some of the oldest on earth.  The rapid depletion of Phosphorous because of our agricultural practices also came up as did his current work in developing perennial agriculture crops in Kansas.  As I understood it, getting perennial crops preserves the soil better than planting new wheat or sorghum crops each year.  Fred added that there is no one solution.  That going all organic or all vegan would have problems too.  And the incentive systems for agribusiness do not lead them to doing what's good for the soil or the rest of the environment.

Gifford has a little Charlie Rose in him as he asked probing questions of the panelists.

Today I spent time in Carol's class and I'll try to put something up on that later. [Later: There are two posts. The first one on Carol has a link to the second.] It got my brain rocking as a lot of her ideas overlap things I'm working on, but with a twist. 


In case anyone is thinking the name Gifford Pinchot is familiar, yes, Gifford is the grandson of the man who played a huge role in US conservation, including playing a major part in creating the Chugach National Forest in Alaska.  There's quite a bit about him in Charles Wohlforth's The Fate of Nature. 

These Pictures Aren't Remarkable Except For The Blue

We've been in the Seattle area almost a month now and today was only the third day that had a lot of blue sky.   It's not supposed to last. 

But I my granddaughter (and daughter) give me all the sunshine I need.