As the weather in Washington turns warmer and construction season begins, our staff is once again hitting the road to provide on-site assistance, guidance, and training.
The County Road Administration Board is not just an oversight and funding agency, but also provides support to reach compliance. In the first quarter of 2023, our small staff was able to conduct over 500 consultations, county visits, trainings and regional meetings!
In April, Drew Woods represented the agency at the 2023 National Association of County Engineers (NACE) Conference held in Orange Beach, Alabama.
It was an informative gathering covering the latest in engineering best practices, federal legislation updates, and presentations on the latest technologies and services for fleet management, safety, personnel and pavement.
In May, Brian Bailey traveled to Ferry County to provide essential, hands-on drone training for staff.
The training provides necessary flight time to familiarize staff with performing routine flight maneuvers, takeoffs and landings, drone maintenance and calibration, camera operation for photos and videos, and operating drone apps such as DJI and Litchi. These skills are all necessary to fly an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) proficiently and cannot be taught in a classroom. If your county would like to participate in an upcoming hands-on flight training, please reach out to Brian!
In June, Steve Johnson traveled around the state meeting with counties in each of our five Rural Arterial Program (RAP) regions to provide program updates, answer questions and discuss proposed changes to Washington Administrative Code (WAC) intended to improve the RAP program.
The Northeast Region was hosted by Grant County, the Southeast Region by Benton County, the Puget Sound Region by Pierce County, Southwest Region by Cowlitz County and the Northwest Region met in Mount Vernon. Thank you to all of our host counties and to our attendees!
June also brought the Washington State Association of County Engineers (WSACE) annual conference, which several staff members presented at and participated in.
Jane Wall presented the 2023 Engineer of the Year Award and, along with Steve Johnson and Derek Pohle, moderated a roundtable discussion covering the legislative session and our upcoming Grant Programs Effectiveness Study. The discussion was well attended, with excellent participation, raising some credible ideas and concerns that can be developed in the study. If you have any interest in participating, please consider volunteering for the steering committee!
We have also been on the road visiting with a third our counties so far this year and we would love to connect with you, too!
In addition to participating in the upcoming National Association of Counties (NACO) and American Public Works Association (APWA) conferences, our staff have many upcoming trips planned around the state including Kitsap, Island, Spokane and Skagit Counties.
One impact of the pandemic was a significant slowdown of construction project site visits. With restrictions loosening, we will be catching up on recently completed construction projects and, on occasion, document reviews. While our document reviews are not as comprehensive as the federal level, they will become more thorough as we review our obligations with regard to the use of state funds.
