Extreme innovation and extreme weather are all part of the job in Fairbanks
Necessity and the environment power innovation in Fairbanks, Sacramento, and Miami
We’re talking about three seemingly very different episodes this week: Fairbanks, AK; Sacramento, CA; and Miami, FL. Each of them highlight some form of innovation, but they also all highlight how innovation isn’t just driven by necessity, but also the environment itself.
On the podcast this week we wrap our series from Alaska with a visit to Fairbanks, where the winters dip to -60F and summers reach +95F. That 150 degree temperature swing really puts all their systems to the test, and requires a lot of clever innovations to keep running.
In Sacramento, they’ve been reducing nuisance issues like smoking and littering with a “Voice of God” system. Watch the Transit Unplugged TV episode to see it in action (with Paul pretending to be a litterbug).
And then coming up next week we travel down to Miami to learn about their first-in-the-nation electric bus charging and maintenance facility as Miami moves toward carbon-free transit.
Let’s start things off with more about our episode from Fairbanks.
This week on the podcast: Fairbanks takes center stage
We wrap our Alaska series with Corey DiRutigliano, Michelle Denton, and Dey Johnson part of the team at FAST Planning and Fairbanks North Star Borough.
If you live somewhere where winters go below freezing at least a few times, you know about potholes. As water trickles into cracks in the street, the freeze-thaw cycle starts breaking the road apart and you get potholes.
In Fairbanks things are a little different, under the city is discontinuous permafrost, meaning in some places the ground stays frozen year round. But, when that ground is disturbed by rain or building a road, the permafrost melts, changing the entire landscape. In order to just maintain their infrastructure they have to be completely in tune with their environment or a simple thing like a road could just come apart after a few years. Learn more about this amazing city on the edge of the Alaskan wilderness this week.
The Voice of God keeps nuisance infractions in check in Sacramento
It doesn’t matter where you are, nuisance infractions like littering, smoking, or loitering are, well, a nuisance for transit agencies. Unchecked, these nuisances add up to litter on platforms and a feeling like there is no consequence for breaking the rules. However, it’s impossible for transit security—in any form—to be everywhere and deal with these infractions.
Or is it?
Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) has deployed a “Voice of God” system where operators in their central security operations center watch for infractions via closed-circuit cameras and can call out over a loud speaker asking the person to pick up their litter, stop smoking, or other infraction. According to SacRT CEO Henry Li, those verbal warnings are 95% effective at getting people to correct their behavior. Watch how it works in this episode of Transit Unplugged TV as Paul gets “caught in the act of littering” and is called out by the Voice of God.
Coming up next week on Transit Unplugged: Miami’s New Electric Bus Depot
Join us next week as we learn about a bus garage that is the first-of-its-kind in the U.S., a state-of-the-art facility designed to house, charge, and repair one hundred 60-foot battery electric articulated buses. These buses will be a core part of a new 20 mile, all electric Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line in Miami.
Eulois Cleckley, CEO of Miami-Dade Department of Public Works and Transportation gives host Paul Comfort all the details why this facility is crucial for fast-growing Miami, and then WSP SVP Angel André Chavarria tells us how they overcame huge challenges in planning and construction to make it possible and break ground.
