Arlington Named Finalist for Two Route Fifty Navigator Awards
By Office of Communication
Posted on November 26, 2019, November 26, 2019

The City of Arlington was recently named a finalist in two categories in the annual Route Fifty Navigator Awards, a nation-wide competition that highlights innovation in public service.

The City of Arlington was recently named a finalist in two categories in the annual Route Fifty Navigator Awards, a nation-wide competition that highlights innovation in public service.

Route Fifty is an online publication aimed at municipal, state and federal government leaders. All the Navigator Award finalists were honored at the National League of Cities conference in San Antonio this month for “their ability to implement a great idea that improves public sector services and the communities they serve.”

Monsur Ahmed, an ITS coordinator for the City’s Public Works and Transportation Department, was a finalist in the “Next Generation” category for spearheading the deployment of smart technologies to improve Arlington’s traffic signal system. Additionally, the Arlington Water Utilities Sanitary Sewer Overflow Core Team was a finalist in “The Leaders” category.

During Fiscal Year 2019, the Sanitary Sewer Overflow Core Team combined expertise from across the water department’s divisions to improve the prevention of sanitary sewer overflows. These overflows can create property damage, dangerous environmental hazards for residents, and harm wildlife. The Core Team pored over years of data to formulate a plan that would meet customer expectations for sanitary sewer reliability and improve decisions about infrastructure replacement spending. Results have included a three-pronged approach centered on leveraging new technology, better focusing sanitary sewer inspections and cleaning, and fostering collaborative research for the future.

In the future, sanitary sewer cleaning targets will be added or subtracted based on a computerized algorithm developed in-house. The formula tracks repeat sanitary sewer overflows, maintenance history, and sewer blockages. The results from the algorithm determine whether cleaning is needed and feed directly into work order assignment systems. This spring, the Arlington City Council also approved the purchase of 50 battery-operated SmartCover Systems installed in manholes to measure sewer system flow at their locations.

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