 shopping for new ideas, for maintenance, engineering, communication, equipment, administration, training, safety. If you are, then welcome to the Idea Store, a store whose stock and trade is imagination. This is edition 7 of the Idea Store, and we'll begin with equipment. Grand Traverse County, Michigan has a county garage staff heavily involved in things that make their jobs safer, easier, and less expensive. The gentleman in the picture, Lee Cram, is pointing to an in-house designed airfoil mounted on a tailgate of a V-body dump truck. Made from an old aluminum road sign bent into a simple curve, it kept the lights and caution sign clear of snow during plowing operations and surprisingly free of dust while doing rural road work. The airfoil spans the width of the tailgate in two sections. This eliminates the need to replace the whole unit if one side should suffer damage. Larry King, shop foreman, says they were continually frustrated with commercially available cylinder wrenches. The shop personnel designed a wrench with four set bolts, not just a one standard wrenches half. The wrench head is made of one half to three-quarter inch plate steel. And to quote Mr. King, this wrench stands up to the toughest cylinder cap. It doesn't slip, and it breaks them loose every time. The same shop has added a curb scraper to its loader bucket. As the scraper runs along the top of the curb, it pushes debris toward the roadway and into the bucket. For further information, contact the Transportation Technology Transfer Center, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, 1,400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, Michigan, 49931-1295. From equipment to engineering, where a currently popular construction topic is modern timber bridges. In the past three years, 178 timber bridges in 45 states have been partially funded through the Demonstration Timber Bridge Project, coordinated by the USDA Forest Service. Michigan has a 150-foot glue-lam arch bridge on the state trunk line system. Built of southern pine, it has been operational since August of 1990. New Hampton Township, New Hampshire, recently completed two local timber bridges using that same glue-lam design. Pennsylvania has been involved in a timber bridge program since 1987, and this October is again hosting a National Timber Bridge Conference. Information on the conference can be obtained by contacting William Polgash, Pennsylvania R-Tap Director, Room 905, TNS Building, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 17120, or call 717-787-1964. Tell them you saw it in the Idea Store. One of the biggest problems in our industry is getting the word out. What's new, innovative, available? How do we find out? In October 1991, the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of American Public Works Association, along with the Pennsylvania Local Roads Program, held a well-attended, interesting conference on transportation issues in Grantville, Pennsylvania. Speakers, vendors, displays, all professionally prepared and presented, and there was a lot of idea sharing. An example of idea sharing was provided by the Dellchester PWA, the joint Delaware and Chester County Public Work Administrators Organization, with nearly 200 members. From the why, they went into specifics. Here is information on recycled asphalt paving, the traditional before and after shots, and then a series of pictures showing how the work is actually done. This was submitted by Art Roth from Middletown Township in Delaware County. Next is an innovative way to find out whether your township has sanitary sewer problems. This simple, homemade probe enabled the township to discover that of 75 services checked, 45 were faulty. This was submitted by Larry Garner of White Township in Delaware County. Next were some stormwater control alternatives, ranging from rip-rap guttering to gabions. This from West Whiteland Township in Chester County. About the time this video is distributed, the leaves should be turning. This is from the association itself and shows a typical township with a population of 28,000, 20 square miles, 12,000 homes, and 7,800 cubic yards of leaves every year. After the composting, here's what was left, something every gardener will take. Here's an alternative to the expensive signposts. This approach uses existing telephone poles. You will note that you must get permission from the utility company. This was submitted by Leroy Eshelman of East Lampeder Township. From Lynn Shirk in West Whiteland Township in Chester County comes an innovative use for an unneeded paver trailer. The unit has been made available for emergencies to local municipalities, emergency services, and to contractors. The total renovation cost was less than $500, but the trailer contains enough material to shore up an 8 foot deep and 20 foot long trench. If there's any sewer work planned in your neighborhood, this might be something to look at. From the gentleman who seems to be the guiding light behind the association, Mr. Joseph Joe Roscioli. He has been helping the association design generic forms for use by all townships. No cost for design. The forms have been approved at the local and state level, and they work. For any of the information featured in the Delchester display, you may contact Mr. Roscioli at 215-363-9527 or write to him in care of Joseph P. Roscioli, P.E., Public Works Director, West Whiteland Township, Box 210, 222 North Pottstown Pike, Exton, Pennsylvania, 19341. The display proved that you don't have to put an awful lot of money into getting the message out. Clear planning, clear pictures, clear printing, and you get a clear message. Obviously, an idea store needs ideas. Here's how to get your idea on the program. Tell us who you are. Better yet, send us a picture. Give us a good description of what your idea is. Show us the where at the locale of the idea is important. Why was the idea done? For reasons of safety, cost benefits, et cetera. How do you do it? Show us step by step, provide plans, pictures, whatever you think we might need to understand what it is you want us to understand. Send your idea to your Technology Transfer Center for evaluation. Thanks for shopping at the Idea Store. Until next time, remember an idea never shared is an idea never appreciated.