Madison County Highway Department finishes at the top in Cornell Local Roads Program’s 2020 Build a Better Mousetrap Competition
The Cornell Local Roads Program recognized the Madison County Highway Department for its outstanding achievement in innovation by awarding the department first place in its 2020 Build a Better Mousetrap Competition.
The department displayed exemplary ingenuity in the development of its “Wing Stop” snowplow attachment. This innovation acts as a travel limiter for the snowplow blade and helps prevent unnecessary road damage during winter maintenance operations.
“Madison County’s winning entry shows how innovations developed to fix one problem can solve a second problem,” said Cornell Local Roads Program Director David Orr, P.E. “The ‘Wing Stop’ helps the plow operator plow snow more efficiently while protecting shoulders along the road.”
The CLRP Build a Better Mousetrap Competition is a statewide contest for highway and public works departments held annually to discover and share innovations that solve everyday problems. Entries are judged under the criteria of cost, implementation, transferability and commonality of the problem solved.
Winners are entered in a national competition.
The Cornell Local Roads Program provides technical assistance and training to highway and public works departments across New York state. For more information about the CLRP Build a Better Mousetrap Competition, visit clrp.cornell.edu/trainingevents/BBMT, call 607.255.5833 or email clrp@cornell.edu.