Maintenance Innovations: Optimizing Processes, Creating Efficiencies and Improving Safety

The Maintenance TAG also continues its work on the Air Foil innovation to help address truck visibility issues during winter weather events and improve safety.

“Reduced visibility of the reflective material on the tailgates and lights on maintenance trucks cause a safety concern to the motoring public and PennDOT operators,” said Aaron Raible, an Armstrong County highway maintenance manager in PennDOT Engineering District 10. “Operators have to routinely stop to clean the back of their trucks during winter operations.” 

The Air Foil mounts to the back of the truck to redirect air flow. Air is pushed down across the tailgate when wind passes over the device, resulting in buildup of snow, ice and other debris being removed as the truck travels. The innovation was piloted the last few winter seasons with positive results. 

During the final phase of compiling information and designs for other maintenance organizations to replicate the Air Foil, a concern about sight distance was expressed due to whether the revolving lights on the cab protectors met the requirement to have 365 degrees of visibility.

The Air Foil innovation was selected for the third annual Innovation Showcase at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Spring Meeting in Savannah, Ga., in April 2026. The showcase highlights grassroots innovations across the country.

To address this concern, Raible and his team in Armstrong County reduced the size of the Air Foil to  allow for greater sight distance and visibility of the revolving lights while still keeping truck tailgates clean. This modification to the Air Foil was tested during the 2025-26 winter season. Reducing the size of the Air Foil did not prove as successful with keeping the backs of the trucks clean; therefore, the team determined that the larger Air Foil is the better option moving forward.

The Goats for Vegetation Management innovation is another STIC Maintenance TAG initiative aimed at reducing the demand on limited maintenance personnel and resources while helping to maintain stormwater control measure facilities. 

Due to the increase in the number of stormwater control measure facilities being installed across Pennsylvania, the goal of this innovation is to use goats for vegetation management at sites that are harder to access or where there are invasive species that would be harmful for PennDOT employees. Not only will this innovation lessen the demand on already strained maintenance forces, but it will also help decrease PennDOT's carbon footprint, integrate ecologically-friendly land management methods, and decrease the need for costly, specialized equipment to maintain stormwater control measure facilities.

The first pilot was initiated in Erie County, PennDOT Engineering District 1, in June and July 2025, at a stormwater control measure facility that was built in the early 2000s. During the pilot, the goats targeted the nuisance plant species, and the team observed a visual difference after the goat browsing was completed, with continued dieback after demobilization. 

“The animals were effective, but not as effective as we had hoped for,” said STIC Maintenance TAG Leader Dean Schmitt. “We may not have had enough animals for the size area we were hoping to cover, or we needed to allow the animals to remain in the area for a longer duration of time.” 

The STIC Maintenance TAG is looking to complete an additional pilot at a different location with a different herd of goats in spring 2026, to see if there is a better production rate.