Search
Close this search box.

Cost-Benefit of Various Winter Maintenance Strategies

Project #: 4W4757
Start Date: 12/17/2013
End Date: 07/31/2015
ABSTRACT:

One of the most significant activities highway agencies such as Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are tasked with are winter maintenance operations. In completing winter maintenance, agencies employ a suite of approaches customized to their local snow and ice control needs and funding, staffing, and equipment constraints. This can include, but is not limited to, activities ranging from anti-icing, deicing, and sanding, to mechanical removal (e.g., snowplowing) and snow fencing, depending on the road weather scenarios, resources available, and local rules of practice.

The absence of guidance regarding the costs and benefits of different maintenance scenarios is a significant void for the winter maintenance community. Therefore, efforts are necessary to address this void and develop initial guidance for different scenarios, , in order to provide all levels of decision-makers with information on which sound decisions can be based. This would include: agency costs in achieving a specific LOS; economic impacts of different maintenance strategies; corrosion and abrasive impacts on highway users, equipment and infrastructure; safety benefits achieved through different strategies; and environmental impacts resulting from different strategies. Consequently, the objectives for the proposed research are to identify the costs and benefits previously cited in literature, identify and address any gaps in the cost and benefit information previously documented through a survey of practitioners, and to analyze and organize the available information into a format ready to be communicated to stakeholders.

OBJECTIVE:

The objectives of this research were to assess the costs and benefits of at least three winter maintenance strategies and identify winter maintenance strategies that would be sustainable for departments of transportation from a cost, safety, and mobility standpoint.

 

PERSONNEL:

  • David Veneziano
    David Veneziano
  • Xianming Shi
    Xianming Shi
  • Laura Fay
    Laura Fay

REPORTS & DOCUMENTS:

Share this Project: