Optimization of Winter Road Maintenance Under Traffic and Weather Information

The total estimated direct annual cost of winter maintenance amounts to $1 billion for Canada and $2 billion for the United States. Municipalities seek technology-based solutions such as information systems to optimize operations and reduce costs. As an example, Advanced Road Weather Information Systems provide real time weather forecasts which, coupled with traffic information systems, can be influential in reducing maintenance costs. The authors present, in this paper, a model for managing winter road maintenance operations under weather and traffic information. The model captures the interactions between plow (spreader) trucks, height of snow on ground, and corridor traffic. An extension of the original model is formulated which considers multi-segment corridors with on-ramps and off-ramps. Results show that traffic is barely affected in cases where the storm peak occurs later than the traffic peak. The model also indicates the benefits of sending multiple plow (or spreader) trucks. In general, dispatching multiple maintenance trucks is justified in cases where the storm peak is relatively close to the traffic peak. Sensitivity analysis on the multi- segment corridor model shows that having a higher number of maintenance trucks increases dispatching flexibility which can consequently reduce delays extensively.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 15p
  • Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01551942
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 15-2243
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Jan 29 2015 9:17AM