Performance Measures for Snow and Ice Control in Province of Alberta, Canada

Performance measurement is a vital component of asset management, which is used in planning and programming to identify assets that are under or over performing and to assess overall performance over time. As part of the move to asset management, Alberta Transportation has implemented performance based planning and monitoring of the provincial highway network. Three performance measures, based upon technical measurement, have been adopted which characterize network condition, functional adequacy and utilization. However, Alberta, like the rest of Canada, is a winter province yet no clear suite of performance measure has been developed for snow and ice control. Traditionally, agencies have measured inputs (such as salt or sand) or outputs (such as plowing frequencies), but none of the existing measures address effectiveness. This paper presents the results of a project to develop winter performance measures that address both the planning and operations of a large rural highway network. Preliminary results indicate that traffic volumes and speed data can be used to identify major storm events and as such may hold promise as repeatable, robust, relevant and responsive performance measures.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Jurgens, Roy
  • Cowe Falls, Lynne
  • Chan, Jack
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 85th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2006-1-22 to 2006-1-26
• Date: 2006

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 19p
• Monograph Title: TRB 85th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asset management; Performance measurement; Rural areas; Rural highways; Snow and ice control; Snowplows; Speed data; Traffic volume; Winter maintenance
• Geographic Terms: Alberta
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment; I62: Winter Maintenance;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01026071
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 06-0548
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jun 28 2006 8:47AM