North American Study on Contracting Snow and Ice Response

Snow and ice control operations are a vital function often conducted by state and local transportation agencies. Many states are choosing to contract snow and ice response services, instead of or in addition to the use of in-house forces, to maintain lean departments and avoid the equipment responsibilities. This has been a common practice for years, at both state and local levels. How, when, and why contractors are used varies considerably among agencies. Traditionally, contractors have been used for temporary acute shortages of trucks and personnel or for extreme weather situations that taxed agency capabilities, or agencies have used contractors for snow routes in remote locations. Contractors augment agency staff by regularly handling assigned routes throughout a specific winter season; supplementing agency staff on an as-needed, where-needed basis in case of a shortage of agency personnel and/or equipment; and handling all snow and ice control in a defined area as part of a long-term asset management contract that includes other roadway maintenance activities. Contracting winter maintenance services has been a key operational strategy for many state, local, and provincial road agencies, but little work has been done to clearly define the extent of the use of contracted services, specifically in snow and ice control operations, or to summarize the effective practices. To address this issue, this research effort utilized a literature review, survey, and synthesis of collected information to identify the state-of-the-practice and state-of-the-art when using contracted services, and identifies lessons learned by agencies. The report presents conclusions and recommendations based on the research effort.

• Record URL:
  http://clearroads.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/FR_CR.15-03_Final.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  http://clearroads.org/project/15-03/
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32648
• Corporate Authors:

  Western Transportation Institute

  Montana State University, Bozeman
  P.O. Box 174250
  Bozeman, MT  United States  59717-4250

  Minnesota Department of Transportation

  Clear Roads Pooled Fund
  St Paul, MN  United States  55155
• Authors:
  • Fay, Laura
  • Muthumani, Anburaj
  • Bergner, Dave
  • Bittner, Jason
• Publication Date: 2017-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 172p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Contract administration; Literature reviews; Recommendations; Snow and ice control; State departments of transportation; State of the art; State of the practice; Surveys; Winter maintenance
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01633344
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: CR15-03
• Contract Numbers: MnDOT No. 99006, WO 11
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Apr 28 2017 10:42AM