Request for Information

True Costs of Winter Maintenance Operations

State Departments of Transportation are under constant pressure to justify their snow and ice program budgets and to look for new approaches to saving money, such as hiring private contractors and reducing level of service. To effectively defend current budgets and request additional needed funds, winter maintenance professionals need a better understanding of the costs associated with their operations, how these costs compare with other similar states, and opportunities for reducing spending that will not negatively impact level of service.

The Clear Roads pooled fund research program (www.clearroads.org), which is led by the Minnesota DOT (Mn/DOT), has begun scoping a research project to address this information gap but needs help from the research community to define a project that is realistic and achieves the goals. This Request for Information solicits feedback from winter maintenance researchers on the draft research scope presented below. Clear Roads will review and incorporate the feedback received and then issue a national Request for Proposals for the project.

The deadline for this RFI is September 15th, 2010. Click here for the RFI and for information about submitting a response.

Questions and Answers – 8/27/10