Problem
New capital projects increase the time and money required to complete Roadway Snow and Ice Control Operations (RSIC). Unfortunately, this increased winter maintenance burden is rarely quantified and, therefore, is not considered during the early stages of the capital project development process. A method is needed for estimating this increased financial burden placed on winter maintenance operations by new capital projects.
Objective
This project’s objective was to develop an automated method of quantifying the anticipated impact that new capital projects will have on costs for RSIC. This method could be used in the early stages of project development to determine if an agency will need additional resources, such as trucks, salt, fuel, and manpower, to accomplish winter maintenance tasks after the project is completed. This methodology could also be used by maintenance managers to justify requests for additional resources after projects are complete.
Results
This project developed an Excel-based decision support tool to help agencies calculate the financial impact of capital improvements on snow and ice control operations. Researchers also developed recommendations for how winter maintenance personnel can work within the project development process to include RSIC operations into the considerations for geometric design of roadways.
The project’s final closeout webinar was conducted on November 14, 2017.