United States Department of Transportation
About
i
Identifying performance based measures for winter maintenance.
-
2013-05-01
[PDF-454.57 KB]
Details:
-
Creators:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Corporate Contributors:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
Publication/ Report Number:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
Corporate Publisher:
-
Abstract:One of the Vermont Agency of
Transportation’s (VTrans) primary missions is to keep Vermont state highways open and safe
for the transportation network users, while managing the system in a cost
-
effective and environmentally sensitive manner.
Several states have initiated performance m
easures to ensure public safety, and improve efficiency. VTrans’ Operations Division
has developed levels of service for winter maintenance in its 2012 Snow and Ice Control Plan. Monitoring and evaluating the
material usage during the winter months can lea
d to a substantial increase in cost
-
effectiveness. Unfortunately, VTrans does not
currently have a standard method for rating its maintenance performance during winter maintenance activities.
An in depth literature search was conducted to determine what winter maintenance performance measure guidelines have
been established in state highway departments. In addition, state DOT’s were contacted and surveyed regarding the use of
Winter Maintenanc
e Performance Measures. The survey was conducted to ensure that newly adopted measures and measures
used informally would be
dis
covered even if they had not appeared in any official plans
or publications
yet.
According to NCHRP 6
-
17, three factors are commonly incorporated into determining maintenance performance. These
factors are resources spent (Inputs), accomplishments of work performed (Outputs) and effectiveness of maintenance activities
(Outcomes). A n
umber of states have also created a Winter Severity Index of 0 to 100 to
relate
performance targets that are
based on public safety and driver expectations
better
.
A recommendation from this effort is that VTrans incorporate a performance metric that mea
sures the “time to bare
pavement conditions.” This method includes recording the time it takes maintenance personnel to achieve bare pavement
conditions in the wheel paths of the roadway from the time the storm event ends. The use of Global Positioning S
ystems, and
other computerized data collection and analysis technology is a means that could promote in effectiveness both in costs and i
n
effort over time. The use of these technologies will become more feasible as the automatic vehicle location (AVL) sys
tems are
implemented fleet
-
wide in Vermont’s snow and ice control vehicles.
Further research should focus on the relationships between performance metrics and safety. Establishing performance
measures is the first step in helping to improve and target roa
dway safety during winter months.
-
Format:
-
Funding:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
File Type:
Supporting Files
-
No Additional Files
More +
