Road Weather Management Program
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Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

Title:

Vehicle-Based Technologies for Winter Maintenance: The State of the Practice

Abstract:

Maintenance agencies in charge of snow and ice control operations are continually challenged to provide a high level-of-service and improve safety and mobility while working with increased traffic volumes, higher expectations from the public, and the unprecedented budget and staffing constraints. The ultimate goal of winter maintenance operations is to deliver the right type and amount of materials in the right place at the right time. To address these challenges, a variety of vehicle-based sensor technologies have been implemented by winter maintenance agencies to optimize material usage, reduce associated annual spending, and ensure the safety of the personnel responsible for maintaining winter roadways. This synthesis focuses on the state of the practice of these advanced winter maintenance technologies that have seen increased implementation throughout North America since the completion of the International Winter Maintenance Technology Scanning Reviews in 1994 and 1998. These advanced technologies are envisioned to revolutionize winter operations across North America.

Source(s):

Montana State University, Western Transportation Institute; prepared for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program

Date: 2006

Author:

Shi, et al

Keywords:


Mobile sensing
Pavement condition
Pavement temperature
Institutional issues
Communications
Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL)

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