Project 10.5
Winter Performance Management Practices
The North/West Passage states have a variety of approaches for monitoring winter weather performance. For example, MnDOT's core measures are the frequency of achieving bare lanes within a targeted number of hours and customer satisfaction with snow and ice removal. ITD uses indexes associated with winter performance and mobility, and WSDOT has several measures categorized by outcomes (results) and outputs (work done).
The Federal Highway Administration Road Weather Management Program established a set of winter performance measures in 2006. MAP-21 and programmatic changes have influenced RWMP in the years since, and in 2012, a study was undertaken to review the original measures and identify refinements. Key measures noted in the Road Weather Management Performance Measures-2012 Update to improve overall system performance during weather events included:
- Reductions in agency costs of weather-related maintenance and operations activities.
- Reduction in number and types of fatalities and crashes attributed to adverse weather nationally.
- Reduction in the extent of capacity losses and delays due to fog, snow, and ice events including freight.
- Increase in travel time reliability or decrease in variability due to road weather management strategies during adverse weather scenarios.
- Reduction in number of tons of salt or chemical usage in the U.S. normalized by winter severity index.
As of yet there is no widely accepted measure applicable to the different roadway classifications, storm characteristics, or traffic conditions. NCHRP 14-34 is a project that will develop a guide for performance measures in snow and ice control operations to address these issues. The 24-month project is scheduled to begin in 2015 and it will also review research and current practice in its initial tasks.
Because many of the major events that impact travel along I-90/I-94 are winter weather related, it is logical to understand the states' winter maintenance performance measures as a way to further explore opportunities for coordinating traveler information and operations across state boundaries.
The purpose of this project is to gather and summarize information regarding the North/West Passage states' current practices surrounding winter performance measures. The research will identify measures and the associated data being used, as well as targets that have been established. The summary will identify similarities and differences, while highlighting common practices for states to streamline winter performance measures, particularly as it may relate to I-90/I-94.
Related Links
- Winter Performance Management Practices - Summary Report (PDF, 1234K)
- State Winter Performance Management Practices (PDF, 535K)
- Operations Staff Review, July 7, 2016 – Webinar Recording (WMV, 207218K)
- Operation Staff Review, July 7, 2016 – Presentation (PDF, 3767K)