Quantifying the Mobility Benefits of Winter Road Maintenance – A Simulation Based Approach
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Date
2009-04-30T15:05:21Z
Authors
Shahdah, Usama Elrawy
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Waterloo
Abstract
A good understanding of the relationship between highway performance, such as crash rates and
travel delays, and winter road maintenance activities under different winter weather and traffic
conditions is essential to the development of cost-effective winter road maintenance policies and
standards, operation strategies and technologies. This research is specifically concerned about the
mobility benefit of winter road maintenance. A microscopic traffic simulation model is used to
investigate the traffic patterns under adverse weather and road surface conditions. A segment of the
Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) located in the Great Toronto Area, Ontario is used in the simulation
study. Observed field traffic data from the study segment was used in the calibration of the
simulation model. Different scenarios of traffic characteristics and road surface conditions as a result
of weather events and maintenance operations are simulated and travel time is used as a performance
measure for quantifying the effects of winter snow storms on the mobility of a highway section. The
modeling results indicate that winter road maintenance aimed at achieving bare pavement conditions
during heavy snowfall could reduce the total delay by 5 to 36 percent, depending on the level of
congestion of the highway. The simulation results are then applied in a case study for assessing two
maintenance policy decisions at a maintenance route level.
Description
Keywords
Winter road maintenance, Mobility