Estimation of Winter Snow Operation Performance Measures with Traffic Data

Estimation of Winter Snow Operation Performance Measures with Traffic Data PDF Author: Eil Kwon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Roads
Languages : en
Pages : 46

Get Book Here

Book Description
This research produced an automatic process to identify the road condition recovered times during snow events from the traffic-flow data. For this study, the traffic data from the past snow events were analyzed and the speed variation patterns indicating the road condition recovery states during the recovery periods were identified. The prototype process developed in this study finds the speed change point indicating the recovery of the road condition by analyzing the speed variations for a given location. The process was then applied to a set of the past snow events and the estimated recovered times were compared with the reported lane-regain time data.

Estimation of Winter Snow Operation Performance Measures with Traffic Data

Estimation of Winter Snow Operation Performance Measures with Traffic Data PDF Author: Eil Kwon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Roads
Languages : en
Pages : 46

Get Book Here

Book Description
This research produced an automatic process to identify the road condition recovered times during snow events from the traffic-flow data. For this study, the traffic data from the past snow events were analyzed and the speed variation patterns indicating the road condition recovery states during the recovery periods were identified. The prototype process developed in this study finds the speed change point indicating the recovery of the road condition by analyzing the speed variations for a given location. The process was then applied to a set of the past snow events and the estimated recovered times were compared with the reported lane-regain time data.

Estimation of Winter Snow Operation Performance Measures with Traffic Flow Data, Phase 2

Estimation of Winter Snow Operation Performance Measures with Traffic Flow Data, Phase 2 PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Roads
Languages : en
Pages : 142

Get Book Here

Book Description
An automatic process is developed to determine the normal condition regain time (NCRT) using the traffic flow data for a given snow event. To reflect the different traffic flow behavior during day and night time periods, two types of the normal conditions are defined for each detector station. The normal condition for day time is defined with the average speed-density patterns under dry weather conditions, while the time-dependent average speed patterns are used for representing night time periods. In particular, the speed-density functions for the speed recovery and reduction periods were calibrated separately for a given location to address the well-known traffic hysteresis phenomenon. The resulting NCRT estimation process determines the NCRT as the time when the speed level on a given snow day recovers to the target level of the normal recovery speed at the corresponding density for the day time periods. The sample application results with the snow routes in Twin Cities, Minnesota, show the promising possibilities for the estimated NCRT values to be used as the reliable operational measures, which could address the subjectivity and inconsistency issues associated with the current bare-lane regain times determined through visual inspections.

Performance Measures for Snow and Ice Control Operations

Performance Measures for Snow and Ice Control Operations PDF Author: T. H. Maze
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Roads
Languages : en
Pages : 142

Get Book Here

Book Description
Under the NCHRP 06-17 project, the research team surveyed snow and ice control organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia to determine the current trends in performance measurement. The team also inquired about the methods used in developing these programs in order to determine a practical, user friendly method to assist snow and ice control managers in developing a performance measurement system that uses traditional and nontraditional performance indicators and measurement issues. To achieve the project objectives, the researchers issued a survey to snow and ice control agencies throughout North America, Europe, and Asia to obtain data of the performance indicators and measures used, if any, by these agencies. The identified performance indicators and measures were then categorized, defined, and assessed for their usefulness. A process was then developed to assist snow and ice control operations managers in preparing a customer-focused, environmentally friendly performance measurement program.

Feasibility of Using Traffic Data for Winter Road Maintenance Performance Measurement

Feasibility of Using Traffic Data for Winter Road Maintenance Performance Measurement PDF Author: Luchao Cao
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 125

Get Book Here

Book Description
Winter road maintenance (WRM) operations, such as plowing, salting and sanding, are significant to maintain both safety and mobility of highways, especially in countries like Canada. Traditionally, WRM performance is measured using bare pavement regain time and snow depth/coverage, which are reported by maintenance or quality assurance personnel based on periodic visual inspection during and after snow events. However, the increasing costs associated with WRM and the lack of objectivity and repeatability of traditional performance monitoring methods have stimulated significant interest in developing alternative performance measures. This research is motivated by the need to develop an outcome based WRM performance measurement system with a specific focus on investigating the feasibility of inferring WRM performance from traffic state. The research studies the impact of winter weather and road surface conditions (RSC) on the average traffic speed of rural highways with the intention of examining the feasibility of using traffic speed from traffic sensors as an indicator of WRM performance. Detailed data on weather, RSC, and traffic over three winter seasons from 2008 to 2011 on rural highway sites in Iowa, US is used for this investigation. Three modeling techniques are applied and compared for modeling the relationship between traffic speed and various road weather and surface condition factors, including multivariate linear regression, artificial neural network (ANN), and time series analysis. Multivariate linear regression models are compared by temporal aggregation (15 minutes vs. 60 minutes), types of highways (two-lane vs. four-lane), and model types (separated vs. combined). The research also examines the feasibility of estimating/classifying RSC based on traffic speed and winter weather factors using multi-layer logistic regression classification trees. The modeling results have shown the expected effects of weather variables including precipitation, temperature and wind speed, and verified the statistically strong relationship between traffic speed and RSC. The findings suggest that speed could potentially be used as an indicator of bare pavement conditions and thus the performance of WRM operations. It is also confirmed that the time series model could be a valuable tool for predicting real-time traffic conditions based on weather forecast and planned maintenance operations, and the multi-layer logistic regression classification tree model could be applied for estimating RSC on highways based on average traffic speed and weather conditions.

Performance Measurement for Highway Winter Maintenance Operations

Performance Measurement for Highway Winter Maintenance Operations PDF Author: Lin Qiu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Roads
Languages : en
Pages : 134

Get Book Here

Book Description
The goal of this research project was to develop a method to measure the performance of a winter maintenance program with respect to the task of providing safety and mobility to the traveling public. Developing these measures required a number of steps, each of which was accomplished. First, the impact of winter weather on safety (crash rates) and mobility (average vehicle speeds) were measured by a combination of literature reviews and analysis of Iowa Department of Transportation traffic and Road Weather Information System data. Second, because not all winter storms are the same in their effects on safety and mobility, a method had to be developed to determine how much the various factors that describe a winter storm actually change safety and mobility. As part of this effort a storm severity index was developed, which ranks each winter storm on a scale between 0 (a very benign storm) and I (the worst imaginable storm). Additionally a number of methods of modeling the relationships between weather, winter maintenance actions and road surface conditions were developed and tested. The end result of this study was a performance measure based on average vehicle speed. For a given class of road, a maximum expected average speed reduction has been identified. For a given storm, this maximum expected average speed reduction is modified by the storm severity index to give a target average speed reduction. Thus, if for a given road the maximum expected average speed reduction is 20 mph, and the storm severity for a particular storm is 0.6, then the target average speed reduction for that road in that storm is 0.6 x 20 mph or 12 mph. If the average speed on that road during and after the storm is only 12 mph or less than the average speed on that road in good weather conditions, then the winter maintenance performance goal has been met.

Snow Removal Performance Metrics

Snow Removal Performance Metrics PDF Author: Gang Xu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Roads
Languages : en
Pages : 94

Get Book Here

Book Description
This document is the final report for the Clear Roads project entitled Snow Removal Performance Metrics. The project team was led by researchers at Washington State University on behalf of Clear Roads, an ongoing pooled fund research effort focused on winter maintenance materials, equipment, and methods. Clear Roads research projects are managed and administered by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). Through this project, the research team conducted a comprehensive literature review on the use of performance measures by transportation agencies for winter highway maintenance activities. To identify the effective performance metrics for snow and ice maintenance operations, the team surveyed all possible snow and ice states to gather information about their use of performance measures. The survey results were tabulated and analyzed to identify commonalities and differences between agencies and to develop a matrix of performance measures. Relative costs associated with different metrics were also presented. Based on the literature review and survey results, recommendations were made regarding the performance measures that should be considered for further evaluation. Remaining knowledge gaps were also identified, and recommendations were made for cases where existing measures may be modified or new measures developed for evaluation in future research.

Evaluation of ODOT Roadway/weather Sensor Systems for Snow & Ice Removal Operations

Evaluation of ODOT Roadway/weather Sensor Systems for Snow & Ice Removal Operations PDF Author: Helmut T. Zwahlen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Automobile driving in winter
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Get Book Here

Book Description
The major objective of the study was to develop a procedure to determine the level of service using the RWIS speed measurements. The procedure developed can be used by ODOT to evaluate winter maintenance activities and for winter maintenance decision making. Average traffic speeds for five minute intervals were measured using NuMetrics road sensors and they were related to the pavement and driving conditions. In addition speed data from two other studies was used. The pavement conditions were determined by conducting surveys at rest area buildings using a questionnaire form. It was found that the average traffic speeds were significantly lower during a major snow event even when periodic plowing and salting was done. The average speeds decreased almost linearly for the period of the snow storm reached the minimum and then climbed back slowly towards higher speeds. The speeds appear to be a fairly sensitive measure to judge the condition of the pavement. The motorist judgments about the pavement condition and their perception of the safety of driving decreases during a rather severe winter storm which is mirrored in the speed decrease. It appears from the survey that about two thirds of the motorists judge the deterioration of the road conditions and the inadequate level of road maintenance during a winter storm as bad or moderately bad. The responses obtained for the car and the truck drivers are fairly close to each other indicating that both groups can judge bad road condition equally well. The observed road conditions appear to influence the drivers in terms of how they subjectively feel about the level of safety and stress experienced during driving in the winter storm. A simple procedure was developed for winter maintenance management to determine the condition of the road (freeways) based on the average speeds observed by the RWIS sensors. If the average winter speed of the traffic is equal or greater than the historical established wet/salted pavement speed, the level of service is considered adequate. According to the Swiss study, the wet/salted surface winter speeds are about 85% of the dry surface speeds for freeways and 96 % for city streets. If the average winter speed is below the wet/salted surface speed, the level of service is considered inadequate. Any speed less than 50% of the wet/salted surface speed indicates fairly bad road conditions and an extremely inadequate level of service. It should be noted that the winter pavement conditions can be highly dynamic. Depending on the rate of accumulation of snow, frequency of the snow plowing, length of the snow plow route, the pavement condition can improve and deteriorate a number of times during a winter storm. The level of service can get worse even with maximum snow plowing and salting effort in a situation with a high rate of snow accumulation. The winter speeds observed as a percentage of the average dry surface speed can be correlated with the level of service. A relatively more fine graduation of the level of service as a function of the percentage of the average dry surface speed is proposed in the recommendations of the report.

Snow Engineering V

Snow Engineering V PDF Author: P. Bartelt
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9789058096340
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Get Book Here

Book Description
Specialists in building and civil engineering, architecture, traffic and transport engineering, urban planning and avalanche science came together at the Fifth International Conference on Snow Engineering, organized by the Federal Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos 2004. This event belongs to a series of Snow Engineering Conferences held every four years since 1988. These conferences have become an important event for the international exchange of information on recent developments in snow engineering. The following thematic areas were discussed in the technical sessions and are here presented in this volume: - Transportation - Housing and Residential Planning - Snow Loads - Ski Mechanics - Hazard Mitigation - Snow Technology and Science - Avalanche Engineering

Sustainable Winter Road Operations

Sustainable Winter Road Operations PDF Author: Xianming Shi
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119185068
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 476

Get Book Here

Book Description
The first and only comprehensive guide to best practices in winter road operations Winter maintenance operations are essential to ensure the safety, mobility, and productivity of transportation systems, especially in cold-weather climates, and responsible agencies are continually challenged to provide a high level of service in a fiscally and environmentally responsible manner. Sustainable Winter Road Operations bridges the knowledge gaps, providing the first up-to-date, authoritative, single-source overview and guide to best practices in winter road operations that considers the triple bottom line of sustainability. With contributions from experts in the field from around the world, this book takes a holistic approach to the subject. The authors address the many negative impacts on regional economies and the environment of poorly planned and inadequate winter road operations, and they make a strong case for the myriad benefits of environmentally sustainable concepts and practices. Best practice applications of materials, processes, equipment, and associated technologies and how they can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of winter operations, optimize materials usage, and minimize cost, corrosion, and environmental impacts are all covered in depth. Provides the first up-to-date, authoritative and comprehensive overview of best practices in sustainable winter road operations currently in use around the world Covers materials, processes, equipment, and associated technologies for sustainable winter road operations Brings together contributions by an international all-star team of experts with extensive experience in designing, implementing, and managing sustainable winter road operations Designed to bring professionals involved in transportation and highway maintenance and control up to speed with current best practice Sustainable Winter Road Operations is essential reading for maintenance professionals dealing with snow and ice control operations on highways, motorways and local roads. It is a valuable source of information and guidance for decision makers, researchers, and engineers in transportation engineering involved in transportation and highway maintenance. And it is an ideal textbook for advanced-level courses in transportation engineering.

Traffic Safety Evaluation Research Review

Traffic Safety Evaluation Research Review PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Traffic safety
Languages : en
Pages : 210

Get Book Here

Book Description