Selection of Strategies for Winter Maintenance of Roads Based on Climatic Parameters
Publication: Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 23, Issue 4
Abstract
The aims of the presentation are to discuss the efficiency of the different methods for friction control of winter roads on the safety and accessibility due to climatic conditions, to show that the climate should be an important factor in selecting the strategies for winter maintenance and to establish climatic parameters that may be helpful in making those decisions. The analyses are based on Swedish data assembled by VTI on road accidents involving fatalities and severe injuries, road surface conditions and climate. The accident and the road condition recordings are compared to self-defined climatic parameters, which describe the severity, stability and instability of the winter climate in the regions investigated. The parameters are assumed to describe whether salting or sanding is favorable/unfavorable for friction control. The results of the analyses show that the effect of salting is substantial for improving accessibility. Generally the number of winter accidents resulting in fatalities and severe injuries is lower on the salted road network compared to the unsalted road network in the southern and central parts of Sweden. However, in the northern region, with very cold winters, the number of winter accidents is highest on the salted road network. The data also indicates that the highest accident numbers are found when the proportion of vehicle mileage on snow and ice in the winters varies within 30–40%. The paper recommends that salting should be avoided in areas and in periods when the frequency of road surface temperatures below exceeds 20%. In such climates the warm-wetted sand method is probably more favorable for friction control. Warm-wetted sand is also favorable on roads with traffic less than average annual daily traffic 2,000 and in periods with stable winter conditions.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The research presented is based on data assembled by the UNSPECIFIEDSwedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) and the Swedish Road Administration. The writer is grateful to VTI for giving access to the data and hosting me during my research period at VTI. I want also to express my thanks to Gudrun Öberg and her colleagues in her section for fruitful discussions and making my stay at VTI interesting. Special thanks go to Staffan Möller, VTI, who helped me in supplying data, was my main colleague at VTI, and gave me valuable ideas and corrections.
References
Engen, H. (2006). “Førsøk med å utvide bruken av fastsandmetoden for å bedre friksjonen på vinterveger.” MS thesis, Dept. of Civil and Transportation Engineering, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
Johansson, Ö. (2002). “Accidents, speeds, and salt consumptions on roads in winter.” Proc., 11th PIARC Int. Winter Road Congress, Sapporo, Japan.
Malmivuo, M. (2002). “Winter maintenance and traffic safety.” Proc., 11th PIARC Int. Winter Road Congress, Sapporo, Japan.
Maze, T. H., Agarwal, M., and Burchett, G. (2006). “Whether weather matters to traffic demand, traffic safety, and traffic flow.” Transportation Research Record. No. 1448, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C.
Möller, S. (2006). “Tema Vintermodell-Väglagsmodellen.” VTI Rep. No. 529, VTI, Linkøping, Sweden.
Niska, A. (2006). “Tema Vintermodell. Olycksrisker och konsekvenser för olika olyckstyper på is-och snøväglag.” VTI Rep. No. 556, VTI, Linkøping, Sweden.
Norem, H. (2009). “A winter maintenance strategy for roads based on climatic factors.” Rep., 630A VTI, Linköping, Sweden.
Norem, H., and Thordarson, S. (2001). “Winter maintenance practice in the northern periphery. Rodex 1-sub-project B.” Public Road Administration of Scotland, ⟨http://www. roadex.org⟩ (accessed 2009).
Vaa, T. (2004). “Forsøk med befuktning med magnesiumkloridløsning i Oslo. Sesongen 2003/2004. Statens vegvesen, Teknologiavdelingen, Trondheim.” Internal Rep. No. 2373, Trondheim, Norway, ⟨http://www. vegvesen.no/fou_vinterdriften/Intern_2373.pdf⟩ (accessed 2009).
Vaa, T. (2006). “Implementation of the new sanding method in Norway.” 12th Int. Winter Road Congress, PIARC, Torino, Italy.
Wallman, C. -G. (2001). “Tema vintermodell. Olycksrisker ved olika vinterväglag.” VTI-Notat Rep. No. 60-2001, VTI, Linkøping, Sweden.
Wallman, C. -G. (2006). “The winter model-a winter maintenance management system.” Proc., 12th PIARC Int. Winter Road Congress, Torino, Italy.
Wallman, C. -G., et al. (2006). “Tema Vintermodell, Etapp 2 Huvudrapport.” Rep. No. 531, VTI, Linkøping, Sweden.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 23 • Issue 4 • December 2009
Pages: 113 - 135
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 4, 2008
Accepted: May 22, 2009
Published online: Nov 13, 2009
Published in print: Dec 2009
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.