The challenge of operating winter roadways

Salt Institute
Salt and Highway Deicing newsletter
Fall 2005
Is snowfighting "winter maintenance" or "winter operations?" "Maintenance is focused on the roadway. "Operations" is focused on outcomes -- winter safety and mobility. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is pushing strongly for a focus on "operations." Success will require development of new performance measures to assess system outcomes. Previous management has focused on inputs or outputs, not outcomes like crash rate and trip time reliability.