Levels of
Service Are a Key Component
to Successful Winter Maintenance Programs
When it comes to
highway agencies providing the proper winter maintenance program to meet its customers'
expectations, levels of service must be a key component of any effort. In this edition of Salt and Highway Deicing
newsletter, we wanted to provide you with a couple of examples of highway agencies
striving to provide the best level of service for their driving publics that they can
physically support and financially justify. We
hope these examples of premier winter maintenance agencies, one state agency and one metro
area agency, will give you a little insight on enhancing your levels of service for
mobility and safety during the upcoming snowfighting season and beyond.
Iowa Department of Transportation Winter Operations/Levels of Service
When snow and ice threaten the Iowa roadways, the Iowa Department of Transportation responds, covering more than 26,000 lane miles of federal and state highways including nearly 3,200 lane miles of Interstate roadway. Interstates 35 and 80 intersect in Iowa, carrying one of the nation's busiest truck traffic routes and both key international trade routes. Approximately 1,400 permanent and part-time equipment operators, mechanics and supervisors work out of 138 maintenance garages throughout the state, ready to deploy a fleet of: nearly 1,000 snowplows, seven 5000-gallon tankers, 80 motor graders, 138 end-loaders, and several heavy-duty snow blowers
To prioritize the levels of service and make the best use of resources, the Department has created four service levels for the treatment of roadways:
Service level assignments also ensure continuity in the way the roads are treated. Each service level has a prescribed length of time to return the roadways to normal winter driving conditions after the end of a storm.
During a typical winter season the department removes more than 20 million tons of snow. Each year approximately $35 million is budgeted for snow and ice control. Last year the department used 160,000 tons of salt and 39,000 tons of abrasives to combat snow and ice. Over 7.5 million gallons of salt brine was used last winter with an estimated 4.5 million used for anti-icing purposes. Ninety-three brine makers are situated around the state to make salt brine and over one million gallons of outside storage is used. All trucks are equipped to prewet salt or salt/sand mixtures with liquid salt or calcium chloride.
Anti-icing in Iowa to Improve
Levels of Service
Anti-icing began in Iowa during the final year of the TE-28 anti-icing project and has continued to expand every year. In 1998 the department developed a comprehensive plan to make anti-icing a permanent tool for use by maintenance garages. Phase 1 of the plan provided equipment and resources to treat the entire Interstate system. The Department is now in Phase 2 of the anti-icing plan, which will expand anti-icing to the Commercial and Industrial roadway network, adding an additional 6,000 lane miles.
There are currently 179 anti-icing units in the state that have a minimum of 900- gallon capacity. Most are 1,800-gallon units that slip-in to the rear of the dump body or mount on trailers. An additional 100 anti-icing units are currently on order to help meet equipment needs for the completion of Phase 2.
Iowa Weather
Information Critical to Levels of Service
An average winter in Iowa will deliver 32 inches of snow but, because of our geographic location, freezing rain and ice are also a common occurrence during the winter season. The northern half of the state receives more snowfall and winds while the southern half receives more freezing rain and ice events.
The Department has deployed 50 Roadway Weather Information Systems (RWIS) throughout the state and 33 Automated Weather Observation Stations (AWOS) located at airports to collect current weather information. Both systems are tied to an internal computer network that allows easy access to current weather information from the sites. The information from these weather stations is also available to the general public through the Internet.
Nearly all garages (135) are provided with a Data Transmission Network (DTN) weather station to delivers current weather information via satellite. The systems provide near real-time radar, current conditions and forecasts to help supplement information provided by the RWIS, AWOS and other weather sources. The DTN units were also installed in rest areas in 1997 to provide motorists with weather and roadway information to help with their travel plans. The local National Weather Service office and Department personnel have the ability to send warnings through these systems to keep motorists informed of severe weather events or road closures.
Training
Snow and Ice operations have changed over the past decade and thus training has been identified as a critical component if any of the new techniques and technologies were expected to be adopted. Experts from around the nation were asked to provide training to our supervisors and operators on a variety of subjects from anti-icing to how to build the most efficient snow fence. Operators and supervisors from around the state were also selected to become trainers to help provide more peer-to-peer guidance for others.
In 1997 the Department joined with City and County officials to form a joint training program that provides classroom training and equipment displays to over 1,000 operators and supervisors each year. This forum allows operators and supervisors from each entity to meet one another and hopefully learn to work together to provide uniformity of road conditions for the travelling public. It also provides a location for vendors to display their latest equipment and talk with decision-makers about their products.
The Future of Snowfighting in Iowa
– Public Demands Greater Levels of Service
The new global economy and the public’s demand for faster access to goods and services have affected snow and ice operations in Iowa. The service levels established many years ago are no longer adequate to support the new global economy and resources are being stretched to try to meet the public’s expectations. Many companies have adopted the “just-in-time” delivery of raw materials and goods to reduce their overall cost of doing business to remain competitive in today's global economy. Companies depend on delivery of raw materials to arrive on the receiving dock each morning, make their product and then send the finished goods to the loading dock for shipment later that same afternoon. The public has also become accustomed to receiving goods and services with minimal waiting. This demand is also being transferred to their expectations of road conditions during and after winter storms. We can no longer wait for snow to accumulate on the roadway before trucks are dispatched. Proactive is now the word best used to describe the department’s response to winter storms. When a winter storm is predicted, anti-icing may be the first response but if anti-icing is not appropriate traditional methods of snow removal are deployed at the onset of the storm to work toward preventing the bond from forming between the snow or ice and the pavement.
Though no new chemicals have been introduced that provide the “magic bullet” to melt snow and ice and keep the roadways wet during an entire winter storm the department has learned to use more liquid deicers, primarily salt brine, in our operations. The use of liquids for liquid applications and as a prewetter have helped keep roadways wetter, longer during winter storms but there are always snow or ice events each year where nature has the upper hand and we revert back to the tools of the past to get roads cleared.
More information on the
Iowa Department of Transportation's winter program is available at their
website.
Kansas City Levels of Winter Maintenance Service
Kansas City covers an area of 318 square miles with a road network of approximately 890 miles of arterial and 1500 miles of residential streets. It experiences an average snowfall of about 20 inches and several ice events during the winter months. To respond to these snow and ice conditions, the City budgets $2.0 million/year for winter maintenance.
The road network is divided into 27 “A” (major arterial), 27 “B” (secondary arterial), 8 boulevards/ parkways, and 55 residential routes. The Street and Traffic Division is the main agency responsible for snow and ice operations. However, it receives substantial assistance from the Parks and Recreation and Water Services Departments. The three maintenance districts of the Street and Traffic Division treat all 54 arterial routes (765 miles) and plow 14 routes (192 miles). The Parks and Recreation Department, with its fleet of 30 trucks, salts/plows 8 routes (125 miles), the Water Services Department’s 35 trucks, assigned to the program, plows 9 routes (145 miles) and private contractors plow 27 routes (428 miles).
In addition to the above, certain residential streets are problematic whenever there is freezing precipitation. Each street maintenance district has established routes (total of 40) that include the known, historically slick, streets within the area. These are defined as “C” routes and are salted/plowed by the Street and Traffic Division.
The approximately 1500 miles of residential roadways are assigned into 55 “D” routes and are plowed by private contractors. These are plowed when approximately 2 inches of snow has fallen and the forecast calls for further accumulation. Contractors are required to be on the route within 2 hours of callout and complete the plowing cycle in no more than 12 hours.
“A” and “B” routes are the first to be salted/plowed and receive continuous attention until bare pavement, curb to curb, and is achieved. These routes are to be completed within 8 hours. After completion of the “A” and “B” routes, the “C” routes are salted/plowed as needed. The “D” routes are plowed generally at the same time as the “A” and “B” routes, but only to a width of 12 feet.
KC Weather Information Helps Determine Level of Service
Weather related data such as air temperature, pavement temperature, precipitation, dew point, wind speed and direction are critical in execution of the snow and ice control program. City staff gathers this information from the standard sources, i.e., local radio and TV, the Weather Channel, and the Internet. It also receives data from 20 RWIS stations (7 city owned), a pager delivered forecast service, and hand held pavement temperature sensors.
KC Commodities Used to Achieve
Levels of Service
The Street and Traffic Division orders and stores at four sites the
necessary commodities for the program, which include salt, calcium chloride, and sand. The division also makes and stores salt brine for
its anti-icing program. Storage capacities
for the various commodities are: salt, 33,600 tons; liquid calcium chloride, 23,000
gallons; and salt brine, 20,000 gallons.
KC Applications Needed to Provide
Demanded Levels of Service
The application of salt alone or a
mixture with liquid calcium chloride depends on the precipitation, temperature, and snow
fall intensity. The salt application rate
ranges from 200 to 800 pounds per 2-lane mile, depending on the storm conditions. When the temperature is 25oF and
falling, salt alone loses its effectiveness. Under
these conditions, a mixture of one ton of salt to eight gallons of liquid calcium chloride
is used. The application of the liquid is via
an overhead spray bar or at the spinner through the use of saddle tanks. Eighty percent
of the division’s 55 spreaders are equipped with saddle tanks.
Wing plows were added to the
tandem fleet of seven trucks in 1998 and have proven beneficial on multiple lane arterials
and rural roads with shoulders. On rural
routes, the shoulders can be plowed in the same pass as the travel lane and drifting
problems have been reduced because of the wider cut.
During the 1998/1999 season,
several routes were pretreated with salt brine in an attempt to prevent or delay a
snow/ice bond from forming. When pavement
temperatures were 20oF or greater and snow or freezing rain predicted,
applications of 30-gallons/lane mile of salt brine were made prior to the event. This usually occurred 12 to 24-hours in advance of
the storm. The salt brine liquid was applied
from truck mounted spray tanks on pre-assigned roadways and bridges totaling less than 30
miles. The salt brine was made at one
location, which supplied two spray trucks.
Results from the winter experiment
were positive and salt brine facilities have been installed at each district. Salt brine liquid will continue to be applied in
advance of storms to prevent snow/ice bonds from forming.
The program was expanded from two units to six in the winter of 1999/2000 and will
be further expanded for the 2000/2001 winter season.
The policies, procedures, and
guidelines described in this paper along with the storage facilities and equipment have
enabled the dedicated staff to carry out a successful snow and ice control program in
Kansas City. This program has provided the
citizens of Kansas City with a reasonably safe driving environment in inclement weather.
For more information contact: Jere
Meredith, Division Engineer, Street and Traffic, Public Works Department, City of Kansas
City, Missouri, (816) 513-2777.
Surveying Your Customers To Determine Their Desired Levels of Service – Drivers In Minnesota Want Bare Pavement
Gary Niemi, Minnesota Dept. of
Transportation reported July 17 to the American Association State Transportation Highway
Officials/Transportation Research Board (AASTHO/TRB) Maintenance Committee that Minnesota
Department of Transportation customer surveys have provided a clear preference among
drivers for having two lanes cleared rather than clearing all lanes of multi-lane
highways. The public feels this provides the
greatest impact on improving mobility and road acceptability. The public does want all roads to be bare
pavement, he added; that is the most acceptable pavement condition. But one bare travel lane in each direction of
every road is preferred.
Corporate Demands a 24 X 7 Winter Maintenance Program
Kentucky’s growth depends on its snowfighting performance Marvin Strong, Secretary of the Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet stated during their Annual Snow and Ice Removal Conference. “Climate and weather conditions and how that relates to doing business is a key question which companies ask when they are looking at Kentucky to locate a plant here,” Strong told more than 300 district maintenance supervisors.
Representatives from KY-based UPS and Toyota plants reflected on the snowstorms of recent winters. Bob Lekites, VP of Airline Operations for UPS said, “the blizzard of 1994, producing 5 feet of snow in 24 hours, was one of the greatest disruptions in our 92 year history with 36,000 customers not receiving service for up to 5 days in some areas….We can’t have the reputation of being a fair-weather state…We must provide reliable service 365 days a year.” Wil James, General Manager, Production Administrative Office at Toyota Motor Manufacturing - Kentucky said, “with production of 500,000 vehicles planned in 2000, 7,900 employees, and 320 U.S. suppliers spread out over 15 states, any major disruption of road travel creates an immediate impact.” Bill Crace, Director, Division of Operations for Kentucky responds saying, “Since the winter of 1994, we have increased salt supplies from 165,000 tons stored in 15 salt domes to 275,000 tons stored in 38 salt domes with seven more under construction. We have put on 176 contract trucks. We have started prewetting. We’ve come a long way since 1994 when we spent only $10 million on winter maintenance. Now we are double that.”
*Editor’s Note – a special thanks for their contributions to this article go to Dennis Burkheimer, Iowa DOT; and Larry Frevert and Jere Meredith with Kansas City Public Works.
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