Winter Highway Operations. A Synthesis of Highway Practice

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Winter Highway Operations. A Synthesis of Highway Practice

S. M. Conger

Winter highway operations now integrate snow and ice control strategies and activities, traveler information, traffic operations, weather effects, environmental impacts, incident management, and customer satisfaction. Winter weather is experienced as snow and ice accumulation on the pavement, fog and reduced visibility, rockslides, flooding, and high winds throughout North America. This synthesis focuses on the changes as reported by a representation of U.S. state and Canadian provincial agencies between 1994 and 2004 to practices and strategies being used to control the impacts of winter weather on the safe and efficient movement of traffic. Government agencies tasked with maintaining levels of service on the vast system of highways affected by winter weather resort to a variety of approaches. They use various technologies to forecast winter storms and the degree of impact to highways. Such agencies maintain travel way functionality armed with both information technologies and advanced snow fighting equipment and materials. Maintenance trucks are equipped with plows, ice-controlling chemical reserves and associated spreading machinery, deployment optimizing communications systems, and advanced control systems for all of these devices. All of this represents a significant expenditure of public funds aimed at keeping vital highways operational through-out inclement winter weather.