Journal article
Estimating Statewide Benefits of Winter Maintenance Operations
Transportation research record, Vol.2329(1), pp.17-23
01/2013
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/120885
Abstract
Winter highway maintenance activities offer direct and indirect benefits to the public. However, the cost of such activities is such a major outlay that it demands close scrutiny. There is a need to understand better and quantitatively estimate the benefits of winter road maintenance. Therefore, the work discussed in this paper was undertaken to quantitatively assess the benefits of winter highway operations at the state level. Methodologies were developed to estimate the major benefits of winter maintenance, including safety improvements, travel time savings, and fuel savings. A Minnesota case was used to demonstrate the methodologies and quantify those benefits. Results of the case study showed the benefits of winter highway maintenance by the Minnesota Department of Transportation to be $227 million per winter season, with $168 million of safety benefits, $11 million of mobility benefits, and $48 million of fuel savings. The benefit–cost ratio of winter highway operations in Minnesota was 6.2, in which material costs were taken into account.
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Details
- Title
- Estimating Statewide Benefits of Winter Maintenance Operations
- Creators
- Zhirui Ye - School of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, ChinaDavid Veneziano - Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University, P.O. Box 174250, Bozeman, MT 59717-4250Xianming Shi - Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University, P.O. Box 174250, Bozeman, MT 59717-4250
- Publication Details
- Transportation research record, Vol.2329(1), pp.17-23
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
- Identifiers
- 99900612704901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article