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Various costs and benefits are incurred while performing winter maintenance operations. However, a summary of these costs and benefits for different maintenance scenarios has not been compiled to date. This report summarizes past work that documented the quantified and non-quantified costs and benefits of three different winter maintenance strategies of interest; use of abrasives, salts and other chemicals in solid and liquid forms, and snow plows. Basic strategies were defined as plowing and use of abrasives, intermediate strategies were defined as the use of rock salt and salt brine (NaCl), and advanced strategies were defined as the use of corrosion inhibitors, inhibited salt brine, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, and blended products. These approaches employ different components, both in terms of equipment as well as materials. Some components of the various strategies have better cost and benefit information available than others. This is particularly true of sanding/abrasives and salting. Other, more recently developed and employed approaches and materials have more limited cost and benefit information published. There are also a number of different environmental impacts associated with different components of each maintenance strategy. Using information gained from the literature review, surveys, and interviews summary benefit-cost matrices were developed for various winter maintenance strategies. Information and data gap analysis has aided in identification of areas for recommended research. This document is intended for use by transportation agencies, such as by maintenance supervisors, to aid in the decision making process in terms of the selection of winter maintenance strategies used to achieve a prescribed LOS.

A manual on environmental best management practices used for snow and ice control was developed using information gain from a literature review, survey, and follow-up interviews. The document presents information on commonly used snow and ice control products and their potential impacts, and pathways into the environment. Following this information is presented on many aspects of snow and ice control operations from material handling and storage, application techniques and equipment, advanced technology for decision making, environmental management tools, pre-storm to mid-storm practices, post storm clean-up, and training. The manual summarizes common areas for improvement in snow and ice control practices to realize material and cost saving, while reducing impacts to the environment.

Agriculturally derived products, or agro-based products, and complex chloride mineral (CCM) based products are increasingly employed in snow and ice control operations, either used alone or more commonly as additives or blended with traditional chloride-based products such as rock salt (solid sodium chloride) and salt brine (liquid sodium chloride). Past studies and manufacturers have claimed that agro-based or CCM based products provide benefits such as freezing point depression, prolong performance on the road surface, the ability to utilize UV light as an aid to ice prevention, and various environmental benefits. However, the measurement of the effectiveness of such products has been limited. To further investigate the role CCM and agro-based products may have in deicing and corrosion protection, a literature review and national survey were conducted to identify potential products, how they are typically used, performance characteristics, and pros and cons. Ten products were selected for extensive laboratory testing which investigated the products ability to lowering the freezing point of water and improve the ice melting capacity, weaken the ice bond to pavement, improve the product longevity on the road surface, prevent ice formation or refreeze prevention, and assess the influence of absorbance of sunlight on product performance. Results of the laboratory testing and literature review were used to develop a best practices manual. This report documents the work completed for each task of this project, as well as provides a presentation of the major findings

The Western Transportation Institute (WTI) conducted research on behalf of the clear roads research program and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to develop a summary of best practices in the use of headlights, work lights, and warning light technology in snow plow operations. Specifically, this research focuses on different types of light bulbs, the color of the light, intensity of the light, mounting locations, flashing patterns and amperage requirements. In addition, this research gathers information about the mechanism to prevent snow blowing over the plow onto the windshield, mechanism to keep light clear of snow, retro-reflective markings, and day versus night settings for vehicle lights. To accomplish this, a literature review captured information from previous studies and currently available equipment and techniques used for equipment lighting during snow plow operations. Agency and operator surveys were used to capture information from winter maintenance practitioners on the current state-of-the-practice, best practices, and lesson learned. The information captured from the literature search and surveys were used to develop the best practice.

This synthesis was created as part of Clear Roads report CR14-06, "Use of Equipment Lighting During Snowplow Operations," published October 2015.