Sturges, Leigh

The appendices for Clear Roads report CR18-03, Evaluation of SSI and WSI Variables," published December 2020.

The reliability of variables used in the calculation of storm severity indices or winter severity indices (SSIs/WSIs) was evaluated via an expansive literature review, an international survey, and two rounds of interviews with data and device managers. A Recommendations Guide was created to help agencies who want to improve upon or build anew an SSI/WSI; and included a thorough outline of reliable data, data sources, and SSI/WSI calculation methods. A spreadsheet tool was built that guides a user through the process of choosing variables and methods to address their predominant weather concerns.

The Clear Roads research consortium requested a tool to help transportation agencies more quickly and easily reconstruct winter weather events by drawing from data sources that cover the entire United States. The goals were to help agencies better understand the development and outcomes of hazardous weather events, react appropriately to them in the short and long term, and refine future maintenance decision-making. The tool would assist with after-action reviews and inform changes to practices at state, county and municipal levels of government. During Clear Roads Project 16-05, the research team designed and built a web-based tool that accesses multiple types of weather data in order for a user to reconstruct what happened during a weather event. This final report describes the steps taken to accomplish this objective. They include: identifying appropriate weather data and locating the best online sources, sketching a mock version of the web-based tool, and, upon Clear Roads approval of the design, building and testing the tool. A guidance document was produced and technical support was provided to the Clear Roads users for one year.

This document is the final report for the Clear Roads project entitled Snow Removal Performance Metrics. The project team was led by researchers at Washington State University on behalf of Clear Roads, an ongoing pooled fund research effort focused on winter maintenance materials, equipment, and methods. Clear Roads research projects are managed and administered by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). Through this project, the research team conducted a comprehensive literature review on the use of performance measures by transportation agencies for winter highway maintenance activities. To identify the effective performance metrics for snow and ice maintenance operations, the team surveyed all possible snow and ice states to gather information about their use of performance measures. The survey results were tabulated and analyzed to identify commonalities and differences between agencies and to develop a matrix of performance measures. Relative costs associated with different metrics were also presented. Based on the literature review and survey results, recommendations were made regarding the performance measures that should be considered for further evaluation. Remaining knowledge gaps were also identified, and recommendations were made for cases where existing measures may be modified or new measures developed for evaluation in future research.