Winter Maintenance E-Newsletter - July 2007
Produced by CTC & Associates LLC | To be notified of new issues email, info@ctcandassociates.com
News
12th Annual Eastern Snow Expo and National Winter Peer Exchange
This year's expo will be co-hosted by FHWA, AASHTO and Ohio DOT, and is slated for August 29 to 30 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Planners are hoping to expand the number of practitioners exposed to the latest winter maintenance technologies and strategies through this yearly event. Read up on expo details on the FHWA Web site.
In addition, a National Winter Peer Exchange will precede the expo on August 28 and 29 at the same location. Sponsored by Clear Roads, Aurora, the Snow and Ice Pooled Fund Cooperative Program, FHWA, and the Pacific Northwest Snowfighters, this event is designed to facilitate information sharing and research coordination among winter maintenance professionals. For more information, contact Diana Clonch with the Ohio Department of Transportation.
The April 2007 issue of Better Roads magazine includes the following articles of interest:
Handling Snow in Amarillo. Texas is not officially in the snow belt, but ice and snow present major winter maintenance challenges in the state, especially in the Panhandle, where the Amarillo District has 9,000-plus lane miles to keep ice and snow free. See the story.
New Road Products: Pavement Condition Reporting Software. The concept behind STORM Vision, the latest in pavement condition reporting software from Quixote Transportation Technologies, is that a sophisticated computer with a suite of sensors can report the condition of the pavement in place of a human observer. Read the review.
Environment Canada has compiled a comprehensive listing of the control instruments and practices available and/or being used across Canada to manage the storage and use of road salts and the disposal of snow. Among the findings: road authorities at all levels are making considerable efforts to improve the management of road salts. See the listing on the EC Web site.
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Research Reports
Report No. INE/AUTC 07.06
January 2007
The Knik Arm Crossing Project aims to construct an affordable, vehicular toll bridge of about two miles across Knik Arm to join the Port of Anchorage and Port MacKenzie areas. This report, prepared for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, provides technical recommendations for viable and economical anti-icing and deicing technologies for the Knik Arm Bridge. See the report on the Alaska DOT&PF Web site.
Using state-of-the-art techniques, researchers determine that the impacts associated with road salt use cannot be discounted because of implied high sodium chloride inputs associated with the coastal location of the park. Results from the study indicate where mitigative management efforts should be implemented to provide the most demonstrable effects. Read the report on the Environment Canada Web site.
Posted May 2007
This report explores guidelines for the selection of snow and ice control materials through an evaluation of their cost, performance and impacts on the environment and infrastructure. See the report on the Transportation Research Board Web site.
FHWA/OH-2007/09
May 2007
Bridge deck simulators (BDSs), six-inch concrete cubes with an embedded temperature probe, are intended as a cost-effective substitute for RWIS pavement sensors to represent conditions likely on bridge decks in an area near a RWIS station. The use of BDSs appears to be unique to Ohio. In this study, the effectiveness of BDSs to predict the temperature on nearby bridge decks was evaluated. See the report on the Ohio DOT Web site.
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Research in Progress
Projects recently added to the Transportation Research Board Research in Progress database:
The scope of this project is to review the strobe and rotating beacon type emergency lighting currently used on Minnesota DOT snow plows and the light-emitting diode replacements for that lighting. Read more from the abstract.
The objective of this Minnesota DOT proposal is to assemble existing data on the use of salt in every form and application (i.e., from deicing salt to water softener salt), and on the salinity/sodium chloride concentrations measured in rivers, streams, lakes and groundwater in Minnesota, especially in the Twin Cities area. Read more from the abstract.
The cost of disposing used traction sand is high and expected to increase dramatically in Colorado. The objectives of this CDOT project are the evaluation of practical and cost-effective ways to reuse traction sand and development of new specifications to make reuse successful in the long term. Read more from the abstract.
This Canadian project intends to establish winter maintenance performance measurements using friction testing equipment. The study will develop standardized criteria for measuring the amount of friction present on roadways to quantify road conditions and measure the effectiveness of snow and ice control operations during and after a winter storm. For additional details see the Transportation Association of Canada Web site.
Nordic Road and Transport Research
No. 1, 2007
Researchers in Norway are field testing anti-icing and deicing methods that involve the use of hot water as a prewetting agent for salt. Among the initial findings, prewetting with hot water produced a more rapid deicing effect and a higher level of friction on thin ice than the traditional method of prewetting with brine. See the summary article on page 20.
Western Transportation Institute
WTI's Winter Maintenance & Effects Program seeks to research and mitigate corrosion and winter effects on transportation systems through innovation and multi-disciplinary partnerships. The program is currently conducting a dozen projects including the following studies:
*Synthesis of Vehicle-Based Winter Maintenance Technologies
*Pilot Test of Automatic Vehicle Location on Snow Plows;
*Evaluation of Alternate Anti-Icing & Deicing Compounds Using Sodium Chloride & Magnesium Chloride as Baseline Deicers; and
*Analysis of Maintenance Decision Support System Benefits & Costs.
See the project summaries on the WTI Winter Maintenance Web site.
Transportation Pooled Fund Study No. TPF-5(035)
The objectives of this project are to evaluate the longevity and cost effectiveness of the corrosion inhibitors that are added to deicers (Phase 1), and to evaluate the performance of the various deicers based on corrosion inhibitors and additives (Phase 2). See the project details on the Transportation Pooled Fund Program Web site.
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