News

In September 2020, the National Winter Maintenance Peer Exchange will merge with the quadrennial conference held by TRB’s Winter Maintenance and Surface Transportation Committees to become the 2020 International Road Weather and Winter Maintenance Conference and Peer Exchange. Sponsored by TRB, Aurora, Clear Roads and the Snow and Ice Pooled Fund Cooperative Program (SICOP), this event will be held the week of September 21, 2020, at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead.

For more details, see this announcement from the conference organizers. You can also view presentations and other materials from past peer exchanges on the SICOP website.

For many years, the Qualified Products List (QPL) maintained by the Pacific Northwest Snowfighters association has served as a resource for agencies across the country, identifying deicing chemicals and additives that meet established standards for corrosiveness and impact on the environment. As the QPL continues to grow, Clear Roads will be overseeing the product testing and administration for the list, which is now called the Clear Roads QPL. For an updated version of the CR QPL and a Letter to Vendors about the transition, visit the Clear Roads QPL page.

The Clear Roads Technical Advisory Committee met April 16-18 in Indianapolis to select research projects for 2019 funding. The following projects were selected:

• Expanding Brine Recipes and Their Use
• Synthesis: Retention and Recruitment of Highway Maintenance Workers
• Comparison of Performance of Prewet Road Salt Distributed by Traditional Chain Conveyor Spreader vs. Auger-Driven Slurry Spreader
• Measuring the Efficiencies of Tow/Wing Plows
• Specifications for Automated Snowplow Route Optimization

More information about these projects is available in the 2019 All Proposed Projects summary.

Clear Roads has published its fourth Annual Survey of State Winter Maintenance Data, which compiles data on winter resources, materials and costs from 35 states for the 2017-2018 winter season. The spreadsheet-based tool includes a United States map that displays many of these metrics. The tool includes four years of data, and displays averages and … Read more

In a recently completed Clear Roads project, researchers developed an hour-long video that provides animated sequences of efficient plowing paths for 10 different interchange and intersection configurations. A training manual and reference cards complement the video.

Clear Roads has published two new synthesis reports. Effective Snow and Ice Personnel and Equipment Management for Storm Activation explores how state DOTs determine when to activate and deactivate winter maintenance crews, and Accuracy of Deicer and Abrasive Material Application Equipment examines state DOTs’ practices for calibrating their deicer application equipment.