pooled fund Projects
In development
Winter Severity Index Update
| Research Area | Environment, salt management |
| Responsible Council / Committee | Chief Engineers' Council Maintenance and Construction Standing Committee |
| Related TAC publications | Development of Winter Severity Indicator Models for Canadian Winter Road Maintenance (2007) |
| Expected Start Date | TBD |
| Expected Duration | |
| Total Funding Estimate | $104,000 |
| Project Funding Partners to Date | City of Moncton; Ontario Ministry of Transportation; City of Toronto |
| Staff Contact | Sarah Wells |
Abstract
A winter severity index is a measure of the relative impact of winter weather on winter road maintenance (WRM) operations using historical meteorological or Road Weather Information System (RWIS) data. In 2007, TAC published a report about the development of a set of models using Canadian WRM, Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) and RWIS data. WRM data were collected from across Canada from eight provincial road authorities and seven cities. Salt usage in tonnes (salt (t)/lane-km/day) was chosen as the dependent variable, standardized to account for differences in road network and the number of days in the observation period. Explanatory variables included snowfall occurrence, air temperature, freezing rain occurrence, and an east-west dummy variable to account for differences in winter road maintenance practices in different parts of Canada.
Winter road maintenance practices differ from organization to organization. They cannot be explained by weather variables alone, which make it difficult to predict salt consumption using the existing model. To be able to compare salt consumption and other maintenance indicators with winter severity, a simpler index, applicable to all administrations, should be developed levering the new information available since the 2006 project.
The major deliverable of this project will be a report describing the development of a simple index, on the basis of the earlier work, which considers only weather data having an impact on winter road maintenance operations such as pavement temperature, air temperature, snowfall, frost, freezing rain, wind speed, etc.