In 2002, the County of Renfrew and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities co-funded the
installation of a two-station Road Weather Information System (RWIS) network within the
County. As part of the contract between the two parties, the County of Renfrew agreed to
have a third party complete a post-deployment performance evaluation to track the effects of
RWIS support on winter maintenance activities and expenditures: the County contracted Mark
F. Pinet & Associates Limited to complete the post-deployment reporting. The goal of this
report is to determine whether improvements in winter maintenance practices were realized
and to support other Municipalities that may wish to install RWIS networks in the future.
Winter maintenance performance was measured as the difference between pre- and
postdeployment of the network. For the purposes of this report, the benchmark data was assumed
to be that obtained during the winter seasons of 2000/2001 to 2002/2003. Data assembled for
benchmarking included salt and sand use (volumes and application rates), fuel consumption,
collision statistics and winter maintenance expenditures. Similar data was collected for the
2003/2004 winter season (the first season with full deployment and a pre-wetting trial). To
determine the benefit of RWIS in terms of maintenance activities and expenditures, the
2003/2004 measured values were compared to the benchmarks and previous trends.
As a result of the post-deployment performance evaluation/analysis, the following differences
were noted at the end of the2003/2004 winter season:
• A 16% reduction in chloride use (from NaCl and Mg2Cl) along route 606-04 due to
pre-wetting maintenance strategies assisted by RWIS information.
• A 16% reduction in total winter season collisions (not involving animals) compared to
the trend in the benchmark data (not corrected for winter severity)
• A 32% reduction in required winter patrol costs (not corrected for winter severity or
route optimization program)
• A 30% reduction in diesel fuel consumption (not corrected for winter severity or route
optimization program)
Several factors influenced each of these benefits, aside from the RWIS deployment, including
severity of winter and route optimization. Greater confidence in the measurement of benefits
will be possible once an evaluation methodology is implemented that can account for the
major variables that control the changes in response. A standardized Winter Severity Index
will greatly aid in assessment in the future.
