WTI

Benefit-Cost Analysis, Colorado Case Study - UTC

Primary Investigator Contact Information

External Project Contact(s)

Report(s)

1. Analysis of Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) Benefits and Costs
   1. Zhirui Ye, Christopher Strong, Xianming Shi, and Steven Conger
   2. 4W2075_Final_Report.pdf
2. Analysis of Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) Benefits and Costs
   1. Zhirui Ye, Christopher Strong, Xianming Shi, and Steven Conger
   2. 4W2075_Executive_Summary.pdf

Project Objective

The goal of this research project is to assess the benefits and costs associated with the implementation of Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS), a system designed to provide weather and road condition forecasts and real-time treatment recommendations specific to winter road maintenance routes, which is tailored for winter maintenance decision makers. Specifically, this project will focus on tangible benefits and costs of the MDSS as it where it has been deployed as an operational prototype.

Project Abstract

Maintaining highways in the northern United States and Canada is expensive, particularly in the winter. State and local agencies spend more than $2 billion annually on snow and ice control operations in the United States, and over $1 billion is spent annually in Canada on winter maintenance, including application of road salts. The enormous amount of resources spent on winter maintenance, along with concerns about corrosion, environmental impacts and traffic safety, have prompted transportation agencies to explore more efficient strategies for snow and ice control. One response to this challenge is the use of a Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS). The development of MDSS was triggered by a survey conducted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to assess user needs for surface transportation weather information in 2000. The development of a prototype MDSS was proposed with the cooperation of a pool of maintenance practitioners from several states and researchers from several national labs with expertise in weather forecasting and winter road engineering. The objective of the MDSS is to provide weather and road condition forecasts and real-time treatment recommendations specific to winter road maintenance routes (e.g., treatment locations, types, times, and rates), which are tailored for winter maintenance decision makers. The primary components of the prototype MDSS include data ingest and assimilation modules, road weather forecast systems (with data fusion algorithms and numerical weather prediction models), road condition and treatment modules (with algorithms for road temperature, snow depth, road chemical concentration, rules of practice, and road mobility index), and user display and operation system. To date, MDSS has been demonstrated in pooled fund states. While generally perceived to be beneficial, it is important to more formally determine the benefits and costs that are associated with the implementation of MDSS, and determine whether MDSS is a good investment. The goal of this research project is to assess the benefits and costs associated with the implementation of MDSS. Specifically, this project will focus on tangible benefits and costs that can be monetized. The research team has selected Colorado as the case study because of its complicated topography and the variation of weather conditions within the state. These characteristics will pose the most difficult challenge to the study, but will allow the results from this study to be applied to other pooled fund states.

Task Descriptions

1. Stakeholder Interviews
   1. In this task, information will be gathered for the development of methodology for analyzing associated benefits and costs. The research team will identify a list of appropriate stakeholders and conduct interviews on their level of MDSS applications, their assessment of MDSS applications, their level of trust of MDSS, etc.
2. Methodology Development
   1. This task will develop a method for benefit¬–cost analysis of MDSS. Benefit-cost analysis is usually employed to compare a set of well-defined alternatives. In the present case, the MDSS implementation alternatives are not obvious, as there are a variety of considerations related to geographic scale of implementation, the use of MDSS-enabling technologies (e.g., mobile data collection and in-vehicle graphic user interfaces), and the level to which MDSS is actually used. This project will therefore first identify data requirements necessary for the MDSS cost–benefit analysis (e.g., data related to safety, weather, traffic, etc.), and then develop a methodology to incorporate the data, focusing on tangible benefits and costs (those that can be monetized).
3. Analysis and Assessment of MDSS Benefits and Costs
   1. Upon developing the methodology, the research team will collect the necessary information and proceed with the analysis. Analysis results such as costs of each scenario will be provided. This task will also compare the base scenario with alternative scenarios, and results from the comparison will be analyzed and evaluated.
4. Documentation of project findings
   1. A final paper will be prepared and submitted to the sponsor as a project deliverable, in lieu of the final report. This research paper will incorporate background (literature review), methodology, results and discussion, and conclusions (including suggestions for next steps). The paper will be used to provide additional data to the MDSS Pooled Fund project final report, and is expected to be submitted for publication and/or presentation at conferences such as the Transportation Research Board (TRB) annual meeting.

Milestones, Dates, Schedule

Student Involvement

False

Relationship to Other Research Projects

True

Technology Transfer Activities

False

TRB Keywords

Maintenance Decision Support System; Traffic Safety and Mobility; Winter Maintenance

Partners