Idaho Transportation Department Winter Maintenance Best Practices Dennis Jensen, Winter Operations Coordinator Bob Koeberlein, HQ Operations Engineer NWS September 2015

Outline Overview Performance Measures Data Collection and Analysis Cultural Shift Accountability Performance Management NWS September 2015

Idaho Geography Highest Mountain Pass: 8,700 feet Lowest Road Elevation: 750 feet Centerline Miles: 4,986 Lane Miles: 12,284 Bridges: 1,824 Districts: 6 Foreman Areas: 46 NWS September 2015

Idaho District Boundaries 6 Districts Varying terrain Varying weather NWS September 2015

Performance Measures RWIS uptime Winter Mobility Index Percentage of time safe grip maintained during winter storm events High numbers are the goal Winter Performance Index Duration of time (hours) the grip is below 0.60 divided by the Storm Severity Index Storm Severity Index =Wind Speed Max (mph) + Water Equivalent Layer Max (mm) + 300/Surface Temperature Minimum (degrees F) Low numbers are the goal RWIS uptime Percentage of time valid data is provided NWS September 2015

Data Collection and Analysis There are 128 RWIS sites with non-invasive pavement sensors that measure surface grip along with atmospheric parameters Three addition sites are under construction. RWIS sites are polled every 15 minutes Data and video images are displayed on the Vaisala Navigator website Both Idaho Winter Performance Measures are automatically calculated and displayed NWS September 2015

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Cultural Shift in Winter Maintenance Prior to the Winter Performance Measure Program there was little guidance on basic maintenance practices; crews responded to storm events on an ad hoc basis As staff training and RWIS reliability increased, the maintenance practices evolved into structured storm responses, driven by the RWIS data and the Performance Measure calculations. NWS September 2015

Accountability The Winter Performance Measures have become integrated into the rating factors for annual employee performance reviews Under the new transportation technician (operations) job series, pay increases are linked to several factors including winter performance measure results Each foreman area has at least 1 RWIS site to generate performance measurement data The highest performers are recognized by ITD NWS September 2015

Performance Management Statewide goals are established for each performance measure Performance measures are tracked down to the highway segment level Training and other resources are directed to those regions that need to improve Performance trends have shown steady improvement NWS September 2015

NWS September 2015 Mobility was improved annually since implementation. The prevention of adverse surface conditions has a very positive effect on winter accident reductions. It also reduces operational costs and resources needed for traditional snow plowing practices. Severity of the season does not have as much impact on the mobility annual scoring since each individual event is scored and aggregated. With productive BMP similar results can be expected whether 10 events or 25 events occurred. Mobility Index = percentage of time grip maintained above 0.6 when surface layer is below 32 degrees

Established consistency for operations and customer service statewide NWS September 2015 Breaking the numbers down by district, we can see that consistency in operational results occurred. Established consistency for operations and customer service statewide

Winter Performance Index-Mobility by Foreman Area and Highway Western States Regional Operations Summit Nov 2015 The Mobility Index is collected for each foreman area and route.

Winter Performance Index-WPI #1 December 8 2015 The second winter performance measure is the Winter Performance Index. This measure tracks how successful the maintenance practices are at reducing the ice and snow floor. The index is an empirical calculation that is automatically calculated in Vaisala’s Navigator website. Winter Performance Measure Index rates the treatment effectiveness to the storm (recovery time to safe grip) FORMULA: Winter Performance Measure Index = Ice Up Time (hours) / Storm Severity Index Ice up time is the duration of the event when the grip is below 0.60 for more than ½ hour

Winter Performance Index-WPI #2 Storm Severity Index rates three storm parameters FORMULA: Storm Severity Index = Wind Speed Max (mph) + Water Equivalent Layer Max (mm) + 300/Surface Temperature Minimum (degrees F) Lower values indicate light storm events Range 10- 80 normal events with severe cold and high winds as high as 500 December 8 2015 The storm severity index is the denominator of the previous equation. The storm severity index attempts to normalize the return to safe grip.

FY 2016 Uptime for RWIS Network December 8 2015 The critical factor in collecting data for measuring winter performance is the RWIS network. So RWIS uptime is essential for supporting the performance measure program.

Questions??? December 8 2015