Phase 2 has been approved for funding. What’s more, the nation’s top transportation leaders are on board, says Brown. In May, Brown talked to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and other transportation officials, and presented an argument why the toolkit is vital to state agencies, counties and municipalities.

“They agreed 100 percent with our proposal and understood that sometimes you have to spend money to save money,” Brown explains. “You’re not making up numbers and they are arranged in a way that makes sense. You have all the information, so you can justify budget, expenditures and the adjustments that go on your truck.”

The “spend money to make money” premise is exactly what Annette Dunn, winter operations administrator for Iowa Department of Transportation’s Office of Maintenance, used to get some needed equipment for her agency. By using the Clear Roads Cost-Benefit Analysis tool, Dunn was able to justify an allocation for investment in an Automatic Vehicle Locator/Global Positioning System (AVL/GPS system).

“You need a baseline,” says Dunn. “We need to be able to prove that we are cost-effective while improving safety and overall effectiveness of winter operations.”

For downloadable PDFs of the Clear Roads research on cost-benefit analysis, go to http://www.clearroads.org/research-projects/08-02costbenefitanalysis.html or our shortened URL, http://www.tinyurl.com/ClearRoadsCostBenefitAnalysis

Cost-Benefit Toolkit

Phase 1:

1. Practices

Anti-icing

Deicing

2. Equipment

Carbide blades

Front plows

Underbody plows

Zero velocity spreaders

3. Operations

Maintenance Decision Support Systems (MDSS)

Automatic Vehicle Location and Geographic Positioning Systems (AVL/GPS)

Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS)

Mobile pavement temperature sensors

Mobile air/pavement temperature sensors

Phase 2

(The final list won’t be determined until the project is underway)

1. Comparing flexible blades to traditional blades

2. Pre-treating prior to the storm

3. Pre-wetting at the spreader

4. Slurries

5. Plow guards

6. Spreader calibration

7. Tow plows

8. Open vs. closed loop spreader controls

9. Laser guides

10. Abrasives (sand/aggregates in different types or weights/sizes)

11. Remote cameras for monitoring remote sites locations

12. Contracted truck (private or municipal) versus a state-owned truck

13. Tailgate vs. hopper spreaders

THERE’S MORE COVERAGE IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION!

www.betterroads.com/digital