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APWA 2016 PWX 8/29/2016
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Take the Pain our of your Snow PlanWilfrid Nixon, Ph.D., P.E., PWLF
Salt Institute
Goals
How best to create your snow plan, with or without a web-based app to help you
Figure out the process you need to follow to create your ideal snow plan
See how your current snow plan may fall short of what you really need in a snow plan
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Complexity
If we want to look at winter maintenance sensibly, we need to consider it as a system
Everything we do impacts (perhaps) everything else we do
Which is a bit daunting!So, what can we do to break it down
a bit and try and get a handle on it?When in doubt, draw a diagram!
April 2012APWA NASC
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So What Does this Have to do with a Snow Plan?
Ideally, your plan will include all these elements and more
It will be based on your levels of service
It will detail the actions to be taken during typical winter storms, and during severe storms
It will describe your available resources and indicate how your personnel will deploy those resources
All of which sounds very impersonal and unrealistic!
Wait a Minute – What Are we Talking about Really? Your winter maintenance plan has a variety of
different “levels” to it
The council, board of supervisors, mayor or whomever likely has to pass a resolution approving it
Then there is likely a short one or two page document summarizing it
Finally there is the more detailed plan that covers stuff like routes, equipment, personnel and so forth
Each level has its own challenges…
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Visually…
ResolutionResolution •Passed by Politicians
PolicyPolicy •Informs the public
Detailed Plan
Detailed Plan
• Drives your actions
The First Problem…
Political Interference Not the same as political oversight which
is necessary and appropriate Politicians should be informed about the
policy, and should formally adopt it, but…
Not all of them are happy with the process!
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That Problem Exemplified
Someone calls the Mayor (for example) “My street has not been plowed” It was only a 1” snow storm, and your
policy says you do not plow residential streets unless you get 2” or more of snow
The Mayor calls you and gives you a ration of s**t about providing poor service to the people of your city
What do you do?
Thoughts on Problem 1
You have a policy for a reason, and if you act in ways contrary to your policy, you may open yourself up to liability (very state dependent, by the way)
It is your job to make sure your elected officials know the policy and know what you do and do not do Do you provide them with briefings before major winter
events?
Do you remind them before the winter season about what your policy covers?
Your elected officials can change the rules on you, but you should make that a formal process!
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Levels of ServiceThey are at the center of winter
maintenance and drive all our actions (ideally)
Different roads receive different levels of effortRoad types often differentiated in
terms of Average Daily Traffic (AADT)Priority Levels Assigned
Because they are central, important they be created properly and then followed
Level of Service – An Example
Classification AADTTarget Regain Time
Bare Lane Description
Super Commuter
Over 30,000
1-3 hoursBare lanes are defined the same for all classifications as follows:
Urban Commuter
10,000-30,000
2-5 hours All driving lanes are free of snow and ice between the outer edge of the wheel paths and have less
Rural Commuter
2,000-10,000
4-9 hoursthan 1 inch of accumulation on the center of the roadway.
Primary800-2,000
6-12 hoursThe Bare Lane Regained date and time should be logged when this condition is obtained.
SecondaryUnder 800
9-36 hoursLoss of bare pavement is when 5% or more of the pavement is slippery, icy, or snow covered.
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Suitable Levels of Service Very location specific – what works in
Illinois would not work in Georgia!
Road type specific – residential streets should not receive the same efforts as Interstates
Possibly time of day specific – major commuter routes should have higher priority in the few hours leading up to rush hour…
How Clean is Clean Enough?
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March 2012
Salt Institute Annual Meeting
Basing a Plan on Levels of Service - Issues We already discussed the political concern…
The next issue is the weather
Achieving bare pavement 24 hours after your typical storm may be easy, but...
Achieving bare pavement 24 hours after a 2” ice storm will not be easy...!
How does your plan handle that?
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The Second Problem - It’s All in the Words! You need some weasel words to help you manage
expectations
When talking about level of service goals, stress that these goals are for typical winter storms
You might even give an example of what is a typical winter storm
Include pavement temperatures, precipitation type and amount, and duration in your example
Explain how variations in these factors add challenges
Variations
Low pavement temperatures reduce the effectiveness of road salt
Freezing rain is much harder to deal with than snow
High winds (above 15 mph) can cause snow drifting which may create ongoing pavement issues
Long duration storms, or many storms back to back, may cause issues with personnel availability
Things like flu epidemics may limit the ability of the agency to respond
Certain crashes (e.g. hazmat) may create special circumstances
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Quantifying the Weather Impact What is the weather like?
Some storms are easy, some are not!
All those measurements could give us a clear idea of how bad the storm was
Generally through some form of storm index
If we want, we can sum the storm indices over a winter, and get a winter index…
Some Form of Winter Index
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October November December January February March
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October November December January February March
Moline 2013-14Total Salt Used = 13,420 TonsTons/Index Point = 499
Moline 2012-13Total Salt Used = 11,200 TonsTons/Index Point = 848
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Measuring Performance Based on your Plan How efficiently are we getting to our level of service?
Are we “applying the right amount of material, in the right place, at the right time, and keeping it there,” or do we just think we are?
Can we identify systemic inefficiencies and remove them?
Even if we have detailed application rate programs, are we actually following them?
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The Third Problem - Liability
A good, comprehensive, and attainable plan is great protection
BUT, two caveats apply You must follow your plan
Your plan must be reasonable
This varies lots depending on jurisdiction, so check with your agency attorney
Bottom line – comprehensive, implemented plans are great…
Converse is true as well...
The Fourth Issue –Environmental Concerns Again, varies significantly from location to location,
but…
More and more locations are being faced with environmental issues in winter maintenance
The low end of the issues may be awareness from your “customers” about environmental impacts
All the way to required record keeping and limited use of materials in certain watersheds or other designated areas
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Some of Those Environmental Issues - Locations
New Hampshire
New York – Lake George Area
Minneapolis
Chicago
And others
So, if you are facing those issues, you are not alone!
Training requirements, changes in practice, tracking of usage, limitation of usage
Summarizing the Needs for your Plan Comprehensive – it has to cover all that you do in
winter maintenance
Contingencies – you have to define your normal winter storm, and discuss what constitutes a major deviation from that
Complications – what are your processes when you are outside your “normal” storm zone?
Convenient – is you r plan logically organized so that anyone could find their way through it without too much hassle?
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The Web App for Your Plan
One option for how to create and maintain a plan that covers all the bases
Allows for easy creation of the plan, and even has options to track how well you are implementing the plan
Some brief details on it
~140MunicipaAgencies
using the Winter Web App today
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Straightforward Questions +
Maps
Secure Log-In Customized Winter Operations Planning document ready to
download
Easy as 1-2-3
1 2 3
Dashboard View
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Example - Contact Info Module
Dashboard View
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Plow Route Mapping ScreenSimple Toolbar
Google Maps
Live Lane-KM Calculations
Route Priorities by Colour
Create Different Types of MapsSidewalk Plow Routes Roadway Plow Routes
Patrol Routes Vulnerable Areas
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Dashboard View: Go for Greens!
PDF document instantly ready for download.
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General Feedback:
Winter Web App is a great tool that is helping save at least 40 hours of work per municipality, and delivering a top notch winter operations
planning document.
Conclusions
A Good Plan will be a major benefit for you in several ways
Creating a good plan requires a strong template, and one is available for you (see the session handout, available through the app, I believe)
The app automates the process of creating a plan, ensures that nothing is missed out, and allows you, as an add-on, to track your performance in the context of your plan
More info: [email protected]
TakethePainOutofyourSnowPlanHandoutNotesAPWAPWX2016
Remember,wintermaintenanceisacomplexprocess,soyouaregoingtohavetogivesomethoughttohowyouoperateyourplans.Levelofserviceshouldbecentraltoyourplan,butyouhavetobeabitcarefulhere.Whatdoyouactuallymeanbylevelofservice?Howgoodshouldtheservicebe?Levelofserviceisinmanywaysapoliticalissue.Soelectedofficialsshouldsetit,buttheyshouldalsomakesurethattheystickto
it,otherwisechaoscanresult!Ineffect,youaredealingwithathree-layerprocess.Donotletthepoliticiansgetintotheweedsof,forexample,determiningplowroutes.Butitisentirelyappropriateforthemtoassignthelevelsofserviceandtoknowwhattheyareandwhytheyareinplace.
´ AGoodPlanwillbeamajorbenefitforyouinseveralways´ Creatingagoodplanrequiresastrongtemplate,andoneisavailableforyou(seethe
sessionhandout,availablethroughtheapp,Ibelieve)´ Theappautomatestheprocessofcreatingaplan,ensuresthatnothingismissedout,
andallowsyou,asanadd-on,totrackyourperformanceinthecontextofyourplan
Moreinfo:pleasevisitthewebsiteat:www.OGRAapps.com
WilfNixonSaltInstitute
Tactical (per-storm) Operations Levels of Service
Equipment Selection and Operations
Materials Usage
Strategic (annual) Operations
Performance Measurement and
Continuous Improvement
Direct Impact
Feedback
Resolution • PassedbyPoliticians
Policy • Informsthepublic
DetailedPlan
• Drivesyouractions