DRAFTDATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS STRATEGIES TO

MITIGATE THE IMPACTS OF OIL AND GAS ACTIVITIES ON WYOMING COUNTY ROADS

PHASE I

Khaled Ksaibati, PhD., P.E.Director, Wyoming T2/LTAP Center

1000 E. University Avenue, Dept. 3295Laramie, WY 82071

Phone: (307) 766-6230FAX: (307) 766-6784

e-mail: khaled@uwyo.edu

Submitted To

Wyoming Department of Transportation

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ABSTRACTMany parts of the State of Wyoming, along with other oil and natural gas

producing regions, are experiencing a dramatic increase in exploratory and production drilling. Recently, the oil and natural gas industry improved the process for drilling horizontally and fracturing underground formations to let out more oil and gas. Such advancement made it possible to extract oil and gas from the Niobrara Shale which is located in the southeastern corner of the state of Wyoming. County roads that once handled very low traffic volumes will be expected to carry hundreds of vehicles per day with a high proportion of heavy trucks. The main objective of this study is to outline a methodology which will help counties in developing strategies so that their roads can effectively serve the needs of the driving public as well as the oil and gas industry. The developed methodology should result in helping the counties in adjusting their maintenance and rehabilitation strategies so that they can allocate their limited resources effectively. In addition, the study will identify current conditions and needed investments to keep local roads in serviceable conditions and document changes due to unforeseen use. Such documentations are very useful for law makers allocating funds to compensate counties for the impacts to their roads and ensure economic development for the region. The methodology developed will not only identify needed improvements on local roads, it will also help in ranking the various improvements within each county. Such ranking will insure that funding is invested in a cost effective manner. The ultimate goal is to provide an effective tool for allocating scarce resources to insure that road conditions are acceptable for all potential local and industrial users.

AcknowledgementThe author would like to thank all staff members of the WYT2/LTAP for their help with the various phases of the oil and gas study.

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Table of ContentsCHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................1

1.1 Background...............................................................................................11.2 Contributions to the State Economy..........................................................21.3 Study Justifications...................................................................................31.4 Objectives.................................................................................................31.5 Study Organization....................................................................................4

CHAPTER 2 THE NORTH DAKOTA STUDY.....................................................62.1 Objectives.................................................................................................62.2 Principles of North Dakota Study..............................................................62.3 Data Collection and Analysis....................................................................72.4 North Dakota Study Recommendations....................................................72.5 Considerations for the Wyoming Study.....................................................8

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY...........................................................................93.1 Data Management.....................................................................................93.2 Inventory.................................................................................................103.3 Additional Data........................................................................................113.4 Oil Production Locations (Impact classification)......................................133.5 Condition Data........................................................................................13

3.5.1 Gravel Road Ratings.........................................................................133.5.2 Asphalt Roads Assessments............................................................173.5.3 Cattle guards Assessments..............................................................19

3.6 Data Summary........................................................................................193.7 Improvement Recommendations............................................................21

3.7.1 Paved and Unpaved Roads..............................................................213.7.2 Cattle guards.....................................................................................23

3.8 Maintenance and Rehabilitation Data.....................................................243.9 Industrial Permits....................................................................................263.10 Chapter Summary................................................................................28

CHAPTER 4 DATA AVAILABILITY in study area.............................................294.1 Converse County Data............................................................................294.2 Goshen County Data...............................................................................324.3 Laramie County Data..............................................................................35

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4.4 Platte County Data..................................................................................374.5 Data Summary........................................................................................384.6 Chapter Summary...................................................................................41

CHAPTER 5 Conclusions and RECOMMENDATIONS....................................425.1 Summary.................................................................................................425.2 Conclusions.............................................................................................42

5.2.1 Data Collection and Analysis Strategies...........................................425.2.2 Assessment of Counties in Southeastern Wyoming.........................435.2.3 Follow up Studies..............................................................................44

5.3 Recommendations..................................................................................46References..........................................................................................................47

TABLE OF FIGURESFigure 1.1 Crooks Gap Road, Sweetwater County, Wyoming..............................2Figure 1.2 Counties to be included in this study....................................................4Figure 3.1 Input menu for the TAMS software.....................................................14Figure 3.2 Drainage rating for gravel roads.........................................................16Figure 3.3 Dust rating for gravel roads................................................................17Figure 3.4 Pathway data collection van for paved roads.....................................18Figure 3.5 Pathway software for determining PCI, IRI, and rut depth.................19Figure 3.6 Cattle guards on unpaved roads........................................................20Figure 3.7 Data collection for unpaved roads in Phase II....................................20Figure 3.8 Data collection for paved roads in phase II........................................21Figure 3.9 Data analysis on paved roads to rank improvements in phase II.......22Figure 3.10 Developing improvement recommendations [10].............................23Figure 3.11 Cattle guard evaluations and recommendations for improvements. 24Figure 3.12 Impact of oil and gas truck traffic on maintenance activities............25Figure 3.13 Cost of asphalt maintenance in Laramie County..............................26Figure 3.14 Oversize/overweight (OS/OW) permits in Laramie County..............27Figure 4.1 Roads impacted by drilling activities in Converse County..................31Figure 4.2 Roads impacted by drilling activities in Goshen County.....................34Figure 4.3 Roads impacted by drilling activities in Laramie County....................36Figure 4.4 Roads impacted by drilling activities in Platte County........................39Figure 5.1 Annual Recommendations from Phase III..........................................45

TABLE OF TABLESTable 3.1 PASER gravel road overall rating standards.......................................15Table 4.1 Data availability in the study area........................................................40

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BackgroundMany parts of the State of Wyoming, along with other oil and natural gas

producing regions, are experiencing a dramatic increase in exploratory and production drilling. Recently, the oil and natural gas industry improved the process for drilling horizontally and fracturing underground formations to let out more oil and gas. Such advancement made it possible to extract oil and gas from the Niobrara Shale which is located in the southeastern corner of the state of Wyoming. County roads that once handled very low traffic volumes will be expected to carry hundreds of vehicles per day with a high proportion of heavy trucks. A typical example of such a county road is shown in Figure 1.1. These county roads were not originally designed for heavy truck traffic. Therefore, it is important that these roads are evaluated and probably upgraded to keep them in serviceable conditions.

In a recent study conducted in North Dakota, traffic counters were deployed at 100 locations in 15 of the 17 oil and gas producing counties. At each of the selected sites, a count of no less than 24 hours was taken and adjusted to represent the traffic over a 24-hour period. These raw counts were adjusted for monthly variation in traffic to estimate the average daily trips (ADT) for each segment. The average traffic on these segments was 145 vehicles per day. Sixty-one of these vehicles are trucks. Twenty-six of these trucks were multi-units—i.e., semitrailer or multi-trailer trucks. Perhaps the closest benchmark for major county roads is the rural collector network of the state highway system. The average daily traffic on state collectors is roughly 277 vehicles per day, of which 17 are multi-unit trucks and 14 are single-unit trucks. In comparison, the county roads in the North Dakota sample have lower ADT but higher percentages of trucks—i.e., 34 single-unit and 27 multi-unit trucks per day. The paved roads in the 100 surveyed locations have 99 trucks per day, versus 31 trucks per day on state collectors [1].

During the last oil boom of the 1970’s and early 1980’s, the Texas State Department of Highways and Public Transportation sponsored a research study that estimated that drilling a single well takes about 60 days, and that 1365 trucks larger than standard pickups travel to the well site during preparation and drilling. It also estimated that during production, lasting about three years, 150 large trucks per month serve each well. This study addressed the issues of oil field traffic on low volume roads where the additional drilling traffic had a substantial impact.

According to the Texas study, low-volume rural roads in oil-producing areas were not initially constructed to endure the impact of intense oil field truck traffic. Thus, a condition of persistent rehabilitation was not anticipated under normal operating

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situations, and complete pavement restoration costs were not normally accounted for in the planning of maintenance. Since typical traffic characteristics and usual vehicle distributions are not applicable to roadways that carry oil field traffic, there is a need to determine the definitive elements of oil field traffic demand [2].

Figure 1.1 Crooks Gap Road, Sweetwater County, Wyoming.

1.2 Contributions to the State EconomyThe oil and gas industry has been doing business in the state of Wyoming for

over 100 years. This industry has significant contributions to the Wyoming economy. According to the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, Wyoming ranked 7th in production of crude oil and 2nd in natural gas production during 2010. During the same year, the petroleum industry employed approximately 21,000 people with a payroll of over $1.1 billion. For fiscal year 2010, oil and gas production contributed $1.9 billion to state and local governments in the form of taxes and royalties. It is essential that the state of Wyoming continues to work closely with the petroleum industry to insure the adequacy of the transportation infrastructure. Such cooperation will be beneficial to the Wyoming economy, driving public as well as the oil and gas industry.

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1.3 Study JustificationsWith the recent escalation in oil and gas drilling activities in the southeastern

corner of the state, Converse, Goshen, Laramie, and Platte counties, shown in Figure 1.2, will experience higher levels of truck traffic on their local roads. Such traffic will impact these roads and result in a significant increase in maintenance cost. A high percentage of the paved roads in these counties were built over 40 years ago. In the past, they served local traffic without the need for major upgrades. The significant increase in truck traffic will result in accelerating the damage to these originally under-designed roads which would result in significantly increasing maintenance costs. The unpaved roads in these counties will be impacted as well. Some of these roads may not have the adequate structural capacity for heavy truck traffic while other unpaved roads may not be wide enough to safely carry local and truck traffic. The increased traffic on unpaved roads will result in a significantly higher level of required maintenance and in some cases an increased need for dust control. Proper maintenance and upgrades for both paved and unpaved roads would insure meeting the expectations of both the driving public and the oil and gas industry.

The Wyoming Legislatures allocated six hundred ten thousand dollars ($610,000.00) for the purpose of evaluating impacts and formulating mitigation strategies associated with mineral exploration and production in southeastern Wyoming. The governor allocated a portion of these funds to the State Engineer’s Office to ensure water right and usage compliance issues are adequately addressed, and the rest of the fund (approximately $200,000) to the Department of Transportation for evaluation of road impacts. A small portion of the DOT allocated fund was used in this first phase so that a standard methodology for mitigating the impact of oil and gas drilling activities can be developed. It is anticipated that the implementation of the proposed methodology will help in providing impacted counties with additional resources so that they can maintain and upgrade their infrastructure. Keeping local roads in acceptable conditions is essential not only for county residents but also to the oil and gas companies which need to get their equipment efficiently to drilling sites and transport their products to markets. It is going to be difficult for both companies and impacted counties to keep up with the rapidly expanding drilling activities using county roads without the support of the Wyoming legislature.

1.4 ObjectivesThe main objective of this study is to outline a methodology which will help

counties in developing strategies so that their roads can effectively serve the needs of the driving public as well as the oil and gas industry. The developed methodology should result in helping the counties in adjusting their maintenance and rehabilitation strategies so that they can allocate their limited resources effectively. In addition, the study will identify current conditions and needed investments to keep local roads in serviceable conditions. Such documentation is very useful for law makers allocating funds to compensate counties for the impacts to their roads. The methodology developed will not only identify needed improvements on local roads, it will also help in

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ranking the various improvements within each county. Such ranking will insure that funding is invested in a cost effective manner. The ultimate goal is to provide an effective tool for allocating scarce resources to insure that road conditions are acceptable for all potential local and industrial users.

Local bridges are normally evaluated by WYDOT. Therefore, they will not be included in this study. A separate effort should consider the needs for upgrading bridges. In addition, this study will not consider the impact of truck traffic on the safety of local roads.

Figure 1.2 Counties to be included in this study.

1.5 Study OrganizationThis study, Phase I, concentrated only on developing a methodology for

evaluating the impact of gas and oil drilling activities on local roads. Such methodology is based on the guidelines recommended by the WYT2/LTAP to manage local roads [3 through 12]. The implementation of the proposed methodology will require two additional phases. Phase II will result in implementing the developed methodology in four counties. Converse, Goshen, Platte and Laramie counties were chosen for this

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initial implementation. The implementation will concentrate on roads with predominantly drilling traffic as identified by the participating counties. Roads with inadequate surface conditions for their functional class will be recommended for improvements. Phase II will address the immediate needs of the counties to address the impact in year 1. These recommendations can be used by law makers to allocate additional resources to improve heavily impacted local roads.

The third phase of the study will concentrate on identifying future needs in the four counties. Continuous measurements of road conditions and level of maintenance effort are essential in determining future needs. Some of the counties included in this study may not have experienced the full impact of drilling activities yet. Therefore, Phase II may not show the full impact on their infrastructure. The proposed activities for Phase III will insure the continuous monitoring of local roads so that resources are allocated not only where they are needed but also when they are needed. The Wyoming state legislature should be presented with information on the third phase so that they can allocate appropriate resources for it.

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CHAPTER 2 THE NORTH DAKOTA STUDYNorth Dakota has been experiencing oil and gas impact similar to Wyoming. The

North Dakota legislature funded a study to evaluate the oil and gas impact in 2010 [1]. 3,300 wells were producing oil in North Dakota prior to 2005. As of November 2010, that number had risen to 5,200. In addition, the number of producing wells is expected to increase substantially in the future. Important lessons can be learned from the North Dakota study. This chapter summarizes the principles of that study, the main findings, and how some of these findings can help the Wyoming effort in evaluating the impact of oil and gas drilling activities. All information summarized in this chapter was obtained from the North Dakota study [1].

2.1 ObjectivesThe purpose of the North Dakota study was to forecast road investment needs in

oil and gas producing counties of North Dakota over the next 20 years in light of the expected growth. The essential objective was to quantify the additional investments necessary for efficient year-round transportation of oil while providing travelers with acceptable roadway service. The focus was on roads owned or maintained by local governments.

2.2 Principles of North Dakota StudyThe study was performed with the following principles in mind:

Impacts and funding needs are analyzed for three types of roads: paved, graveled, and graded and drained.

The analysis is based on three main data sources: o oil production forecastso traffic data on selected roadso county road surveys to identify road conditions

The forecasted output of wells is routed over the road network to pipelines using a detailed Geographic Information System model in which oil movements are represented as equivalent tractor-semitrailer trips that follow least-cost paths.

The county surveys provided information about the condition of each impacted segment.

Typical thicknesses of surface and base layers were used. The future locations of drilling rigs were estimated from lease data obtained from

the North Dakota Land Department. Estimates from the Oil and Gas Division suggest that a total of 21,250 wells will be drilled in the next 10 to 20 years. If 1,500 wells are drilled each year, it would take 14 years to drill the estimated 21,250 wells.

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2.3 Data Collection and AnalysisThe following steps were followed in the North Dakota study:

Production Forecast (the Oil and Gas Division) Trips Forecasts. Oil traffic consists largely of five types of movements:

o inbound movements of sand, water, cement, scoria/gravel, drilling mud, and fuel;

o inbound movements of chemicals o outbound movements of oil and byproducts o outbound movements of saltwater o movements of specialized vehicles such as workover rigs, fracturing rigs,

cranes, and utility vehicles (i.e., rig-related movements). Traffic Analysis. Traffic counters were deployed at 100 locations in 15 of the 17

oil and gas producing counties. Structure of Paved County Roads. The capability of a road to accommodate

additional truck traffic is measured through its structural number (SN), which is a function of the thickness of the surface and base layers and the materials of these layers. County roads are light-duty structures designed for farm-to-market and manufactured goods movements. They are often built with six-inch aggregate bases topped with asphalt. The total thickness of the asphalt layers ranges from 2.5 to 6 inches. The average structural numbers in oil and gas producing counties are 1.6 and 1.1 for collectors and local county roads, respectively. In comparison, the average structural number of state collectors in oil-producing counties is 2.8.

Roadway Width. According to surveys, the graded widths of approximately half of the county roads in oil and gas producing areas are less than or equal to 28 feet in width.

Paved Road Service Lives. The pavement design equations of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) are used in this study. Using design equations and ESAL factors, the service life of each impacted road is projected with and without oil traffic. The average reduction in life is five years. A structural overlay is a cost effective solution for pavements with substantial but lower increases in traffic. In addition to improving structural durability, reconstruction enables minor widening and shoulder improvements.

2.4 North Dakota Study RecommendationsThe North Dakota study resulted in the following recommendations for

improvements:

Reconstruction of Paved Roads: Approximately 256 miles of county road are selected for possible reconstruction.

Structural Overlays. An additional 249 miles of paved road are candidates for structural overlays.

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Estimated Paved Road Funding Needs: The estimated paved road investment needs amount to $340 million over the next 20 years. Most (75 percent) of these needs are attributable to reconstruction, while 12 percent corresponds to both overlays and annual maintenance.

Estimated Unpaved Road Funding Needs: Approximately 12,718 miles of impacted unpaved roads have been identified. The projected cost of oil-related traffic on these roads is $567 million over the next 20 years.

Overall Needs: When the unpaved and paved road costs are added together, the projected investment need for all roads amounts to $907 million, which is equal to an average annual need of $45.35 million over the 2011-2030 period.

2.5 Considerations for the Wyoming StudyThe North Dakota study clearly demonstrated that the impact of oil and gas

drilling activities on local roads is very significant. If a similar planning study were to be performed in Wyoming, it is certain that the forecasted needs would of a similar magnitude to the needs in North Dakota.

Instead of conducting a study duplicating the North Dakota approach, it makes more sense to concentrate the efforts in Wyoming on helping impacted counties in developing their own Pavement Management Systems (PMS). Such systems would enable Wyoming counties to collect condition data on their roadways so that they can measure actual and not projected impact of drilling activities. Maintenance and rehabilitation strategies based on actual rather than projected conditions can be recommended, implemented, and then evaluated over time. Wyoming DOT as well as other DOTs in the region follow a similar approach with their Pavement Management Systems. Continuous monitoring of the conditions of roads is a good management tool which will help impacted Wyoming counties for years to come. It is important to mention here that such systems require annual updates and continuous data analysis to get the intended benefits.

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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGYSeveral approaches can be adopted to identify the impacts of heavy truck traffic

associated with energy developments on local roads. The North Dakota approach utilizes planning tools to forecast future truck traffic based on certain assumptions associated with potential future drilling activities. Such an approach is effective in developing long-range plans and general future funding needs. As an alternative, pavement management tools and techniques can be effectively utilized so that actual conditions of paved and unpaved roads are documented. Maintenance and rehabilitation strategies can be then developed based on these actual conditions. This management technique provides local agencies with continuous measures of where their networks are.

In this study, it is recommended that local agencies in the state of Wyoming concentrate their efforts on measuring actual impact of drilling activities by implementing the pavement management system approach rather than only planning tools. Implementing pavement management systems in impacted counties will enable them to document the conditions of their networks, identify their needs, and evaluate the effectiveness of their maintenance and rehabilitation programs in the future. In other words, the management system approach will help counties in making more cost effective decisions for years to come. It is important that realistic guidelines are established for such management systems so that counties can collect the data needed and conduct the required analysis.

Managing paved roads based on the data gathered in Pavement Management Systems has been the accepted practice for highway agencies around the country. However, managing unpaved roads has been a more challenging process for local governments. Since the majority of roads managed by local governments around the state are unpaved, the WYT2/LTAP developed a methodology for gravel roads management [3]. In this chapter, recommendations will be made to collect the appropriate data on paved and unpaved roads based on the extensive experience of the WYT2/LTAP staff.

3.1 Data ManagementThere are various ways to manage data on paved and unpaved roads. An initial

decision had to be made on whether to purchase a commercial software package, obtain a free package, or develop software internally. Based on the extensive experience of the WY2/LTAP staff, an assessment was conducted on the various options and a decision was made to use the TAMS program as a data collection tool. TAMS was developed by the Utah LTAP and has been implemented successfully by many local communities in Utah. The TAMS software has the capability to recommend certain improvements based on distress extent and severity. Some agencies reported that the program may result in overestimating the needs. Therefore, it is recommended that in this study the collected data is analyzed by the staff of the WYT2/LTAP center

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which would allow the flexibility to modify maintenance and rehabilitation techniques to reflect the practices of Wyoming Counties. The rest of this chapter describes the data collection and analysis strategies to set up asset management systems for counties in Wyoming. In this study, data will be collected on paved roads, unpaved roads, and cattle guards. Other assets can be added in the future as needed.

3.2 InventoryAn inventory is simply a list of assets and a few fundamental, static attributes of

the assets, roads and cattle guards. At the very least, the following aspects of a road network should be collected and stored:

Unique Section Identification: Road Name and/or Numbero Each section of road should be uniquely identified. Some provision should

be made within a database scheme to split existing roads into smaller and more uniform sections.

o In addition to the unique road section identifier described above, the name and number of the road should also be included in the inventory. It should be noted that one road may be split into several sections, each with its own unique section ID. With road names and numbers also in the inventory, searches on information about an entire road may be made even if the road is split into several maintenance management sections.

Location:o The location of each section should be described. In this study, the

location should be identified with data from a global positioning system (GPS).

Surface Type:The following two main types with two subcategories in each type should

be included in this study:o Unpaved:

Gravel Earth

o Paved: Asphalt Pavement: Sealed Roads: (Double Chipped).

Lengtho The section’s length should be recorded as accurately as possible. This

should be based on where an agency’s roads truly begin and end.o WYDOT provided the length of all paved county roads.o The length of unpaved roads should be provided by the counties. These

lengths will be confirmed during the data collection.

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Top Widtho This information is especially important for unpaved roads. The top width

should be measured on a typical usable width of the traveled way on tangents, between the hinges of the shoulder. Such information is useful in the following two ways:

Narrow roads (less than 24’) will have more concentrated traffic in the middle of the road. Such traffic will accelerate the damage of these roads. Increasing the width of these roads to at least 24’ will insure that traffic will be going in two opposite lanes and the damage will not be increased in the middle of the roads.

Studies have shown that narrower roads with narrow shoulders are not as safe as wider roads. The drilling truck traffic on narrow roads will probably increase the frequency and severity of crashes.

o The widths of paved roads are also important. They would be used to estimate required maintenance and rehabilitation costs.

Inventory Date:o When the inventory data was compiled

Functional Class:o Functional classifications are important in setting up acceptable surface

conditions and improvements strategies.o The functional classification of each local road should be established. The

following functional classifications for county roads were obtained from WYDOT:

Rural major collector Rural minor collector Urban collector Urban Minor Arterial Local

3.3 Additional DataIn order to fully assess the conditions of local roads impacted by energy

development, it is important that the following additional data is collected: Traffic Volumes:

In this study, traffic data will be collected with the Diamond traffic counters. The counts will be obtained on both paved and unpaved roads. These counts should be performed over a minimum of 48 hours. Longer periods of time may be allowed on some of the heavily impacted roads. The counts will be used

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to establish baselines and the potential increase in truck traffic due to the drilling activities. Vehicle counts as well as vehicle classifications should be obtained.

ADT – Average Daily Traffic Cumulative traffic in vehicles per day, both directions Should be corrected for seasonal variations based off of

WYDOT correction factors. ADTT – Average Daily Truck Traffic

Traffic Speeds:o Speeds might be of interest, the 85th and the 50th percentiles speed

should be obtained when available. o Higher speed may result in more dust and higher levels of deteriorations

on unpaved roads.

Photographs:o Photographs should be obtained when documenting the conditions of

unpaved roads. It would be adequate to get two pictures, one at each end of every segment.

o There is no need to get photographs on paved roads since they will be surveyed with the Pathway equipment which will provide video logs of all paved sections.

o Pictures should be obtained on cattle guards. Such pictures should show the overall conditions of the approaches and the cattle guards.

Pavement Thickness: o The thicknesses of the layers for the paved sections are required for the

structural evaluation. Information on layers types and quality should be collected while obtaining thicknesses. Such thicknesses can be obtained based on two methods:

The preferred method: Coring should be performed and actual thicknesses should be measured. As a minimum, the thicknesses of the surface and base layers should be obtained.

The less preferred method: Thicknesses will be obtained from the counties records. These records might be based on construction documents or any other county records.

Other Roadway Features:o Cattle guards:

The locations of cattle guards should be determined with a GPS. Condition ratings should be obtained for the cattle guards. As a

minimum, one of the ratings should be for the condition of the approaches and the second one for the overall condition of the cattle guards.

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3.4 Oil Production Locations (Impact classification)Information on water and oil well permits should be obtained from the Wyoming

Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Such information will be important in identifying local roads which are impacted by drilling activities. County Road & Bridge personnel will utilize wells and water permits in identifying and ranking their impacted roads. This process can be applied to other economic drivers such as wind mills and transition lines

3.5 Condition DataFor any asset management system, it is important that the conditions of the

roadways and other features are obtained. In this study, the conditions of the following infrastructure will be included:

all paved roads all impacted unpaved roads selected un-impacted roads cattle guards on impacted roads

The conditions should be measured and rated using methods developed by WYT2/LTAP in consultation with county personnel. Since WYDOT evaluates bridges longer than 20’, they should not be included in this study. It is recommended that bridges shorter than 20’ be included in future studies since they are maintained by local governments.

3.5.1 Gravel Road RatingsThe most important ratings that should be collected on gravel roads are:

surface distress drainage dust

All gravel roads ratings should be collected with the Transportation Asset Management System (TAMS) or similar data collection systems. Figure 3.3 shows the input menu for the TAMS software. The TAMS Road Module was developed at Utah State University by the Utah Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Center. The goal of the TAMS program is to serve as a tool for cities and counties to effectively manage their Transportation systems. In this study, it is recommended that TAMS is used a data collection tool only. The data analysis should be performed based on a methodology developed by the WYT2/LTAP which can be tailored to better fit the maintenance and rehabilitation strategies in the state of Wyoming.

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Figure 3.3 Input menu for the TAMS software.

3.5.1.1 Surface Distress Ratings

The conditions of the unpaved sections should be obtained manually due to lack of automated equipment for unpaved roads. It is recommended that the PASER technique should be utilized in getting the condition of each section. Since this will take time and effort, it is highly recommended that roadways which are expected to be highly impacted by drilling activities be evaluated first. The conditions of un-impacted roads can be collected as needed.

Data collectors should observe the following surface distresses while slowly driving each road segment: rutting, washboards, potholes, loose aggregate and overall condition. At the end of each segment, the distresses should be rated and documented.

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Gravel road ratings should be based on the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) system developed by the Wisconsin Transportation Information Center. This system rates roads from Excellent to Failed. These ratings are primarily driven by necessary maintenance activities. Table 3.1shows a brief summary of the rating standards used with the PASER road rating system for gravel roads.

Table 3.1 PASER gravel road overall rating standards.Rating General Condition Drainage Maintenance

10 - ExcellentNew construction or total

reconstruction Excellent drainageLittle or no maintenance

needed

8 - GoodRecently regraded;

Adequate gravel for trafficGood crown and drainage

throughoutRoutine maintenance may

be needed

6 - Fair Shows trafficNeeds some ditch

improvement and culvert maintenance

Regrading (reworking) necessary to maintain; Some areas may need

additional gravel

4 - PoorTravel at slow speeds (less than 25 mph) is

required

Major ditch construction and culvert maintenance

also required

Needs additional new aggregate

2 - Failed Travel is difficult and road may be closed at times

Needs complete rebuilding and/or new culverts

3.5.1.2 Surface Drainage Rating

Surface drainage of gravel roads is a very important parameter. Drilling companies can’t afford having their activities shut down due to the presence of water on unpaved roads or after rain storms. Therefore, roads used by oil and gas companies should have adequate drainage. It is recommended that the TAMS rating for surface drainage be followed in this study. This rating consists of three levels good, fair, and poor as shown in Figure 3.4. An experienced person should determine the drainage rating of each section included in the study.

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Figure 3.4 Drainage rating for gravel roads.

3.5.1.3 Dust RatingDue to the expected heavy traffic on drilling roads, it is important that dust is

rated and documented. Such rating should be performed when unpaved roads are relatively dry. Ratings under moist conditions are unacceptable. Figure 3.5 shows the three levels of dust ranking in the TAMS software: light, medium, and heavy. The heavy and often higher speed of traffic on drilling roads breaks up the road surface’s crust allowing more dust to be dispersed into the air. Dust suppressant on drilling roads may be needed. The proposed ranking of dust will help in identifying roads where dust treatments maybe required.

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Figure 3.5 Dust rating for gravel roads.

3.5.2 Asphalt Roads Assessments

There are different techniques to evaluate the conditions of asphalt pavements. The rating system described in the TAMS software will not be utilized in this study. Instead, the procedure followed by the Wyoming DOT is recommended for use. This procedure consists of collecting video logs of all pavement sections with the Pathway equipment shown in Figure 3.6. While collecting the video logs, rut depths and roughness measurements are also taken on all asphalt sections.

After collecting the data, the WYDOT procedure for identifying various pavement surface distresses should be conducted. This technique determines the types, severity,

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and extent of each pavement distress. The Pathway program, shown in Figure 3.7, will then calculate the overall Pavement Condition Index (PCI) based on the distress deduct values. It is important that the deduct value for each distress type is identified separately so that the appropriate recommendations can be made for maintenance and rehabilitations.

3.5.2.1 Roughness and Rut Depth

In addition to calculating PCI, roughness measurements and rut depths will be obtained on all paved sections in the counties participating in this study in accordance with WYDOT standards. Roughness should be measured with the International Roughness Index (IRI) while the average rut depth should be measured in inches. These measurements will help in evaluating the impact of heavy truck traffic. In addition, they will be used when making recommendations for maintenance and rehabilitation.

3.5.2.2 Consistency

It is important that the WYDOT procedure for evaluating asphalt pavements on the state highway system is followed so that the conditions of local roads can be compared to other paved roads in the state of Wyoming. This would facilitate the implementation of some of WYDOT’s condition driven rehabilitation strategies on local paved roads in the future. The data collection and analysis process described above should be applied to all asphalt segments paved with hot mix asphalt and those with inverted penetration, chip seal, or other bituminous surface treatments. Paved and sealed surfaces should be identified with a field evaluation performed with an experienced individual.

Figure 3.6 Pathway data collection van for paved roads.

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Figure 3.7 Pathway software for determining PCI, IRI, and rut depth.

3.5.3 Cattle guards Assessments

Cattle guards, as shown in Figure 3.8, can be impacted by heavy truck traffic. Evaluating the full impact of heavy trucks requires monitoring the conditions of cattle guards. It is recommended that a simple rating system similar to the system developed by the WYT2/LTAP is implemented to rate the overall conditions of cattle guards. As a minimum, the rating system should include an overall rate for the cattle guard and a separate rate for the approaches. These ratings can be used to develop maintenance and replacement strategies for cattle guards.

3.6 Data SummaryAfter all data has been collected, it is important that the data is summarized in a

comprehensive data base which can be used later for analysis. Figure 3.9 shows the summary of all collected data for unpaved roads while Figure 3.10 shows the collected data for paved roads.

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Figure 3.8 Cattle guards on unpaved roads

Figure 3.9 Data collection for unpaved roads in Phase II.

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Figure 3.10 Data collection for paved roads in phase II.

3.7 Improvement Recommendations

3.7.1 Paved and Unpaved Roads

The overall procedure for establishing the recommended improvements is similar for paved and unpaved roads. This procedure is described in details in a study performed by the WYT2/LTAP [10]. According to that procedure, current conditions such as surface distresses and roughness measurements should be obtained. The recommendations for improvements will be based on the specific pavement surface distresses present on every road segment. Figure 3.11 shows how the collected pavement and condition data will drive the recommendations for maintenance and rehabilitations.

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Figure 3.11 Data analysis on paved roads to rank improvements in phase II.

For each road segment, potential improvements are recommended based on the current conditions. A user condition index should be calculated, and those segments that are below the threshold value for their functional class are selected as candidates for improvement. The appropriate improvement is selected based on the individual distress conditions. The benefit of these improvements is assessed by estimating the reduction in user costs resulting from performing the improvement. Those improvements that cost less than the reduction in user costs are selected. The summary for this strategy is shown in Figure 3.12. The Surfacing Serviceability Index (SSI) reflects an overall road rating which is calculated for every road segment based on the various distresses on paved and unpaved roads.

County Road and Bridge personnel will be consulted when developing these specific improvement recommendations. The threshold values for each functional classification can be adjusted to reflect the standard maintenance and rehabilitation strategies followed in each county.

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Figure 3.12 Developing improvement recommendations [10].

3.7.2 Cattle guards

A Simpler procedure can be implemented to recommend improvements for cattle guards. Figure 3.13shows graphically how the conditions of cattle guards will drive the recommendations for improvements. Average costs for cattle guards improvements will be obtained from the counties participating in this study. These costs will be used in conjunctions with current conditions and potential remaining service life to recommend improvements. The impact of drilling activities on cattle guards will vary from one county to another since It has been observed while doing the field evaluations in the counties participating in this study that some counties have more cattle guards than others.

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Figure 3.13 Cattle guard evaluations and recommendations for improvements.

3.8 Maintenance and Rehabilitation DataIn order to measure the actual impact of drilling activities, it is important that

counties keep track of their maintenance and rehabilitation activities. A program such as PubWorks would offer an important management tool to keep track of the types and dates of applied maintenance activities.

PubWorks is comprehensive GIS-integrated Asset Management software for Public Works agencies. Work Orders, Service Requests, Fleet Maintenance and Job Costing are seamlessly integrated to form a Public Works data base. The PubWorks information that would be relevant to this study is:

road name or number time of maintenance application type of activities who did the activities (contracted vs county forces) Cost (overhead, labor, materials, and equipment)

PubWorks has good database capabilities which can provide a list of the maintenance and rehabilitation activities. There is a need to extract more useful information from PubWorks to fulfill the needs of this study. The WYT2/LTAP is currently in the process of identifying certain applications for the data which would be useful for

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estimating the impact of drilling activities. Figure 3.14 Shows in general how the maintenance data will help in quantifying the impact of oil and gas drilling activities.

It is recommended that counties begin collecting information on their maintenance and rehabilitation activities using PubWorks or any other available software. The following recommendations should help in insuring that counties are collecting the appropriate information:

The WYT2/LTAP center should work with the counties so that they establish uniform codes for various Maintenance activities. The activities should be better defined so that a meaningful analysis can be performed.

Maintenance activities should be reported for each maintenance section and not based on the overall length of a roadway which might be too long.

Figure 3.14 Impact of oil and gas truck traffic on maintenance activities.

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Collecting maintenance data on roadway sections will enable counties to do an analysis which shows their expenditures on the various maintenance activities. Figure 3.15 was supplied by Laramie County and shows how the county is allocating significantly more funding for the maintenance of paved road in recent years. It is possible that this is due to the increase in truck traffic in the county.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec$0.00

$10,000.00$20,000.00$30,000.00$40,000.00$50,000.00$60,000.00$70,000.00$80,000.00$90,000.00

$100,000.00$110,000.00$120,000.00$130,000.00$140,000.00$150,000.00$160,000.00$170,000.00$180,000.00$190,000.00$200,000.00$210,000.00$220,000.00

Asphalt 2008 Total $22,474.86

Asphalt 2009 Total $202,191.76

Asphalt 2010 Total $396,374.27

Asphalt 2011 Total $603,066.53 Current with 4 months remain-ing

$ P

ER M

ON

TH

Figure 3.15 Cost of asphalt maintenance in Laramie County.

3.9 Industrial PermitsA quick review of the permitting process in various Wyoming counties would

indicate that the following permits are the most mandated: Industrial Over size/ over weight Approach Road users agreements

These permits can help counties in regulating and keeping track of heavy truck traffic applied to their roads. Some counties have already implemented a combination of permits while others do not have any permitting process due to lack of resources and the inability to enforce such permits. Oil and gas companies operating in various counties are burdened with the needs to figure out the local requirements which will

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vary from county to county. It is beneficial to all parties involved that a standard permitting process is developed and then implemented statewide. Such a process will make it easier for oil and gas companies to operate across county lines. It will also make it possible for local governments to implement such a process. The following steps should be followed when developing the uniform statewide permitting process:

Collect information on road related permits from the web sites of all counties in the state.

Conduct a phone survey with personnel from county road and bridge departments to get as much details as possible on the permitting process, requirements, and cost.

Collect information on any other related issues such as required enforcement.

Develop a draft for a uniform industrial permitting process for all counties. Present that process to the WACERS group for comments and approval. Present the WACERS approved version to the Wyoming County

Commissioner Association for approval. Adopt the uniform industrial permit by all counties statewide.

Figure 3.16 shows how Laramie County keeps track of the oversize/overweight permits. It is clear that the number of these permits has increased significantly in recent years.

Figure 3.16 Oversize/overweight (OS/OW) permits in Laramie County.

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3.10Chapter SummaryIn this chapter, the general outlines for data collection and analysis strategies

were established. It is important that counties collect the appropriate inventory and condition data on their infrastructure so that they can evaluate their needs and keep their roadways in serviceable conditions. The proposed methodology will enable counties to make cost effective decisions which will insure that limited resources are invested wisely. In addition, law makers can use the generated information to compensate local governments impacted by heavy truck traffic associated with drilling activities.

The proposed approach for developing a uniform statewide industrial permitting process will make it easier for oil and gas companies to operate in all Wyoming Counties.

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CHAPTER 4 DATA AVAILABILITY IN STUDY AREA

Meetings were held with road and bridge personnel from the four counties included in this study. The main objective of these meetings was to assess data availability and to build consensus on the overall directions of the study. Initial assessment of data availability is needed when any county is interested in evaluating the impact of oil and gas drilling activities. This chapter summarizes the available and missing data in Converse, Goshen, Laramie, and Platte Counties.

4.1 Converse County DataAll information for Converse County was obtained from Scott McWilliams, Road

Foreman, Converse County Road and Bridge.

o Maps: Two detailed maps of Converse County were provided. These

maps clearly showed state and county roads. o Drilling Permits:

A list of well permits was obtained (Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission).

The list contains 80 permits. Chesapeake Energy Corporation alone has 140 wells staked and

are still needing to permit the last 60 locations.o Other Permits:

Converse County only has Access permits at this time. This permit is available on the county website.

The County is working towards implementing a Road Use Agreement process.

The County does not have Oversize/Overweight (OS/OW) permits at this point.

o Traffic Counts: Converse County provided traffic counts on several county roads

from 2009. A few of these roads were identified as impacted by drilling activities.

Converse County has a few traffic counts on selected sections in 2011. There is a need to collect additional traffic counts on several impacted county roads.

Converse County will use the six traffic counters they obtained from the WYT2/LTAP Center to collect the needed data.

o County Road List:

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A complete county road list of unpaved and paved roads was provided by Converse County.

The list of paved roads was provided by WYDOT.o Roadway Conditions:

Paved Roads: video logs for all paved roads in Converse County were collected by Pathway in the summer of 2011. The WYT2/LTAP Center obtained that information from WYDOT. The information will be reduced, analyzed, and summarized in a comprehensive data base.

Unpaved Roads: Converse County does not keep records of the conditions of its unpaved roads. The WYT2/LTAP center will obtain this information on all impacted roads in the county if Converse County is added to Phase II.

o Pavement Thicknesses: Converse County does not have specific information on the

thicknesses of all paved roads. In general, road thicknesses are believed to be as follows:

Asphalt – 2.5”-4” Base - 6”-8”

Converse County has actual pavement thicknesses on three recently constructed projects.

o Maintenance Records: Converse County keeps track of its own maintenance records. This

data should be very useful for evaluating the impact of drilling activities in the county.

o Impacted Roads: Mr. McWilliams identified roads most impacted by oil and gas

drilling activities. The level of impact was also identified as high or low. Figure 4.17 shows the impacted roads. The following locations are expected to have more traffic related to drilling activities:

Dill Hall Road has 9 current wells. Flat Top Road has 4 current wells. East Antelope Road has 4 current wells. Approximately 50% of the water being hauled to wells is

coming from the city of Douglas. o Work Force:

Converse County Road and Bridge Department has a crew of 15 employees.

11 operators 2 mechanics 1 clerk 1 Road Forman

o Other Information: 3 cattle guards have been severely damaged by heavy traffic in just

the past month.

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Delineators along county roads have had severe damage caused by heavy truck traffic.

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32

LEGENDHigh impactLow impactOther road

Figure 4.17 Roads impacted by drilling activities in Converse County.

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4.2 Goshen County Data

All data for Goshen County was obtained from Gary Korell, Superintendent, Goshen County Road & Bridge.

o Maps: Goshen County provided WYDOT maps of the County. In addition, a Rural Addressing Map was provided. The naming used on that map is different from the WYDOT map and will correspond better to the information recorded by the county.

o Drilling Areas: For the most part, the main impact in Goshen County can be narrowed down to the area located south of the Platte River and west of Highway 85.

This small area has 3 wells currently being drilled Activity has picked up the past couple weeks and could possibly

increase over the next few weeks. Fidelity Oil Company has started activities in the south part

of the county. Marathon is possibly beginning wells in the next 3-4 weeks

There is a proposed gas pipe-line to be constructed through the heart of Goshen County and is tentatively scheduled to begin construction next spring. It may also affect Laramie County.

o Impacted roads: Figure 4.18 summarizes the locations of the impacted roads. The location of a gravel pit was also identified. It was

mentioned that there is interest in developing another pit just SE of the current one.

o Traffic Counts: Goshen County has been collecting traffic volumes. These traffic

counts will be made available to the WYT2/LTAP Center staff.o Roadway Conditions:

Paved Roads: video logs for all paved roads in Goshen County were collected by Pathway in the summer of 2011. The WYT2/LTAP Center obtained that information from WYDOT. The information will be reduced, analyzed, and summarized in a comprehensive data base.

Unpaved Roads: Goshen County does not keep records of the conditions of its unpaved roads. The WYT2/LTAP center will obtain this information on all impacted roads in the County.

o Pavement Thickness: Most paved roads in Goshen County were built 40 years ago. The county is way behind on crack sealing. Many of the roads are beginning to show alligator cracking. Many of the roads are at the end of their useful life.

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The county does not have the resources to maintain and upgrade these roads.

Out of the 1200 miles of county roads, there is no line item for maintenance in Goshen County’s budget.

The county receives $450,000 from the CRF every year to cover the cost of maintenance and any construction. This funding level is inadequate.

Goshen County has taken core samples on several of the county roads. These coring reports will be made available to the WYT2/LTAP Center.

o Maintenance Data: Goshen County uses PubWorks for collecting all maintenance

activities of their local roads. All of the maintenance data will be provided to the WYT2/LTAP

Center.o OS/OW Permits:

Goshen County does not have a concrete method in place for OS/OW permits.

Prior to recent drilling activities, the county did not have OS/OW permits at all.

Companies secure a one-time permit for $1000 from the county for all activities.

o Permitting Issues: Goshen County has adopted some of Laramie County

Rules/Regulations and permits. A standard road use agreement is of very high concern to Goshen

County. The County adopted its Road use Agreement from WYDOT’s

agreement for Wind Farms on Road 313.The agreement should help in setting up plans with companies to better predict where improvements are needed on county roads.

o Additional Items and Concerns: Goshen County is concerned about the impact of future years and

how to prepare for the improvements needed on impacted roads. A pavement management system which is updated annually should help in addressing these concerns.

The frac sand is being hauled into Wheatland via trains and trucked to wells in Platte and Goshen County.

Trucks are transporting materials from Goshen County gravel pits and water storage wells to Platte County.

OS/OW trucks are required to avoid Torrington To accommodate this, WYDOT is improving State Hwy 156

as a by-pass of Torrington. This by-pass will cause more traffic to divert over to County

Road 41B.

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Figure 4.18 Roads impacted by drilling activities in Goshen County.

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LEGENDHigh impactLow impactOther road

4.3 Laramie County DataAll information for Laramie County was obtained from Don Beard, Director,

Laramie County Public Works. o Maps:

Laramie County provided a detailed map of Laramie County complete with state land, BLM land, and all local roads.

o Impacted Roads: Impacted roads were identified on the county map as shown in Figure 4.19. The main cause of impact along the southern border of Wyoming is due to the Northern Colorado gas field.

o Roadway Conditions: Paved Roads: video logs for all paved roads in Laramie County

were collected by Pathway in the summer of 2011. The WYT2/LTAP Center will reduce, analyze, and summarize the information in a comprehensive data base.

Unpaved Roads: Laramie County does not keep records of the conditions of its unpaved roads. The WYT2/LTAP center will obtain this information on all impacted roads in the County.

o Pavement Information: Most of Laramie County roads are 40-50 years old. Paved roads were constructed using similar paving materials. There are no records of actual pavement thicknesses. County roads were constructed with 3”-3 ½” of pavement over 4”

base. Newer county roads are generally constructed with 3 ½” pavement

over 6” base. Overlays are generally constructed 2” thick. There are no double chip seal in Laramie County.

o Maintenance Records: Laramie County keeps track of all maintenance activities of their

local roads. The county has developed its own program to keep track of

equipment, labor, and materials costs. The county provided printed, hard copies, of maintenance records

between 2008 and 2011.o Traffic Counts:

The county provided records of old traffic counts which did not include truck traffic.

The Cheyenne MPO may have some traffic counts in the greater Cheyenne area.

o Permits: Laramie County has OS/OW permits on the county website. Raw data on OS/OW permits is available. Laramie County provided some graphs showing the increase in

permits in recent years.

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Figure 4.19 Roads impacted by drilling activities in Laramie County.

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LEGENDHigh impactLow impactOther road

4.4 Platte County DataAll information on Platte County roads were obtained from Jim Lockman,

Superintendent, Platte County Road and Bridge.o Maps:

Platte County provided a county map identifying all local roads. o Pavement Thicknesses:

There are no existing files containing road designs on paved roads in Platte County. Jim stated that due to the historically poor nature of the county, any large scale county road projects in the past had been completed with assistance of the state.

o Roadway Conditions: Paved Roads: video logs for all paved roads in Platte County were

collected by Pathway in the summer of 2011. The WYT2/LTAP Center obtained that information from WYDOT. The information will be reduced, analyzed, and summarized in a comprehensive data base.

Unpaved Roads: Platte County does not keep records of the conditions of its unpaved roads. The WYT2/LTAP center will obtain this information on all impacted roads in the County.

o Maintenance: County improvements for 2011 included 17 miles of chip seal over

a 2-week period This consumed approximately ¼ of Platte County’s annual

budget and totaled approximately $260,000.This improvement cost included equipment, materials, and labor.

Platte County has a semi-itemized break down of projects along with other large scale maintenance activities for the past four years.

Platte County does not keep track of its maintenance records.o Permits:

Platte County has no permitting process for over-weight hauling. Therefore, the county has no information regarding the number of trucks potentially impacting the county roadways.

There are no portable scales to weigh trucks to enforce permits. Platte County needs help in implementing and enforcing an over-

weight permitting system. Platte County does issue Encroachment Licenses. According to the

county, 11permits were issued recently. Majority of encroachment licenses have been submitted by RKI (out

of Tulsa). Seismograph has been completed on the entire area of southern

Platte County. Geo-Kinetics is the primary company seen around Wheatland

completing the seismograph.

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o Potential Impacts on County Roads Water transportation by truck as well as possible gravel

transportation by truck into western Goshen County. Importing of frac sand by rail car into distribution centers in

Wheatland and Chugwater. The county is aware of fact sand shipments into the Northern

edge of Wheatland and trucks are transporting the sand to nearby wells.

Chugwater is establishing a similar operation at the old grain silo in town.

o Impacted Locations: Majority of current impacts on county roads is located on the east

side of I-25 in the approx. vicinity of T22-23 R65-67 in Platte County. Figure 4.20 shows these impacted roads.

The locations of three water holding wells were identified in Platte County.

The location of a gravel pit was also identified. Truck could be using Slater Road to haul water and other resources

to western Goshen County. The majority of the Slater Road is state highway; however, the final section before entering western Goshen County is a County maintained gravel road.

o Platte County high priority roads include: Bordeaux Road

Low quality chip-seal road Pioneer Road

Believed to be inverted penetration. It is Soft, rutted, with a thin surface. Approx. 9 miles long with 4.5 miles in poor condition.

Slater Road The County maintained Gravel Road section.

4.5 Data SummaryData availability in the four counties included in this evaluation is summarized in

Table 4.2. The red cells reflect required data which should be collected in future phases. The green cells reflect data which is currently available. The WYT2/LTAP has already collected some of the available data from the four counties. More efforts will be invested in the second phase of this study to obtain the rest of the available data.

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41

LEGENDHigh impactLow impactOther road

Roads impacted by drilling activities in Platte County.

Table 4.2 Data availability in the study area.

Data Converse Goshen Laramie PlatteList of paved roadsList of unpaved roadsFunctional classification of unpaved roadsFunctional classification of paved roadsTraffic Data ADTLong-term traffic dataTruck trafficConditions of paved roadsConditions of unpaved roadsCondition of Cattle guardsOverweight permitsApproach permitsLocations of oil and gas activitiesImpact classificationPavement type and thicknessMaintenance Cost

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4.6 Chapter SummaryIt is clear from the information presented in this chapter that the four counties

already have some of the basic data required to assess the conditions of their roadways. It is important that the rest of the data is collected so that recommendations can be made with regard to the current conditions and required infrastructure upgrades. Keeping local roads in serviceable conditions will benefit both the driving public and the oil and gas industry.

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CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 SummaryThe southeastern corner of the state of Wyoming has started experiencing

heavier truck traffic associated with oil and gas drilling activities. The interstate and state highway systems were built to handle truck traffic. However, local roads were built to handle only local and light truck traffic. Subjecting these local roads to the traffic associated with oil and gas drilling activities may result in accelerated deteriorations and failure in some cases. Implementing the recommendations of this study should result in a comprehensive assessment of the overall conditions of local infrastructure. Such implementation should result in more equitable allocations of resources to impacted local governments while documenting the actual damage caused by new users. These resources will help in providing the driving public with the service they expect on local roads. In addition, insuring the adequacy of local roads will provide the oil and gas industry with the means to get their equipment to drilling sites and then deliver their products efficiently to markets.

5.2 ConclusionsThis study was conducted to develop a systematic methodology and data

collection strategies to mitigate the impact of oil and gas drilling activities on local roads. Considerations were made to conduct a planning/ forecasting study similar to the North Dakota approach [1]. That study clearly demonstrated that the impact of oil and gas drilling activities on local roads is very significant. If a similar planning study were to be performed in Wyoming, it is certain that the forecasted needs would be of a similar magnitude to the needs in North Dakota.

5.2.1 Data Collection and Analysis StrategiesInstead of conducting a study duplicating the North Dakota approach; efforts in

Wyoming should concentrate on helping impacted counties in developing their own Asset Management Systems. Such systems would enable Wyoming counties to collect condition data on their roadways so that actual impacts of drilling activities can be determined. Maintenance and rehabilitation strategies based on actual rather than projected conditions can be then recommended, implemented, and evaluated over time. Wyoming DOT as well as other DOTs in the region follow a similar approach with their Pavement Management Systems. Continuous monitoring of the conditions of roads is a good management tool which will help impacted Wyoming counties for years to come. Based on the assessment conducted in this study, the following conclusions are made so that local governments can mitigate the impact of drilling activities associated with energy development:

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1. Impacted counties should implement management systems which would provide them with the ability to monitor the conditions of their infrastructure over time.

2. The data collection process described in Chapter three of this report should be considered when collecting the required data.

3. It is important that the condition data is collected uniformly in all counties so that systematic maintenance and rehabilitation strategies can be recommended. Uniformity in data collection will help in comparing projects from different counties.

4. The collected data should be analyzed based on the procedures developed by the WYT2/LTAP. These procedures can be adjusted to reflect variations in maintenance and rehabilitation strategies followed by various local governments around the state. The WYT2/LTAP can help counties with the data analysis so that specific improvement recommendations can be made.

5. Special attention should be given to collecting traffic data. The traffic counts should include vehicle classification as well as speed information.

6. Counties should collect information on their maintenance and rehabilitation activities using PubWorks or any other available software. Such information is useful in quantifying the impact of heavy truck traffic on maintenance expenditures.

7. It is important that the thicknesses of paved roads are obtained in order to determine the structural strength of these sections. In addition, the type and quality of each pavement layer should be identified.

8. It is important to mention here that asset management systems require annual updates and continuous data analysis to get the intended benefits.

9. The process developed in this study can be implemented by all interested counties in the state.

5.2.2 Assessment of Counties in Southeastern Wyoming A comprehensive assessment was conducted to evaluate data availability in the

impacted counties in the southeastern corner of the state. This effort considered data related to the following infrastructure: paved local roads, unpaved local roads and cattle guards. The following observations can be drawn based on the assessment performed:

1. The Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is a good source to obtain locations for drilling permits and water wells around the state.

2. County Road and Bridge personnel are very familiar with locations of the drilling activities within their jurisdictions. These personnel cooperated fully with the research team and provided information on the data that they have.

3. Local Road and Bridge personnel identified roads currently impacted by drilling activities. These impacted locations will change from year to year depending on the drilling activities.

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4. Chapter four documented the available and required data to mitigate the impact of drilling activities in the southeastern corner of the state. It is clear from that assessment that follow up studies should concentrate on collecting the following information:

a. Traffic countsb. Surface condition data on paved and unpaved roadsc. Conditions of cattle guardsd. Maintenance and rehabilitation recordse. Thicknesses of paved roads. It is clear from chapter four that actual

pavement thicknesses are not available.5. Some of the counties have implemented a process for over size/over

weight permits in addition to industrial permits while other counties have not implemented such permits.

6. The counties may not have the man power/resources to handle the impact without additional help.

5.2.3 Follow up StudiesIn order to help the impacted counties in the southeastern corner of the state, the

findings and recommendations of this study should be implemented in two subsequent phases.

5.2.3.1 Phase IIInformation on the proposed asset management approach has been shared with

the following groups: WYDOT staff. County Engineers and Road Supervisors in the impacted counties. Wyoming Association of County Engineers and Road Supervisors

(WACERS). Wyoming County Commissioners Association (WCCA).

These groups accepted implementing the data collection process associated with asset management systems to document the conditions of local infrastructure impacted by drilling activities. That acceptance resulted in funding the second phase of this study.

Phase II will concentrate on collecting data on the impacted roads immediately so that recommendations can be made to law makers on the overall conditions and needed immediate improvements. A proposal has already been approved for funding to collect data in Goshen, Laramie, and Platte County. Efforts are underway to add Converse County to that effort. Recommendations for improvements will be based on the collected data which includes: drilling wells locations, maintenance, traffic, and roadway conditions.

Phase II will also develop a uniform industrial agreement which can be used by all counties across the state. This agreement will make it easier for oil and gas companies to apply for permits in various counties. In addition, it will make it possible for counties such as Platte County to implement such agreements.

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5.2.3.2 Phase IIIPhase III will help with the continuous monitoring and implementation of the

proposed asset management system. As shown in Figure 5.21, Phase III will result in developing annual needs in the four counties in southeastern Wyoming. This is important since some of the counties included in phase II may not have been fully impacted by drilling activities. The continuous monitoring of their infrastructure will insure that adequate resources are allocated based on when the impact will take place. In this proposed phase, a close working relationship will be developed with the counties to insure that the proposed recommendations are consistent with their needs and expectations.

Figure 5.21 Annual Recommendations from Phase III.

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5.3 RecommendationsThe following recommendations are made based on the assessment performed

in this study:1. It is recommended that counties should implement the proposed asset

management system approach to document the conditions of their infrastructure, identify needed improvements, and make cost effective decisions. Such systematic approach will provide local officials and law makers with the required information to insure fair allocations of limited resources based on actual conditions.

2. It is recommended that all counties around the state would implement a uniform industrial permitting process. Such standard industrial permits for all counties around the state will make it easier for oil and gas companies to operate in all counties. It will also help counties with inadequate resources in implementing such permits. Phase II will develop the process for such permits.

3. Phase I confirmed that Counties do not have adequate information on pavement thicknesses. It is important that resources are allocated to core paved sections to obtain pavement and base thicknesses.

4. A process should be developed for evaluating bridges with a span less than 20’. These bridges will carry some of the heavy truck traffic associated with energy developments and they are maintained by local governments.

5. It is essential that adequate resources are allocated for Phase III so that the intended benefits of implementing the proposed asset management system can be achieved.

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3. Huntington and Ksaibati. Gravel Roads management: Volumes 1,2, and 3. FHWA-WY-10/03F. Wyoming DOT, 2010.

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13.USEPA. Air Trends: Particulate Matter. February 7, 2011. http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/pm.html (accessed October 16, 2011).

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