A Benefit-Cost Analysis Toolkit for Road Weather Management Technologies

Highway agencies face increasing demands and customer expectations regarding mobility and safety during inclement weather, while confronting unprecedented budget and staffing constraints and a growing awareness of environmental challenges related to the use of chemicals and abrasives. To address these different issues, benefit-cost analysis is typically employed before making investment decisions. In the winter maintenance context, where the costs and benefits of road weather management tools can vary greatly, this presents a significant challenge to managers. This work presents an overview of a new benefit-cost analysis tool developed for winter maintenance practitioners to evaluate different equipment, operations and materials, including road weather management tools, in a streamlined, web-based environment. The toolkit was used to conduct two case studies of the use of Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) and Maintenance Decision Support Systems (MDSS) for road weather management. The first case study examined the current use of RWIS statewide in Iowa and found that it produced an agency-specific benefit-cost ratio of 3.8 and a total ratio of 45.4. A second case study examined the potential use of MDSS in one subdistrict in Indiana found that a benefit-cost ratio for the agency would be 1.5, while the total ratio would be 3.0.