Category Archives: Maintenance Operations

Maintenance Operations

Webinar: Enter the Minnesota Build a Better Mousetrap Competition

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Wednesday, January 8, 2025, 10:00–10:30 am

Join the Minnesota Build a Better Mousetrap Competition for the chance to win prizes and share your ideas with others! Show off your creativity and help other agencies solve problems by submitting your local innovations! This webinar covers how to enter, how you and other local agencies can benefit, and gives you the chance to meet previous Minnesota winners. The webinar is free, but registration is required.

Continue reading Webinar: Enter the Minnesota Build a Better Mousetrap Competition →
Maintenance Operations, research

Clear Roads: Training Module Development for Evaluation of Storm Severity Index and Winter Severity Index Variables

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Reprinted from Clear Roads News November 27, 2024

Clear Roads project 18-03, Evaluation of SSI and WSI Variables, produced a step-by-step guide and flowchart tool to help agencies identify or develop severity index methods to fit their needs and available data sources.

As estimating the impact of weather on roadway maintenance resources is becoming an increasingly important issue for agencies across the country, a recently completed Clear Roads project, 21-04, Training Module Development for Evaluation of Storm Severity Index and Winter Severity Index Variables, produced additional training modules geared toward three key audiences: division directors, snow and ice managers, and supervisors.

Incorporating audiovisual materials, discussion topics, and interactive exercises, the training modules will help practitioners design and develop indexes to suit their agency’s particular needs.

Download the final report and two-page brief: CR 21-04 – Training Module Development for Evaluation of Storm Severity Index and Winter Severity Index Variables, July 2024.

Resources

Maintenance Operations, research

New Project: Alternative Deicer Performance Characterization: Know Before the Snow

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MnDOT uses alternative deicer brines containing potassium chloride, magnesium chloride and calcium chloride for winter road maintenance. The alternatives are more effective in melting roadway ice than sodium chloride alone when temperatures are below 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Continue reading New Project: Alternative Deicer Performance Characterization: Know Before the Snow →
Maintenance Operations, research

Best Practices for Protecting Equipment from Chemical Deicer Corrosion

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Reprinted from Clear Roads News, October 2, 2024

In 2015, Clear Roads project 13-04 published a Manual of Best Practices to compile the various products agencies use as well as guidance for preventing corrosion on highway maintenance equipment.

Continue reading Best Practices for Protecting Equipment from Chemical Deicer Corrosion →
Maintenance Operations, research

Clear Roads Featured at National Briefing

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September 4, 2024
Reprinted from Clear Roads News

Last month, AASHTO’s Winter Weather Management Technical Services Program, Maintenance Committee and Maintenance Operations Technical Working Group jointly held its 5th National Briefing on Winter Maintenance and Road Weather to showcase the activities of the various organizations dedicated to winter and year-round transportation maintenance.

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Environment, Maintenance Operations, research

New Project: Cost Benefit Analysis for Sustainable Energy Building Upgrades at Safety Rest Areas and Travel Information Centers

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MnDOT manages over 50 large safety rest areas (SRAs) with several amenities and travel information centers (TICs) with expanded customer service. Many of the SRA and TIC buildings were built before the significant advancements in energy efficiency and building technology made in the past few decades.

Continue reading New Project: Cost Benefit Analysis for Sustainable Energy Building Upgrades at Safety Rest Areas and Travel Information Centers →
Automated Vehicle Technology, Maintenance Operations, research

Using AVL/GPS Telematics to Optimize Snowplowing

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Republished from MnLTAP News, February 2, 2022.

Automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems using GPS are creating opportunities for local agencies to improve their operations even in real time. A five-page guide and a video from the LRRB highlight the features and benefits of such systems for snowplowing. 

Continue reading Using AVL/GPS Telematics to Optimize Snowplowing →
Maintenance Operations, Policy and Planning

Applying for Grants: Use Data to Tell Your Community’s Story to USDOT

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Research done here at Minnesota and elsewhere has done much to define the problems of local communities with missing or declining infrastructure. USDOT offers federal assistance to build and improve that infrastructure, but the grants have to be won.

Continue reading Applying for Grants: Use Data to Tell Your Community’s Story to USDOT →
Maintenance Operations, research

New Clear Roads Research: Tools to Maximize Snowplowing Efforts

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Reprinted from Clear Roads News, July 3, 2024.

By better understanding the time it takes a snowplow to complete one round of snow clearing and treatment of its assigned route, agencies can better adjust routes and cost-effectively allocate resources for the specific needs of a given service area.

This Clear Roads project developed a methodology for calculating plow cycle times considering road type, road width, weather conditions, traffic volume, and other factors. By using the framework for a map-based visualization tool developed as part of this project, agencies can use their own data to make real-time operational decisions.

Download the final report and two-page brief: Calculating Plow Cycle Times from AVL Data, June 2024.