A vital component of asset management, performance measurement is used inplanning and programming to identify assets and/or processes that are over/under performing. As part of the move to asset management, Alberta Transportation has implemented performance based planning and monitoring of the provincial highway network and three performance measures, based upon technical measurements, are used. These measures relate to network condition, functional adequacy and utilization. Although Alberta, like the rest ofCanada and much of North America, is a winter province, no clear suite ofperformance measure has been developed for monitoring the effectiveness of snow and ice control measures during winter weather events. Traditionally, agencies have measured inputs (such as salt or sand) or outputs (such as plowing frequencies), but none of the existing measures address effectiveness. Using data from weigh-in-motion (WIM) sensors and regional weatherdata from Environment Canada, the effect on mean vehicular speed of various winter events was determined at six sites across the provincial highwaysystem. Reduction in vehicular speed and the duration of the speed reduction (time to recovery) were calculated for five event types and differences noted. The methodology developed shows promise for future development of robust, repeatable and easily understood performance measures that canbe used to monitor winter events and to develop future benchmarks.
Abstract