Two major elements of highway operations were investigated in the SHRP Highway Operations research program: pavement maintenance effectiveness and snow and ice control. In the pavement maintenance effectiveness area, three types of products were developed. Cost-effectiveness studies evaluated the effectiveness and cost of alternative methods, materials, and equipment for preventive pavement maintenance and for pavement surface repair under range of climate and load conditions. The results of this work will become fully usable as more data from the 116 test sections are available for analysis. Secondly, engineering guidelines were developed for selecting the most effective materials, processes, processes, and equipment for pavement surface repair. Results have shown conclusively that some proprietary materials, although more expensive at the outset, are more cost effective because the repairs last longer while taking less time to place. Finally, new equipment was developed and fabricated for pavement condition measurement and for automatic/robotic pavement repair. A seismic pavement analyzer (SPA) that measures the moduli of different pavement layers is ready for commercialization. Prototype equipment for crack and joint sealing and pothole repair have been demonstrated. Significant new worker safety devices, some of which are already being produced commercially, were also developed in the maintenance effectiveness research. SHRP's snow and ice control research produced new snow fence designs for controlling blowing snow, new snowplow moldboard designs for more efficient plowing, a revolutionary new snow scoop attachment for retrofitting to existing plows, guidelines for installing and using road weather information systems, and test methods for determining the characteristics of deicing materials. Anti-icing procedures and costs were investigated and equipment for applying anti-icing chemicals was evaluated.
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