Citation

Jürgens R, Chan J, Falls L. Transp. Res. Circular 2006; (E-C098): 91-102.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, U.S. National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Performance measurement is a vital component of asset management, which is used in planning and programming to identify assets that are under or over performing and to assess overall performance. As part of the move to asset management, Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation has implemented performance-based planning and monitoring of the provincial highway network. Furthermore, since Alberta is a winter province, a clear suite of performance measurement tools is required for snow and ice control. Traditionally agencies have measured inputs or outputs, but none of the existing measures address effectiveness. Standards are in place for times to correct pavement to a certain condition after a storm ends, yet monitoring of these standards is not done consistently across the province or summarized for others to see. This paper presents the results of a project to develop winter performance measures that are outcome based for a large rural highway network. This paper includes results of an extensive pilot project which was carried out in the winter of 2004-2005 on approximately 300 km of Highway 2 from Calgary to Edmonton. The pilot project evaluated the use of several factors for performance measure development. These measures included the good, fair, and poor ratings provided by maintenance contractors and reported for public use through the provincial motor association, collision and run-off-the-road incidents, and vehicle speed and volume distributions during storm events. Categorization of storm events was a further subject of study. The paper concludes with recommendations for further work for the winter of 2005-2006.