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Winter Operations Optimization and Asset Management for the State of Ohio

Holik, William A.

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, Civil Engineering.
One of the most difficult challenges facing agencies is the rising costs of winter maintenance. With the current economic climate, winter maintenance personnel have been tasked with providing an adequate level of service to the motoring public while simultaneously reducing their expenditures. This research specifically addressed several winter maintenance issues ODOT faces with the goal of decreasing winter maintenance expenditures while improving or maintaining the level of service. The areas evaluated in this research include: 1) snow plow routing and optimization, 2) the implementation of specialty equipment into winter maintenance vehicle fleets, 3) the management and distribution of winter maintenance materials throughout the State of Ohio, and 4) automated vehicle and material tracking. The snow plow route optimization is developed in two stages, one with county and district borders and one without the borders. A cost savings of greater than $800,000 is realized by removing the border restrictions. Specialty winter maintenance equipment are modeled to determine the benefits of the equipment. The specialty equipment are implemented in a route optimization model and the results of that model are combined with field data to estimate the cycle time reductions and cost increases of the specialty equipment. Cost curves are developed to determine the payback period of the specialty equipment. The vulnerability of salt supplies to depletion during winter operations are investigated. Cost analysis is conducted to determine the risk costs and total costs associated with the salt supply in Ohio counties. These curves may be used as a guide to determine how much material to keep on hand. Automated vehicle and material management sensors are investigated to determine the reliability and calibration requirements of several types of sensors. The results indicate a significant cost savings associated with calibrating sensors. As plow truck sensors become more prevalent, winter maintenance personnel must commit more time to maintaining and calibrating sensors. Focus needs to shift from solely worrying about the maintenance of the plow trucks to including ensuring the accuracy of the sensor data as agencies rely more heavily on this data for their analytical assessment and daily operations.
William Schneider, IV (Advisor)

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Holik, W. A. (2015). Winter Operations Optimization and Asset Management for the State of Ohio [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1436723458

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Holik, William. Winter Operations Optimization and Asset Management for the State of Ohio. 2015. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1436723458.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Holik, William. "Winter Operations Optimization and Asset Management for the State of Ohio." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1436723458

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)