Expenditure on snow and ice control for roadway maintenance

This paper presents the relationships between various winter weather conditions and the total expenditure on purchasing and applying snow and ice control materials and operation costs (labor and equipment) using historical data in Texas, U.S.Work includes developing a statistical model to estimate the normalized total expenditures on snow and ice control based on the amount of snowfall in three different climate regions in Texas. The model reliably predicts total expenditures on snow and ice control based on the amount of snowfall in the current and preceding months, and the model performs better for colder regions than for warmer ones. Coefficients reflecting the level of sensitivity of expenditures to snowfall amount exhibit considerable disparity among six Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) districts. The findings and the proposed methodology from this study could be applied to formulate more effective snow and ice control plans at the district level in Texas or other geographic areas with distinct and similar microclimates and annual average snowfall.