In 2002, the County of Renfrew and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities co-funded the installation of a two-station Road Weather Information System (RWIS) network within the County. As part of the contract between the two parties, the County of Renfrew agreed to have a third party complete a post-deployment performance evaluation to track the effects of RWIS support on winter maintenance activities and expenditures: the County contracted Mark F. Pinet & Associates Limited to complete the post-deployment reporting. The goal of this report is to determine whether improvements in winter maintenance practices were realized and to support other Municipalities that may wish to install RWIS networks in the future. Winter maintenance performance was measured as the difference between pre- and postdeployment of the network. For the purposes of this report, the benchmark data was assumed to be that obtained during the winter seasons of 2000/2001 to 2002/2003. Data assembled for benchmarking included salt and sand use (volumes and application rates), fuel consumption, collision statistics and winter maintenance expenditures. Similar data was collected for the 2003/2004 winter season (the first season with full deployment and a pre-wetting trial). To determine the benefit of RWIS in terms of maintenance activities and expenditures, the 2003/2004 measured values were compared to the benchmarks and previous trends. As a result of the post-deployment performance evaluation/analysis, the following differences were noted at the end of the2003/2004 winter season: • A 16% reduction in chloride use (from NaCl and Mg2Cl) along route 606-04 due to pre-wetting maintenance strategies assisted by RWIS information. • A 16% reduction in total winter season collisions (not involving animals) compared to the trend in the benchmark data (not corrected for winter severity) • A 32% reduction in required winter patrol costs (not corrected for winter severity or route optimization program) • A 30% reduction in diesel fuel consumption (not corrected for winter severity or route optimization program) Several factors influenced each of these benefits, aside from the RWIS deployment, including severity of winter and route optimization. Greater confidence in the measurement of benefits will be possible once an evaluation methodology is implemented that can account for the major variables that control the changes in response. A standardized Winter Severity Index will greatly aid in assessment in the future.
