Feasibility of Using Speed as a Winter Road Maintenance Performance Measure for Rural Highways

摘要

This paper describes a study focusing on the impact of different weather and road surface conditions on the average vehicle speed of rural highways. Detailed data on weather, road surface conditions, and traffic over three winter seasons from highways in Iowa, US, are assembled for this investigation. An exploratory data analysis is conducted to identify traffic flow regimes and potential variables to predict vehicle speed. A set of regression models are then calibrated for the relationship between traffic speed and various road weather and surface condition factors. By examining the relationship between traffic speed and road surface conditions, the intention is to show the feasibility of using traffic speed from traffic sensors as an indicator for monitoring the performance of winter road maintenance (WRM). This relationship would also provide a basis for assessing the effect of WRM on one of the maintenance outcomes, namely, mobility. Two case studies are examined to illustrate these applications.