Investigating Feasibility of Fleet Augmentation for Mechanized Snow Clearance of Roads: Economic Analysis and Policy Improvements

Winter road maintenance plays an important role in keeping economies running in the regions where snowfall is a regular annual feature. Having adequate infrastructure in terms of fleet strength and use of advanced technologies like road weather information system to deal with snow fall is crucial for efficient ice and snow control. This study aims to understand the economic viability of doubling the fleet size and deploying road weather information system (RWIS) for winter road maintenance. Based on the data collected from various sources with regard to costs and benefits of increased fleet size and RWIS, a cost benefit analysis framework was deployed for assessing the economic viability of augmentation and standardization for a limited stretch of road of length 77 km. Monte Carlo simulations were carried out to find out the sensitivity analysis of results of the cost–benefit analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the policy makers and decision makers should consider making higher investments in WRM given the benefit-to-cost ratios varying between 21.6 and 31.6 in case of exclusion and inclusion of tourism related benefits respectively.