Sicop Talks Winter Ops

Management of salt and salt reduction isn’t solely on the shoulders of maintenance operations.  In many cases salt use is necessary to address problematic areas that maybe could have been mitigated with a more winter sensitive design.  On this episode were visiting with Connie Fortin, Todd Hubmer, and Chris Chromy of Bolton & Menk on their approach with a new perspective on designs to optimize winter operations and minimizing the need for salt.  Designing new facilities or retrofitting existing facilities is the result of hundreds of tradeoffs and compromises with the goal of reaching the optimal sub-optimal solution.  Long term operational costs of a highway facilities can include pavement maintenance, rehabilitation schedules, safety benefits, and other costs but seldom include the costs of winter maintenance like chemicals, equipment, and level of effort to provide a resilient network.  Maximizing solar radiation, minimizing drifting snow, and eliminating the repeat offenders where melt water refreezes