WSDOT - Maintenance Data Roadway Treatment Goals

Due to the dynamic and diverse nature of winter weather and resultant road conditions, WSDOT maintenance personnel use a variety of methods and materials to help prevent snow and ice formation on state highways. Outcomes of snow and ice control treatments will vary, dependent upon severity of winter weather events, topography, traffic levels and speeds, and proximity to support facilities (i.e. liquid chemical storage tanks and salt stockpiles). While outcomes can be measured in a variety of ways, the motoring public most often measures maintenance efforts in terms of road conditions during and immediately after winter weather events. Maintenance personnel also rate roadway conditions during the winter season. This information is used to project expected road conditions associated with snow and ice treatment levels for different events. The unique nature of individual winter weather events limits the relevance of projected expectations on a given storm, but when ratings from an entire winter season are averaged, they become a good indicator of the Level of Service (LOS) provided by maintenance personnel over the entire season. Winter climates differ greatly between Eastern and Western Washington, so road treatment levels may vary on either side of the Cascades to match the ability to respond to those conditions. Limited funding also requires prioritization of roads for snow and ice control, so that different levels of service will be employed for individual roads and sections of roads鉴于冬季天气及其随之产生的道路状况兼具动态性与多样性，华盛顿州运输部（WSDOT）的养护人员会采用多种方法与物料，以防止州际高速公路形成积雪与积冰。除雪除冰作业的效果会因冬季天气事件的严重程度、地形条件、交通流量与车速，以及配套设施（即液态化学药剂储罐与盐料堆存场）的远近而存在差异。尽管除雪除冰效果可通过多种方式衡量，但普通驾车民众最常以冬季天气过程期间及结束后即刻的道路状况来评判养护工作的成效。养护人员同样会在冬季对道路状况进行评级，该信息可用于预测不同冬季天气事件下，对应除雪除冰作业强度的预期道路状况。单个冬季天气事件的独特性会限制针对特定风暴的预测预期的参考价值，但将整个冬季的评级数据取平均后，便可作为养护人员整个冬季所提供的服务水平（Level of Service, LOS）的良好衡量指标。华盛顿州东部与西部的冬季气候差异悬殊，因此喀斯喀特山脉两侧的道路除雪除冰作业强度可能有所调整，以适配当地的应急响应条件。此外，受限于有限的资金，需对需开展除雪除冰作业的道路进行优先级排序，因此不同道路及路段将采用差异化的服务水平。