Asset Management: How Can It Improve Your Winter Operations?

Most communities use some form of asset management inventory tracking system to maintain inventories of their community assets, including facility structures, buried utilities, roadway systems, bridges, culverts, and roadway features, not limited to pedestrian features. In addition, these items are not maintained without rolling stock or equipment used by individuals who maintain the infrastructure. The combination of assets, materials, staffing, and a supportive asset management policy provides the economic threshold of asset management.

Knowledge of locations and values of these costly infrastructure items is critical for maintenance, maintaining inventory, life-cycle costs, and replacement costs. Winter operations can impact asset life cycles due to the materials used to maintain safe multi-modal transportation efforts during the winter season. The growing capabilities of GIS software include providing operators the locations of certain assets that may be overcome and unseen due to snow volume, such as water valves and electrical ground box placed assets that provide critical utility services. In most snow-belt states, assets like fire hydrant markers are placed upon individual assets. However, they too can be overcome by snow.

Hard surface assets include sidewalks, trails, bridges, roads/streets, and retaining walls, and can include multiple condition features such as volumes in distance, width, height, condition, drainage, storm water features, accessibility requirements, and snow storage space.

Knowledge of asset elements enables those responsible for winter operations to assign staff with capable equipment to meet their target service level goals within their winter maintenance policies for their respective communities. Supportive operational procedures should answer:

• What, if any, pre-treatment practices are planned? Where and when might these practices occur?

• Who completes what in advance of a follow-up snow removal process? (This may cross roadways into sidewalks or trail systems.

• Which equipment has the capability of managing the snow volumes from a larger roadway or trail/ sidewalk system?

• Are there further maintenance follow-up needs based upon snow fall volumes?

• Is there a better piece of equipment that might meet the service level expectations?

The final evaluation would be an example of asset management equipment planning.

We typically can’t buy everything we need immediately. Therefore, I recommend using your asset management system for tracking material, staff time, and equipment use of winter operations for financial purposes.

The added features of retaining walls and vertical barrier walls have become more prevalent in several roadway designs. What emphasis do you place on retainment block and concrete walls in winter operations? Chloride products are very harmful to retaining walls if the incorrect material or volumes are used. Deterioration can happen very quickly and shorten its life cycle. Operational training, including correct material use and snow placement, could support the life cycle for retaining walls. Increasing snow storage space in boulevard areas and perhaps planned removal operations may be considered design decisions, but knowing the asset values will contribute to decision making for maintenance and traffic management.

Downtown business centers are another area filled with numerous assets. Are there seasonal assets that could be removed to improve snow removal operations? Engineering design for downtown business centers is critical. Infrastructure placement to enhance drainage and prevent accessibility issues should be supportive of practical, efficient snow removal operations. It is important that the design team work with those responsible for maintenance operations. I personally have assisted in delivery of winter maintenance training for 20 years. Communication between the design team and those responsible for snow removal, including operators, would be beneficial. Open communication of the requirements and concerns to meet improvement needs would support the discussion. This ensures the design process improves outcomes.

Improving communication across these spectrums would support buy-in on how asset management and winter operations could be beneficial for long-term planning purposes.

It is important to maintain your asset management inventory. It should be reviewed and revised annually. In the public sector nothing is stagnant. Workflow management, maintenance schedules, budgeting, and planning are constant. A policy supportive of your asset management plan is extremely beneficial.

Final Considerations for Asset Management and Winter Operations

• If you don’t have an asset management system, consider creating one. APWA has great resources in its Resource Center, including the Asset Management Roadmap, on its website. Network with others to learn how they use asset management for winter operations.

• The process and use of asset management will look favorable to your council/boards, manager/ administrator, and finance division of the public or government entity from the onset.

• Understand that your finance team has rules to follow in the form of government financing. Sharing information about your asset management system with finance will create a positive relationship in terms of capital improvement and budgetary processes.

As published in the American Public Works Association (APWA) October Issue.

Ready to take your winter operations to the next level? Explore how proactive snow and ice management and strategic asset management can work hand-in-hand. Or, explore our full library of and learn how low chloride strategies can help protect your assets long-term.