Item: A FRAMEWORK FOR MEASURING THE PERFORMANCE OF HIGHWAY AND RAILWAY AVALANCHE PROGRAMS, AND DEMONSTRATING IMPROVEMENTS WITH INVESTMENT
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Title: A FRAMEWORK FOR MEASURING THE PERFORMANCE OF HIGHWAY AND RAILWAY AVALANCHE PROGRAMS, AND DEMONSTRATING IMPROVEMENTS WITH INVESTMENT
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop Proceedings 2023, Bend, Oregon
Authors:
- Zac Sala [ BGC Engineering, Vancouver, BC, Canada ]
- Dave Gauthier [ BGC Engineering, Vancouver, BC, Canada ]
- Jamie Yount [ Wyssen Avalanche Control, Denver, CO, USA ]
- Ethan Greene [ Colorado Avalanche Information Centre, Leadville, CO, USA ]
- David Hamre [ David Hamre and Associates, Anchorage, AK, USA ]
Date: 2023-10-08
Abstract: The availability and applications of remote avalanche control systems (RACS) and other capital-intensive avalanche mitigations are leading to increased scrutiny on avalanche safety programs for highways and railways. Large expenditures on avalanche control systems and other mitigations may need to be justified to transportation authorities or railways companies in the context of improvements in the performance of the program, in order to compete with other priorities across these organizations. But, on what basis should an avalanche safety program be measured, in order to justify investment? Over the past several years a pooled-research fund project supported by many DOTs in the US and Canada, and a private US railroad set out to define a suitable metric, and establish a method to implement it. In this paper we describe the priorities of the metric, which include not just public safety (e.g. AHI) but the sometimes competing objectives of worker safety and mobility of the public; the mechanics of rating the current performance of a program using individual and grouped path ratings based on control type, event frequency, closure time and duration, and exposure of workers; and how the metric can be used to demonstrate improved performance given changes to control strategy or capital investment in RACS or other measures such as snow sheds. We report on extensive testing by several programs, and also describe how the framework for the metric and a simple spreadsheet implementation would form the basis for more sophisticated geospatial web-based implementation and further quantification of performance.
Object ID: ISSW2023_O14.01.pdf
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s): Dave Gauthier
Keywords: transportation, performance, metric
Page Number(s): 1183 - 1188
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