Computer-Aided Optimizations of Snow Plowing Routes and Depots Locations


PI: Dr. Tae J. Kwon

Funding Source: CIMA+ 

Project Overview

During winter months, snowstorms can have a significant detrimental effect on user mobility and roadway safety. To alleviate the disruptive impact, the development of timely and efficient snowplowing/material spreading operations and resource allocation schemes very important. In this project, an efficient routing algorithm is implemented to optimize plow routes by amalgamating operations of a county and municipalities within it. In particular, this project aims to develop efficient plow routing strategies to make the combined operations more efficient by sharing routes and by sharing or eliminating material storage yards by taking into account operational constraints such as total circuit time, operating speeds, and the number of available trucks. The methods, once developed, will have the ability to transform the existing individual maintenance operations networks to an optimized, integrated and unified network of routes, with an improved utilization of space for the road maintenance yards.