Maintenance station location through operations research at the Wyoming State Highway Department

Abstract

The purpose of the investigation reported in this paper is to develop mathematical models by means of operations research techniques to optimally allocate scarce resources used in highway maintenance. Various maintenance functions are investigated according to amount of expenditure and their adaptability to operations research techniques. From this investigation, snow removal and sanding are selected for further study. The effects of snowfall rate, travel time, allowable service response time, travel distance, operating costs, stockpile location and vehicle velocity upon maintenance station location are investigated. Computer models for snow removal and for sanding are developed. A discussion of the constraints and the objective function for each model is presented. The models are applied to a test area located in north-central Wyoming. The results are presented for various values of critical parameters. It is concluded that highway maintenance activities can be analyzed in this manner and it is recommended that other maintenance functions be investigated.