Individual paper (pdf - 746KB)

In snowy regions, snowfalls, blowing snow and freezing rain cause accumulated ice on road signs, road information boards, bridges, and other structures (hereinafter, road infrastructure). When snow on road infrastructure grow become high density of snow and fall, they can cause damage to road vehicles and other structures. Freezing rain itself can also cause damage to them. To prevent such incidents, [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 995KB)

The Direction interdépartementale des routes Nord-Ouest (DIR NO) manages the French national road network in the Normandy and Centre-Val de Loire regions. The decline in the number of winter maintenance operations has raised questions about the knowledge of operators of these routes and their equipment. It also reduces the ability of road users to adapt their behavior to winter conditions. Rising [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.1MB)

Arnøya Island, located in Northern Norway’s Arctic region, faces some of the most severe avalanche risks due to its mountainous terrain and maritime climate. Frequent storms, heavy snowfall, and prolonged dark periods create unpredictable and hazardous conditions, particularly along the island’s critical coastal road. Historically, this road experienced an average of 10 closure days each winter, [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 525KB)

Winter Road Maintenance (WRM) plays a crucial role in ensuring public safety, minimizing economic disruptions, and reducing environmental impact. Traditional WRM approaches rely on predefined rule-based protocols and human judgment, often resulting in inefficiencies due to subjective decision-making and the inability to adapt to dynamic weather conditions. This study introduces a Deep Reinforcement [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 312KB)

The document presents research on the use of formate compounds as an alternative to conventional road salts for anti-skid treatments on icy roads in Finland. The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and environmental impact of formates in comparison to sodium and calcium chloride, which are commonly used but pose risks to groundwater systems. The research, set in 2024–2025 along specific roads [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 421KB)

In this paper we will discuss a new concept called Dynamic Spreading. What is dynamic spreading? It is when data obtained from sensors mounted on a plow truck and integrated into a computerized spreader controller are used to control the application rate of salt or other materials from that plow truck, with adjustments in application rate being made in real time. We will discuss what parameters in [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.1MB)

After the preventive use of calcium chloride brine to combat hoar frost, numerous traffic accidents caused by icy conditions occurred in Berlin, despite road surface temperatures above 0°C. The investigation into the accidents showed that they were due to an unfavorable combination of road surface temperature, air temperature and humidity at the time the brine was used. As a result, calcium chloride [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 501KB)

This project, running from May 2024 to June 2026, aims to demonstrate and evaluate the use of circular salt as an anti-slip agent for winter road maintenance in Sweden. It is globally unique, combining innovative technology to locally produce road salt from residual products, such as fly ash from waste incineration. This process helps reduce waste while producing cleaner road salt with lower CO2 emissions [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.1MB)

In recent years, the term "JPCZ" has come to be used frequently in Japan during heavy snowfall. This stands for Japan Sea Polar air mass Convergence Zone, and its mechanism is that seasonal winds from the continent split into east and west in the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, then merge and converge again as they cross the Sea of Japan, water vapor is supplied from the sea surface, snow clouds [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 676KB)

There are large areas in Japan where large amounts of snow fall every winter. In that area, snow removal on the road is extremely important for ensuring the lifelines of local residents and for economic activity. There are many obstructions on the road to snow removal work, such as convex manholes and bridge joints. Snow removal vehicle operator must be careful to avoid contact between the snowplow [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 682KB)

In blowing snow or heavy snowfall, visibility is often poor, making it difficult to determine the vehicle’s position on the road. This often results in reduced driving speed and collisions due to lane deviations. Therefore, poor visibility is a major issue when driving in winter weather conditions. To address this problem, road administrators have focused on reducing snow-drift transport rate by [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 912KB)

Currently, snow removal vehicles are basically operated by a two-seater of an operator and an assistant. However, with the decline in the working population, there will be a need for a one-man snow removal vehicle in the future. Furthermore, due to the aging and retirement of skilled operators, it is expected that the number of one-man operations by unskilled operators will increase. In the two-seater [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 3.3MB)

We have developed an autonomous traffic sign vehicle that automatically follows a rotary snow blower vehicle on expressways without the need for manual operation. Hokkaido, Japan, experiences heavy snowfall, necessitating snow removal operations on expressways even during poor visibility conditions caused by snowstorms or at night. Recently, the number of snow removal operators has been decreasing [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.2MB)

The overall goal of a 3-year research project was to determine the status of direct brine application in winter maintenance on German federal highways and to propose solutions on how the use of this technology can be massively improved. At the same time, open questions regarding the test procedures for brine spray machines in the European standard EN 15597 should be clarified. An online survey [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 2.0MB)

The use of alternative deicing materials is gaining increasing attention due to environmental concerns and the need to reduce the negative impact of traditionally used sodium chloride. This study investigates the effectiveness of ten alternative deicing materials including both solid and liquid deicing agents, under varying air temperatures and application rates, comparing their performance to the [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 2.3MB)

The efficient organisation of winter service routes poses a challenge, especially in urban areas and changing conditions, such as the migration of old data or the updating of road graphs. This article presents an approach that uses ESRI ArcGIS Pro and its advanced GIS analysis functions to optimise the planning and management of winter maintenance routes. Special emphasis is placed on the migration [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 150KB)

The Road Weather Committee of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) has spent the last three years defining the most critical areas in need of research with respect to Road Weather Management. The broad mission of TRB is to promote innovation in transportation through research. It has a large committee structure that spans the breadth of transportation, and it is through these committees that the [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 551KB)

Many industrial processes, such as the food industry, use brine (sodium chloride solution), which then must be disposed of as salt wastewater by discharging it into natural bodies of water or otherwise. To increase ecological sustainability, these dissolved salts could be used for winter service, thus saving salt overall. An example of this is the use of fermentation brine from a gherkin manufacturer [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.3MB)

Winter maintenance as a key task of road operators ensures accessibility and safety during the winter. With an average of 15 to 25 snowfall events and 40 to 60 days with hoarfrost in Austria, the key challenge is choosing an optimal strategy with timing, application rates, and share of brine for each treatment run. Furthermore, due to climate change snowfall events are declining with hoarfrost and [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 679KB)

For the Brenner motorway, located partly in an Alpine context and an important crossroads between northern and southern Europe, winter operations are of fundamental importance. Winter maintenance operations are manifold and vary depending on the time of year, the type of weather event, the intensity and type of traffic, the peculiarities of the route, and the type of pavement. Guidelines have been [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 862KB)

Automatic de-icing systems are useful in several use cases. Specific points such as bridges are more prone to ice formation than the rest of the road network. They require specific intervention and thus enhanced operating costs. Also, parts of the road network are out of the reach of most snowploughs, for instance narrow bicycle paths. Unconventionnal equipment is required for these areas. Moreover, [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.0MB)

Norwegian company RoadTech AS has developed and produced a robot for deploying and collecting of snow poles on winter roads. The robot has been designed to operate inside a standard truck (diesel or electric) carrying a 20 ft. container. Both deployment and collecting are performed at continuous speed, which more than doubles the capacity, significantly increasing road safety during the process [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 683KB)

Reinforced concrete structures are increasingly exhibiting signs of severe deterioration due to chemical and physical factors, such as corrosion and freeze-thaw cycles. The durability of such constructions is closely linked to their environmental exposure and relies on the concrete capacity to protect the metal reinforcement from corrosive agents. The use of de-icing salts enhances road safety, but [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 809KB)

NEXCO-Central manages approximately 2,200 km of expressways in Japan. About 60% of the expressways under management have been in operation for over 30 years, and the aging of structures is progressing due to increased heavy vehicle traffic and the effects of anti-freezing agent. In winter, NEXCO-Central manages snowy, cold regions where the snow depth exceeds 2 meters, and to ensure the safe flow [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.4MB)

Germany is a country with different climatic and topographical regions. In many regions there are freeze-thaw cycles with slippery ice in winter, and in some there is also snowfall, which can be very intense. In addition, the volume of traffic on the roads is very high. There are therefore very high and differentiated requirements for winter service. Pre-wetted salt (FS30), which can be viewed as [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.1MB)

In the past winter maintenance relied heavily on the experience and dedication of their staff in the adaption and application of their strategies into practice under ever-changing conditions. With the increasing availability of sensor data and more accurate local weather forecasts the decision making has shifted from a practical towards a predictive approach. Nonetheless, the sensor data as well as [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 926KB)

Demographic aging among snow removal operators and shortages of new recruits have become issues across the heavy-snowfall regions of Japan. This study aims to understand how snow removal operators acquire and pass on their skills based on individual experience and to explore ways of ensuring the smooth succession and retention of these operators. We started by examining the techniques that constitute [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.2MB)

Potassium Acetate (PA) was originally developed as a de-icer in the late 1980s as a replacement for glycol and urea-based products. Its primary use case was for runway de-icing due to its low corrosivity of metal alloys and efficacy at mitigating ice formation in very low temperatures; it can also boast much improved environmental credentials compared to its predecessors. Only a small amount of research [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.6MB)

A snow-melting system with groundwater sprinkling or snow-melting pipes is essential for maintaining road traffic during winter in Japan. Snow-melting pipes have been widely used since the 1960s in the Hokuriku region, which has heavy snowfall but a relatively mild climate because of its relatively low cost and high effectiveness. The snow-melting pipe pumps groundwater at a constant temperature [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 989KB)

Traffic standstills on motorways caused by snow and ice severely impact motorist health, public safety, and economic activity. Preventative road closures, while aiming to avoid traffic standstill, led to massive snow buildup on empty roads, causing significant economic losses and costly removal efforts. Since slopes prone to snow and ice issues are mostly identified, deploying snow and icing control [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 16.9MB)

This paper presents two innovative solutions to assist road managers in their decision-making during winter service: • a new solution for estimating residual salt based on the salt spread by winter service vehicles, combined with weather and traffic information. • a new algorithm for proposing road de-icing treatment, combined with a thermology sensor. Estimating Residual salt Based on the [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.8MB)

Transport networks play a crucial role in socioeconomic activities, including travel and lo-gistics. Visibility deterioration and snowdrifts brought by blowing snow reduce the usability of roads. Road administrators use closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to monitor road conditions and sometimes to decide on road closures. However, the cost of installing such cameras is so high that in Hokkaido, [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 807KB)

The winter maintenance industry can achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness by integrating advanced technologies such as Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS), infrared sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and image processing. These technologies enable smarter decision-making through real-time road condition insights and predictive capabilities. AI-powered weather forecasting [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 4.1MB)

In snowy and cold regions, snow and ice control measures on roads are divided into two categories: machine operation to snow accumulation, such as snow removal and the application of snow-melting agents, and installing road facilities like heating systems. One heating method involves embedding pipes within concrete pavement to circulate groundwater or hot water. Heat transfer from the fluid inside [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.5MB)

Japan is an island nation surrounded by the sea, with an elongated shape from northeast to southwest. There is a series of steep mountains from northeast to southwest in the central part of Japan, and the presence of these mountains is one of the factors that cause snowfall. The northwest monsoon carries moist air to Japan in winter. The moist air moving up the mountains creates clouds, and much snow [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.1MB)

The efficient and effective management of winter maintenance is essential to ensure service sustainability and safety for both users and staff. It is essentially based on the precise knowledge of the conditions of the road surface and on the optimal planning of maintenance activities for the spreading of solvents which, the timelier they are, the less solvent is needed, up to 20 times. Proper management [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 1.2MB)

ABSTRACT The Winter Road Intelligence Project (WRIP) is a collaboration between the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland). The goals of WRIP are to investigate latest technologies for road weather and road condition monitoring (WP1-2) and processing and data consumption (WP3-4) to improve forecast and maintenance decision support systems (MDSS). This presentation applies [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 288KB)

In Andorra, snow avalanches have historically impacted the road network due to the region’s climate and topography. Recognizing the associated risks, the Administration has implemented an innovative avalanche prevention and monitoring system to ensure safety and minimize socio-economic disruptions. This system has been developed through advancements in engineering, numerical modeling, and a public-private [...]

Individual paper (pdf - 761KB)

Finding ways to optimise from an economic point of view, while maintaining the required standards in the face of increasing budget constraints, is an ongoing task in operational maintenance. As part of a CAS diploma thesis, the winter service of NSNW AG, which is responsible for the operational maintenance of the national highways in Switzerland on behalf of FEDRO, was examined from an economic [...]