Studded tires are effective in preventing winter skid accidents. However,such tires were banned from April 1991, because of environmental concernsover dust from their abrasion of pavement. The Niigata National Highway Office has striven to improve snow-removal machinery, snow-melting facilities, weather observation stations and the like, as well as to prevent road icing by salt application. Salt use by the office has almost doubled in the past ten years (winter 95/96 to winter 04/05), although there have been variations depending on the weather. This research aims to develop and test a model that uses road surface temperature forecasts along a route to facilitate planning and management of salt application. Amount and road length of salt application have been increasing due to safety concerns of roadusers. For the covering abstract see ITRD E143097.
Samenvatting