Increasing the economic sustainability of winter road maintenance processes through the use of technological innovation

Abstract

Effective road management requires the constant generation of new approaches. It is our duty to focus on improving all technical and process areas of road management, especially in the context of environmental and economic sustainability. Otherwise, we will face the fact that neglected parts will slow down the progress of the whole system. This will be reflected in a reduction in the quality of the infrastructure and increased costs over its life cycle. The approach must be systematic and therefore it is necessary to address the elements that, at first sight, do not have a major impact on other elements contained in the whole structure of road infrastructure management. One of the key areas for improvement is the process of winter road maintenance. It must reflect global climate change, new approaches to the cost-effectiveness of finances spent by users and road managers and, last but not least, the need for modern and safe mobility of goods and people. Advanced technologies such as automated anti-icing spraying systems or predictive monitoring of road structure temperature development are one example. However, these innovations bring not only positive but also negative effects.