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Winter Road Maintenance Activities and the Use of Road Salts in Canada: A Compendium of Costs and Benefits Indicators.
Winter road maintenance activities present many benefits to the economy and the society in general. Road salts1, used in aiding to achieve bare pavement quicker, adversely affect the environment on which life depend.
The available basic partial indicators of the costs and benefits of winter road maintenance associated with the use of road salts are presented in this document and can be used to extrapolate the benefits of winter maintenance and the costs resulting from the use of road salts for Canada and its provinces.
Table A: Breakdown of Costs and Benefits of Winter Maintenance, Using Road Salts as a De-icer.
| Costs |
Benefits |
Direct:
- Material Cost (salts)
- Equipment cost
- Labour Cost
|
Direct:
- Fuel savings
- Travel time savings
- Avoided Fatality, Injury and vehicle damage
|
Indirect:
- Cost to Infrastructures
- Cost to motor Vehicles (on-road)
- Cost to the Environment
|
Indirect:
- Reduction in liability claims to road authority (associated to hazardous driving conditions).
- Maintain the economic activity (production, transportation, and earnings)
- Maintain access to social activities.
|
The underlying components of the various costs and benefits reported in table A will be used to identify and classify the acquired economic partial indicators available to date. Partial indicators represented in this document by a dollar figure are expressed in term of Canadian dollar of 1998 (data is adjusted for inflation and exchange rate).
Section 1: |
Partial Indicators Associated With Salt Application To Roads |
Based on our extensive research of the literature, including the Internet and other personal communications, this section presents the available partial indicators of costs and benefits of winter maintenance associated with the road application of salts - The partial indicators must be used only within proper context; Contact REAB (Regulatory & Economic Analysis Branch) for information on how to adapt the partial indicators to specific cases.
Partial Indicators of Costs of Winter Maintenance with the Use of Road Salts
| Direct Costs |
Indicators |
General partial indicators
Based on data received from one of the provinces that were contacted (not for Ontario), we estimated that:
|
|
- Winter maintenance direct cost per
kilometre of highways to be around
$530/km2
|
$530/km |
- Winter maintenance direct cost per
tonne of salt applied to highways, for
that same province, is around
$320/tonne3
|
$320/tonne |
|
Material (Road salts)
|
|
- The price of salt in Canada vary from
location to location and can range
between $204 to $80. The price is
estimated to be on average $50 per
tonne for the country.
|
$50 per tonne |
|
Salt application
|
|
- Equipment cost, for one of the
provinces, is estimated to be on
average $305 per hour-equipment
(truck, snow plow, etc.).
|
$30/hour/vehicl. |
- Labour cost is estimated to be
between $14-$236 per hour-worker for
one of the provinces. According to the
Transportation Research Board, this
cost is estimated to be around $387
per hour-worker.
|
$14-$23/hour-worker. TRB estimated it to be $38/hour-worker
|
|
| Indirect Costs |
Indicators |
Infrastructures8
|
|
- Bridge: It is estimated that 1.5% of
existing bridge surface need to be
repaired every year due to salt
contamination.
|
1.5% of bridges per year
|
| |
- The cost to repair a bridge deck
affected by salt is on average
$7639 per square metre per
year.
|
$763/m2/yr. |
| |
- Protection cost against salt
contamination of a new
constructed bridge deck is
estimated to average $7610 per
square metre.
|
$76/m2 |
| |
- Garage11 : on average, 1/10 of
existing garages per year
needs to be repaired during a
10 years period (1% per year).
|
1/10 of garages / yr. |
| |
|
- The repair cost of a
typical multi-level garage
is on average $14312
per square metre.
|
$143/ m2 |
| |
|
- It is estimated that the
annual cost to repair a
problem bridge to be
$300,00013. Assuming
50% of the repair
needed is caused by
Salt contamination, we
estimate the cost to be
around $150,000 per
year per garage (600
parking-garages per year
need to be repaired in
Canada)
|
$150,000/yr/gar. |
| |
|
- The cost of additional
protection for a new
constructed garage is
equal to 1%14 of the
initial construction cost.
|
1% initial cost |
| |
- Underground utilities: Corrosion
cost to underground utilities is
estimated to be 515 times
greater than the cost per tonne
to apply salt to road (5 *
$319/tonne = $1595/tonne).
|
$1595/tonne |
|
Vehicles (on-road)
|
|
- Vehicle depreciation cost due to road
salt corrosion is estimated to be
$14316 per vehicle per year.
|
$143/vehicle/yr |
- Vehicle protection cost to salt-related
corrosion is estimated to be $31617
per new vehicle. Considering advances
in modern technology of automobile
industry, this indicator can be
considered as being over estimated.
From our communication with car
dealers in the Ottawa-Hull area, we
estimated this cost to be around
$2918 per car per year.
|
$316/vehicle
$29/yr/vehicle |
|
Environment:
Water
|
|
- Water wells: It is estimated that for
one of the provinces, 20%19 of the
water wells located close to heavily
salted highways are contaminated by
road salt.
|
20% of water wells |
| |
- Based on data from some of
the provinces, we estimated the
cost of well claims to range
from $5,500 to $16,000 per well
per year.
|
$5,500 - $16,000 per well
per yr. ($10,000/well/yr for
Ontario)
|
- Surface Water: No data regarding the
cost of salt contamination to surface
water is available.
|
|
|
Vegetation
|
|
- Trees: It is estimated that, on the side
of a highway, an average of 1.86 trees
per km, is affected by salt and need to
be replaced each year20. It is
estimated that in downtown Ottawa,
the average mortatility rate of trees is
10%-15%21 per year (not essentially
due to road salt).
|
1.86 tree/ km/yr |
| |
- According to the Transportation
Research Board, the cost to
replace one mature tree is
estimated at $88622. The city
of Ottawa estimated that the
total cost to replace a mature
tree to be around $300 (for one
young tree and two years of
maintenance).
|
$886/ tree
$300/tree (City of Ottawa) |
- Shrub: 0.6 salt contaminated shrub
per km need to be replaced at a cost
of $11523 on average per year. The
City of Ottawa estimate that the
replacement cost per year of one
shrub to be $25.
|
$115/0.6 shr/km
$25/Shr (City of Ottawa) |
- Grass: repair cost of salt damaged
grass is estimated to be on average
$37824 per hectare per year.
|
$378/ha |
|
Soil
|
|
- Soil contaminated by salt can be
treated, using gypsum, at an
estimated total cost of $47325 per
hectare per year.
|
$473/ha/yr |
|
Biota
|
|
- We have no partial indicators
regarding the cost, due to the use of
road salt, to wildlife (Deer, Moose,
Birds) and non salt-tolerant aquatic
organisms that live in non-salted water
(Fish, micro-organism, and aquatic
plant).
|
|
|
Partial Indicators of Benefits of Winter Maintenance with the Use of Road Salt
| Direct Benefits |
Indicators |
Vehicles (on-road)
|
|
- Fuel savings: Driving in bare road conditions allow
savings in fuel of up to 33%26 as compared to when
roads are snowy or icy.
|
33% less fuel |
| |
- Fuel efficiency27: fuel efficency per 100
kilometeres is approximated at 11 litres for
autos and light trucks, and 17 litres for gas
trucks.
|
11l/100kms |
| |
- We estimated that the monetary value of fuel
savings for autos and light trucks to be around
$1.88/100kms [33%*((11l/100kms)*$0.52/l)].
|
17l/100kms
$1.88/100kms |
| |
- Transport Canada estimated that idling of cars
results in 0.832 litres of fuel consumed per
hour.
|
|
- Travel time saving is on average $1128 per hour for
auto travellers and $9.73 per hour for bus travellers.
|
$11/hr. for auto and $9.73/hr. for bus |
- Accident reduction rate: winter maintenance
including the use of salt can reduce vehicle accident
of up to 88.3%29
|
Acc. decr. Rate 88.3% |
- Accident costs saving30: Cost saving related to
vehicle accident by type of accident are respectively
$1,594,412 per fatality31, $28,618 per injury and
$5,724 per property damage.
|
$1,594,412/fat.
$28,618/inj.
$5,724/dam. |
|
| Indirect Benefits |
Indicators |
Reduction in liability claims
|
|
- Decrease in claims and liabilities: Keeping road
reasonably safe can decrease the number of
road-related vehicle accidents, thus the number of
accident claims and liability to provinces, road
authorities and insurance companies. This data is
not available.
|
|
|
Maintaining economic activities
|
|
- Reduction in production losses: Enterprises can
suffer from losses in productivity due to the following
factors: lateness and/or absenteeism by employees
to the workplace, unavailability of inputs to
production. No data is readily available.
|
|
- Reduction of losses in good shipments: Non-bare
road or lack of safe travel conditions can delay
shipments of goods to delivery points, which affect
sales. There are no estimates for such losses.
|
|
- Cost to trucking activities during severe storms is not
available.
|
|
- Reduction in wage losses:
|
|
| |
- Wage loss due to lateness to work is
estimated to be on average $2732 per hour
per paid-by-the-hour worker
|
$27/hr/ worker |
- Wage loss due to absenteeism to work can be
negligible, in part, because of teleworking opportunity
(in the service sector). Due to modern ways of
conducting winter maintenance, it is unlikely that the
economic activity of an entire province will be
completely shut down.
|
|
|
Access to social activities
|
|
- Emergency response time: Although acknowledge
as being an important factor in term of life saved on
workplace accident and household accident, for
example, there exist no economic valuation of such
benefit.
|
|
- Social activities: No study had attempted to
economically determine the benefit derived from
ability to participate in social activities during a winter
storm due to better road travel conditions.
|
|
|
Concluding remark: To our knowledge, the partial indicators presented in this document are the ones that are presently available for use. They can be further improved as better information become available. The partial indicators will be used with complementary data so the costs and benefits of winter maintenance can be computed for a specific province or for the country.
Unfortunately, most of the partial indicators for the indirect benefit of winter maintenance could not be gathered or estimated. Thus, a methodology need to be developped or further research need to be done in order to come up with some estimates of these benefits.
While we acknoledge the uncertainties associated with the estimates, we are confident that they are the best partial indicators that are available.
1 The term "Road salts" refers to Sodium Chloride.
2 Personal communication. Province of Saskatchewan - Ref: 29
3 Ibid.
4 Socio-Economic Background and Options Study on the Canadian Salt Industry, 1999, Cheminfo Service Inc.
5 Personal communication. Province of Saskatchewan - Ref: 29
6 Personal communication. Province of Saskatchewan - Ref: 29
7 Life Cycle Cost-Benefit Model for Road Weather Information System, Transportation research record 1627, # 98-0882, pgs: 41-48.
8 It is estimated that road salt does not affect asphalt, thus salt has no effects on road surface per se. Source: Environmental Impact of Road Salting, Jones et al., 1986.
9 Highway Deicing: Comparing Salt and Calcium Magnesium Acetate (1991), Special report 235, TRB-NRC.
10 Highway Deicing: Comparing Salt and Calcium Magnesium Acetate (1991), Special report 235, TRB-NRC.
11 Highway Deicing: Comparing Salt and Calcium Magnesium Acetate (1991), Special report 235, TRB-NRC.
12 Highway Deicing: Comparing Salt and Calcium Magnesium Acetate (1991), Special report 235, TRB-NRC.
13 IRC and partners identifying rebar corrosion solutions, Robert Bullis, 1998.
14 Highway Deicing: Comparing Salt and Calcium Magnesium Acetate (1991), Special report 235, TRB-NRC.
15 Corrosion and Alternate Deicers, R.L. McGrum, in Chemical Deicers and the Environment, F.M. D'Itri, Lewis Publishers, 1992. Dollar value is based on Saskatchewan data.
16 Highway Deicing: Comparing Salt and Calcium Magnesium Acetate (1991), Special report 235, TRB-NRC.
17 Ibid.
18 Telephone interview with car dealers in the Ottawa-Hull area.
19 "The GPI water quality account", Sara Justine, July 2000. Province of Nova Scotia.
20 Highway Deicing: Comparing Salt and Calcium Magnesium Acetate (1991), Special report 235, TRB-NRC.
21 Personal communication, Ctity of Ottawa
22 Highway Deicing: Comparing Salt and Calcium Magnesium Acetate (1991), Special report 235, TRB-NRC.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid.
26 http://www.saltinstitute.org/30.html
27 GHG reduction benefits of intelligent transportation system - Final report, Transport Canada, June 1999
28 Guide to Benefit-Cost analysis in Transport Canada, Transport Canada, 1994.
29 Salt Institute, Internet web site: http://www.saltinstitute.org/30.html
30 Guide to Benefit-Cost analysis in Transport Canada, Transport Canada, 1994.
31 Environment Canada estimated that the value of human statistical life is $5,485,049.
32 Source: Average hourly earnings, serie L76126, CANSIM (StatsCan). This number is the average rate-hour of salaried worker. We estimated that this number is representative of the loss that a paid-by-the-hour worker will suffer if he is one hour late to the workplace.
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