Tracks: Emerging Technologies, Plowing & Disposal Strategies, Top 5 Tech, Winter Maintenance Planning & Operations
Staff reductions left the Village of Niles Public Works Department with a large dilemma: How could they continue to provide the snow removal service levels that residents expected? One solution was the optimization of routes and the use of GPS navigation units to provide turn-by-turn directions for the plow drivers. Previously, snowplow routes were created manually and drivers often had different approaches resulting in bad mileage, high cycle time, and deicing product variations. Optimized routes reduce travel time and distance and create a more even distribution of the workload.