CENTRALIZED WINTER SERVICE FOR MOTORWAY CENTERS

The federal motorways of the Federal Republic of Germany plays an important role for both individual travelers and the transportation of goods. Nevertheless, the motorways are barely able to handle the amount of traffic along certain stretches and during certain times of the day even in good weather. Roadworks, accidents and particularly adverse conditions during winter have a negative impact on traffic flow, resulting in traffic jams of differing durations. This paper describes how the creation of a centralized winter road maintenance service would prevent and reduce disturbances and the risks associated with adverse road conditions during the winter months. In order to satisfy the ever increasing requirements and in an effort to optimize the winter road maintenance service, the department of motorway construction of North Rhine Westphalien has created a winter maintenance center. The use of a competent winter road maintenance service, coordinated by a winter road maintenance center, has both economic and ecological benefits to the public.