Cost Reduction and Improvements in Winter Road Maintenance on Local Roads in the Municipality of Duplek

The purpose and objectives of his diploma thesis were to present improvements that would reduce the costs of winter road maintenance in the municipality of Duplek over a period of ten years. He achieved his objectives and supported them with calculations. By stating the costs, he had a basis for subsequent calculations and comparisons. Tests showed that ** salt coated with molasses** gives good results in the weather conditions that the municipality of Duplek has in winter. Despite the fact that with an initial investment, savings could be made over a period of ten years, not many municipalities or countries opt for spreading this material.

Problem

The purpose and objectives of his diploma thesis were to present improvements that would reduce the costs of winter road maintenance in the municipality of Duplek over a period of ten years. He achieved his objectives and supported them with calculations. Of course, in order to save money, money must first be ** invested** at the beginning.

To achieve his objectives, he began gathering information on how to save money. After studying all the necessary theory and finding the causes of costs, the next step was how to reduce these costs. Given that this step is not simple, he spent quite a lot of time and effort on it to focus on the right ways of saving, as not every method is suitable for such a small municipality as Duplek.

First, he reviewed the total costs of the municipality of Duplek for winter road maintenance in the seasons from 2011 to 2014, but due to the reliability of the data, he decided to consider only the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 seasons.

Solution and Method

By stating the costs, he had a basis for subsequent calculations and comparisons. He found that costs could be significantly reduced or savings made in winter road maintenance in the municipality of Duplek through road surface repair, spreading materials and the introduction of modern technology, and less or not at all through mechanisation and organisation. Good repair before the start of the winter season, with an initial investment, saves a lot of money in the ** long term**.

He made calculations of how much the municipality of Duplek would have had to invest in the aforementioned winter seasons either in complete renovation or in repair or in patching with asphalt mass. Assuming that no new damage would appear in other places on the roads in the municipality of Duplek, the calculations showed that over a period of ten years, the most savings are made with a larger initial investment and quality work performed. This means that it would be most profitable for the municipality of Duplek to immediately renovate all road surfaces that need renovation, and not to patch them with asphalt, as deficiencies are only temporarily removed in this way.

Spreading materials as we know them damage the road surface and are harmful to the environment. Therefore, he set himself the goal of finding a quality material that could compete in properties with existing ones and would also be cheaper in the long term. Despite the difficult task, he did find this material and was surprised that it is not used in more places or countries.

Results

Tests showed that salt coated with molasses gives good results in the weather conditions that the municipality of Duplek has in winter. Despite the fact that with an initial investment, savings could be made over a period of ten years, not many municipalities or countries opt for spreading this material. As a reason, they state that the material is supposedly insufficiently tested and the initial investment too large.

Nevertheless, I believe that it would be worthwhile for the municipality of Duplek to invest. Modern technology is developing at an incredible speed. In all areas, savings can be made with the help of the latter, and this should also be the case in winter road maintenance.

After reviewing the technology available for winter road maintenance, he decided to highlight and calculate the costs for the most suitable one in the municipality of Duplek. This is the municipal information system, which will be available shortly and is based on optimising road maintenance. With this technology, savings would be made on ** material and logistics**, as there would be no more unnecessary spreading of road surfaces.

Thus, despite the initial investment and annual maintenance of the system, such a system would pay off over a period of ten years. His assumptions were also that savings could be made with new mechanisation and good organisation of winter road maintenance. After studying the theory and various prices, he refuted the latter, as the investments in mechanisation and annual equipment maintenance are too large for smaller municipalities such as Duplek.

The organisation of winter road maintenance itself is carried out by the contractor professionally and according to the law. Thus, even in the organisation and logistics themselves, it is no longer possible to save much. Savings could be minimal with minor improvements and would not be noticeable over a period of ten years.

His proposals and calculations carried out for the municipality of Duplek are proof that savings can still be made in winter road maintenance. With this, he achieved the purpose and objectives of his diploma thesis. He calculated that the municipality of Duplek could save between 60,000 and 70,000 euros over ten years by taking into account his findings. Due to the market situation and various fluctuations, it is not possible to accurately predict savings for such a long period.

Thus, he came to the conclusion that the problem is not in the fact that savings could not be made, but in the fact that initial investment is required for everything. Since the municipality of Duplek does not have this possibility, that is, it does not have sufficient finances, they are forced into the temporarily most affordable solution, which we see is not the most affordable in the long term.