Maintenance Facility Location Optimization Review

Abstract

State departments of transportation (DOTs) are responsible for operating and maintaining the highway system in a safe and efficient manner to facilitate the movement of people and goods. Maintenance facilities play a critical role in the operations of DOTs by storing equipment and materials, providing a base of operation for department of transportation personnel, and serving as the beginning and ending location for maintenance activities. Maintenance activities occur year-round, but winter maintenance activities are typically the most time and resource intensive for northern state DOTs. Maintenance operations generally consist of facilities, routes, and equipment. The life spans of maintenance facilities are typically measured in decades, which compounds any inefficiencies in their locations over a long time horizon. Less research has been conducted to optimize facility locations than routes and fleets. This paper reviews the available literature related to facility optimization, including maintenance facilities and non-maintenance facilities. Several specific takeaways were documented from the research reviewed. DOTs have conducted research to optimize the locations of their facilities. These works have typically examined a small area and included only a few facilities. The larger-scale optimizations only located facilities at the town level. A second level of facilities may be necessary to improve the cost effectiveness of the optimization. Such facilities could include material storage depots strategically placed between maintenance sections to reduce the amount of deadheading. At a certain point, further consolidation of maintenance facilities will increase the overall costs because more vehicles and staff are required to reach the further extents of maintenance areas.