Improving Striping Operations through System Optimization

Striping operations generate a significant workload for Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) maintenance operations. The requirement for each striping crew to replenish its stock of paint and other consumable items from a bulk storage facility, along with the necessity to make several passes on most of the routes to stripe all the lines on that road, introduce the potential for inefficiencies in the form of “deadhead miles” that striping crew vehicles must travel while not actively applying pavement markings. These inefficiencies generate unnecessary travel, wasted time, and vehicle wear. The research detailed in this report provides an optimization-based approach to determining a striping schedule that minimizes these deadhead miles. A computer program was developed for scheduling and routing road striping operations. This report contains details on the theoretical foundations of this optimization model, along with a user’s guide that details the preparation of input data necessary to utilize this computer program and step-by-step instructions on the use of the model.
 
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Report number: cmr16-003
Published: September 2015
Project number: TR201501
Author(s): Ronald G. McGarvey, Timothy Matisziw, James Noble, Charles Nemmers, Gokhan Karakose, Marina Materikina, and Alec Page
Performing organization: Center for Excellence in Logistics and Distribution (CELDi), University of Missouri