How A Maintenance Station Location Model Effectively Maintains Infrastructure Assets

One of the fundamental questions that we have in Public Works is where to locate maintenance yards to best serve the public and maintain infrastructure assets (i.e. roads, stormwater, sewer, water, etc.). The location(s) can affect the service, cost, response time and ability to maintain assets. One way to evaluate maintenance yard locations is through the use of a Maintenance Station Location Model (MSLM).

The information generated by an MSLM can provide the framework for determining whether to add new maintenance stations or yards; or to relocate, consolidate, renovate, close, or adjust staff levels among existing yards.

This article discusses the use of a model (MSLM) to quantify maintenance travel, operations, and capital costs. The model can be used to generate justification for decisions on maintenance yard locations through properly documenting the process. This discusses the theory as well as a specific example of how this was applied in Santa Clara to determine the best location for these yards.