The "Routine Maintenance Model" or what is now named as the "Cold Climate Model" is the outsourcing of basically all routine maintenance activities and usually included in an area based network. The main reasons for calling this the "Cold Climate Model" is due to the commonality between the northern located countries and the difficulty to include periodic maintenance activities (especially resurfacing) in one contract. The reasons why periodic maintenance is not included can be attributed to the short mild season and because the markets in the northern countries are quite small and well established. Attributes of this "Cold Climate Model" can be explained as follows.
Sometimes small capital investment projects can be included into the contract and prices are usually agreed upon or else it can be tendered as a separate contract.
Typical Activities Included in the Cold Climate Model:
• Winter Maintenance (plowing & deicing)
• Bridge cleaning & inspection
• Summer maintenance (potholes & cracks)
• Line marking
• Drainage
• Guard rail repair/replace
• Cracks, potholes
• Graffiti removal
• Cleaning
• Lighting
• Routine gravel road
• Emergency response
• Vegetation & trash
• Sometimes signs & signals
• Shoulder repair
Contract type:
• Lump Sum
• Hybrid - Lump Sum & Units Price
The duration of these contracts varies and the present trend is between 7 to 10 years. Initially these contracts began with 3 year duration, but soon it was realized that the duration was too short and shifted toward 5 years and more. Service provider selection criteria vary and are discussed further in the section titles "Contractor Selection Criteria".
The countries using this model are the Canadian Provinces of Alberta, B.C. and Ontario, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Florida DOT (FDOT), New Zealand, and Holland.