City wins national municipal innovation award for its Winter Maintenance Artificial Intelligence System

MunicipalInfonet.com
May 19, 2022

The City of Vaughan, ON has received national recognition for its Winter Maintenance Artificial Intelligence System from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA).  The municipality was presented with the 2022 CAMA Willis Award for Innovation in the over 100,000-population category during a Virtual Awards of Excellence Ceremony held today.

“CAMA is pleased to recognize the City of Vaughan for their innovation when it comes to winter maintenance,” said Jack Benzaquen, CAMA president, CAMA representative for Quebec and City Manager for the City of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC. “The successful implementation of the system provides municipal administrators with a best practice in the use of smart technology from a safety, environmental sustainability and cost-effectiveness perspective for one of the most critical services a city offers.”

In 2018, Vaughan was the first city in Canada to adopt the Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) smart technology, an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to deliver on its winter maintenance service commitments in the most efficient, effective and environmentally sustainable way.

The AI tool provides more accurate weather forecasts, exact road conditions and established rules of practice to recommend maintenance treatments. This is further informed by real-time observations to drive the best treatment decisions.

MDSS is comprised of four major components that work together to deliver optimal results:

• Road Weather Information System (RWIS) data provided by a series of stations across the city that collect information on actual road conditions.
• Weather forecast provided by the City’s service provider, which takes seven different weather models and weighs them, so staff receive the most accurate prediction possible.
• Algorithms to determine road temperature and road moisture conditions.
• A combination of Vaughan’s operating rules with these components to provide appropriate treatment recommendations.

In just three winter seasons, the City has seen an overall positive impact of this initiative, including reduced salt usage per operation by 30 per cent and an annual savings of approximately $400,000.

Leveraging data-driven decision-making has allowed the City to maintain service levels at a much higher standard in comparison to other neighbouring municipalities.

The City of Vaughan’s experience over the past three years has shown demonstrated results in cost savings during the winter season and is a best practice worth duplicating in other municipalities. In fact, several municipalities across Canada have followed Vaughan’s lead, including the City of Calgary. The program has also influenced other larger organizations, such as Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation and transportation service providers like Metrolinx.

“The City of Vaughan has taken a progressive approach to winter maintenance by becoming the first municipality in Canada to adopt a smart-technology artificial intelligence tool to allocate resources better and reduce salt usage. This has positively impacted environmental and fiscal sustainability and, most importantly, enhanced the citizen experience,” said Vaughan Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua.

“I want to express my sincerest gratitude and appreciation to the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators for presenting the City of Vaughan with the Willis Award for Innovation. This recognition marks another important step forward in building upon Vaughan's position as a smart city leader and demonstrates our shared commitment to deliver service excellence and put citizens first in everything we do.”

“The CAMA Awards of Excellence recognize the achievements of local governments and their senior staff in the development and implementation of successful programs, projects or services,” said Gary Kent, Chair of the 2022 CAMA Awards, CAMA Member-At-Large for Municipalities with a Population Over 100,000, and Chief Financial Officer and Commissioner of Corporate Services for the Region of Peel, ON. “Thirty-five submissions from across the country were received for this year’s awards. Congratulations to the winners and all those who took time to enter the awards program.”

To find out more about the City of Vaughan’s award, as well as the other 2022 CAMA Awards of Excellence winners, visit www.camacam.ca/awards and look for the award recipient’s link.