This paper presents an economic evaluation method of a snow-removing channel system in an urban area with heavy snowfall where various means of snow removal have already been prepared. In this method, the channels are divided into many parts according to land value, road width and means of snow removal, and then an area consisting of a road, a sidewalk and a private area is allocated to every part of the channels. Two kinds of benefit caused by the installation of the system are calculated : namely
B1, caused by the increase of snow free space; B2, the cost reduction in redundant snow removal means. Σ
B1 and Σ
B2, the sums for every part, give the total benefit
B (= Σ
B1+ Σ
B2) of the system and the cost-benefit ratio
B/
C, where C is the cost of the snow-removing channel system.
The evaluation method has been applied to the system in Tokamachi City. Using snowfall data of recent 20 years (1975-1994), the average value of
B/
C was 0.85 when the utility time of the system was 20 years, and 1.22 for 30years. Σ
B2 increases with increasing annual maximum snow depth, whereas Σ
B1 and
C do not vary considerably. This economic evaluation method is applicable to other cases such as the shortage of underground water for snow-melting pipes and the extension of snow-removing channel system.
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