City of Baltimore Adds FleetRoute

Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc. (GBB), Fairfax, Va., has announced that it has completed the rerouting of the residential trash collection system for the city of Baltimore using FleetRoute route optimization software.

The route optimization project, which will result in significant labor, fuel, equipment and maintenance savings, according to GBB, was provided through a contract with the Northeast Maryland Waste Disposal Authority (NMWDA). For this effort, GBB teamed with technology partner C2logix to provide the city with a combination of solid waste and IT expertise.

The city has an estimated population of 630,000 with 190,000 households serviced by the Department of Public Works (DPW) trucks and crews. Before the re-routing project, the DPW collected refuse twice a week from each residence, with approximately 63 trucks operating six days a week for a total of 214 routes. The DPW also collected recycling twice a month.

“In 2009, the GBB FleetRoute Service Bureau developed five alternative conceptual route scenarios. Each of these optimized the routes, workdays and equipment allocation and analyzed cost savings,” says Frank Bernheisel, GBB vice president. “This in-depth analysis provided the city with the necessary tools to make an informed decision regarding changes in its collection operation and will allow for significant collection cost reductions for the city while improving services to residents with a more efficient operation.”

The project included refining the geocoding of city customers on the GIS maps and geocoding and identification of customers requiring collection in alleys. In addition, the street centerline data was expanded to add alleys and travel attributes (such as speeds, one-ways, overpasses/underpasses, etc.) that were not included in the city GIS baseline. City historical service data was used for set-out weights, and field observations were conducted to update the stop-time information.

The analysis indicated that the change in the collection system could save the city about $6 million per year. The city council approved the change, selected the One Plus One scenario, and the city began the new collection program July 13, 2009.

The new program provides one trash collection and one recycling collection each week for the single family residences in Baltimore. Collections are made Tuesday through Friday. The GBB Project Team developed the routes, providing route boundary overview maps, customer sequence lists, travel path maps and travel direction reports to the city and NMWDA, which were used in the roll-out of the new collection program.

“We are confident that One PLUS One is the best strategy to meet the needs of our households and the whole of our city,” says David E. Scott, P.E., director of Public Work.

GBB is a national solid waste management consulting firm founded in 1980 that works on solid waste collection, processing, recycling and disposal issues and assists in planning, procuring, and implementing sound, cost-effective facilities and services at the local, state, and national levels for both the public and private sectors. More information is available at www.gbbinc.com.