ROAD WEATHER MANAGEMENT

1. ROAD WEATHER MANAGEMENT Paul Pisano Team Leader, Road Weather Management Federal Highway Administration Washington, DC June 13, 2006 Contact: paul.pisano@dot.gov; 202-366-1301

2. Weather and Highway Operations • Safety • Approx 1.57 million weather-related crashes/year • 7,300 fatalities; 690,000 injuries • 24% of all crashes occurred on slick pavement or under adverse weather • Mobility • About 25% of non-recurrent delays on freeways is due to weather; system delay is 1 billion hrs/yr. • Productivity • Weather-related delay adds $3.4 billion to freight costs annually • Environment • Chemical anti-icing and deicing materials effect watersheds, air quality and infrastructure

3. Adverse Road Weather – National Toll

4. Transportation Operations Institutional Change Customer focused Performance based Systems, not jurisdictions Real-time information Proactive 24/7 • Technical • Advancement • Information Gathering • Information Sharing • System Mgmt. & Control • Vehicle-based • Vehicle-to-Vehicle • Vehicle-to-Roadside-to- • Home Based • Electronic Payment 21st Century Operations

5. 21st Century OperationsUnder All Weather Conditions • FHWA is providing leadership and direction: • Institutional Change • Bridge transportation and meteorological communities • Build markets • Technical Advancement • Develop integrated solutions • Leverage resources • Developing solutions that alleviate the effects of adverse weather on the transportation system

6. SAFETEA-LU, Section 5308 • Establish a Road Weather R&D program: • Follow NRC report “Where the Weather Meets the Road” • Promote Technology Transfer • Expand Research & Development • Multi-disciplinary stakeholder input: • NOAA • NSF • AASHTO • Private sector • Non-profit orgs. • Funding: $5m/yr for 4 years

7. FHWA Road Weather Mgmt Program Solutions to challenges are approached through four objectives: • Stakeholder Coordination • Applied Research • Technology Transfer, Training & Education • Performance Management & Evaluation

8. Objective 1: Stakeholder Coordination Bring a multi-disciplinary approach to the road weather challenges, developing strong partnerships with the public & private sectors of the transportation and weather communities. • Build formal partnerships with weather industry • Funded BASC study • FHWA/NOAA Memorandum of Understanding – July, 2005 • OFCM Working Groups • AMS ITS/Surface Transportation Committee • Elevate the profile of weather within the transportation community • Established the TRB Task Force on weather • AASHTO • Strengthen international links (e.g., PIARC)

9. Objective 2: Applied Research Integrate weather advancements (e.g., high resolution surface weather modeling) with advanced transportation solutions to develop and demonstrate innovative tools and technologies. • Road weather observing systems • Clarus initiative • Decision support tools • Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) • Weather-responsive traffic management

10. Objective 3: T2, Training & Education Advance the state of the practice by raising Road Weather Management capabilities across the transportation industry. • Develop training & outreach material • NHI Course – “Principles and Tools for Road Weather Mgmt.” • ITE Professional Development CD • AASHTO Anti-icing/RWIS computer-based training • “Road Risk” DVD with The Weather Channel • Promote market-ready technologies (MDSS) • Ease access to Road Weather Management resources • Target conferences • AASHTO/FHWA Eastern Snow Expo • ITS America “Weather Alley” • AMS Annual Meeting

11. Objective 4: Performance Management Develop performance measures that can be used to evaluate and compare alternative road weather management strategies. • Identify performance measures for Road Weather Management (with NOAA) • Develop winter maintenance performance standards (NCHRP 6-17) • Develop benefit-cost analysis procedures for Road Weather Management tools • Conduct b/c analyses (e.g., MDSS) • ITS deployment studies

12. Program Highlights • Maintenance Decision Support System • The Clarus Initiative • Weather-responsive Traffic Management • New projects

13. Maintenance Decision Support System MDSS is a winter maintenance decision-support system that combines: • Advanced weather prediction • Advanced road condition prediction • Rules of practice for anti-icing and de-icing The system generates winter treatment recommendations on a route-by-route basis.

14. Maintenance Decision Support System

15. MDSS Treatment Selector

16. States Involved in MDSS

17. The Clarus Initiative • Clarus is a system that assimilates, quality checks, and disseminates the nation’s road weather observations • Initiative Objectives: • Design, develop and demonstrate these capabilities • Work with our public and private partners to develop and evaluate the value-added road weather information products that Clarus enables • Establish partnerships to move from demonstration to deployment of a nationwide network

18. Environmental Sensor Stations (ESS) An ESS is any site with sensors measuring atmospheric conditions, pavement conditions, and/or water level conditions. D.C. Alaska Hawaii 6 74 1 83 4 5 5 60 19 154 58 11 43 60 15 40 63 28 33 9 90 82 86 70 61 169 31 87 60 117 4 6 63 44 111 15 63 39 34 81 16 2 4 1 24 0 6 National Total 2,336 92 71 3 30 ESS in RWIS 1,815

19. Add Detail to HAR & VMS Credible & Precise Travel Advice Route Specific Radio & TV Broadcasts of Travel Conditions More Effective Websites Enhanced decision making tools Clarus – Unlimited Possibilities Spawn New Technologies (PDA, cell) Clarus In-vehicle Information

20. FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 Stakeholder Coordination Track 1 System Design Track 2 Multi-State Regional Demonstration Final Design, Model Deployment Track 3 Clarus Roadmap

21. Wx-Responsive Traffic Management • Integration of Weather into Traffic Management/Operations Center • Empirical Studies on Weather and Traffic • Weather Response System for Transportation • NGSIM Traffic Simulation Models

22. TMC Weather Integration Study • Five levels of integration were analyzed • Operational, physical, technical, procedural, institutional • 9 TMC’s/TOC’s were evaluated • Summary of Practices • Most centers respond to traffic, not weather • Info from Weather Channel and ESS • Weather info used mainly for advisory purposes • MD and UT centers highly integrated • Final Report includes several recommendations

23. Empirical Studies on Wx and Traffic • Goal: To understand relationship between weather and traffic flow • Completed review of existing data and studies • Impact of rain and snow moderately studied • Little research on visibility, wind and other events • Mostly macroscopic analysis • Conducting Data Collection and Analysis • Investigate regional differences, variable facilities • Transition from free flow to congested flow • Visibility impacts • Future steps: • Human factors data collection and analysis • Incorporate new knowledge in existing models

24. Weather Response System • Goal: Utilize existing weather data to support transportation operations • Prototype Development in Missouri DOT

25. New Projects • Implementation and evaluation of the ESS Siting Guidelines • Develop a Needs Assessment Guide for integrating weather in TMC operations • Develop performance metrics for Road Weather Management • MDSS Cost-Benefit Analysis (w/S. Dakota) • Defining requirements for other types of weather-related decision making

26. Conclusion • We are in the midst of a culture change in surface transportation weather and operations • Creating demand for integrated solutions • Leveraging public sector resources to build markets and improve private sector services • Engaging stakeholders and building partnerships • Developing and applying the right tools and technologies will help transportation agencies make the right decisions.