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ROAD WEATHER MANAGEMENT

Paul PisanoTeam Leader, Road Weather ManagementFederal Highway AdministrationWashington, DCJune 13, 2006

Contact: paul.pisano@dot.gov; 202-366-1301

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• 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

Weather and Highway Operations

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Adverse Road Weather – National Toll

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InstitutionalChange

Customer focusedPerformance basedSystems, not jurisdictionsReal-time informationProactive24/7

Technical

Advancement

Information Gathering Information Sharing System Mgmt. & Control Vehicle-based Vehicle-to-Vehicle Vehicle-to-Roadside-to- Home BasedElectronic Payment

21st Century

Operations

Transportation Operations

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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

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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

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Solutions to challenges are approached through four objectives:

1. Stakeholder Coordination2. Applied Research3. Technology Transfer, Training & Education4. Performance Management & Evaluation

FHWA Road Weather Mgmt Program

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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)

Objective 1: Stakeholder Coordination

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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

Objective 2: Applied Research

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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

Objective 3: T2, Training & Education

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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

Objective 4: Performance Management

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• Maintenance Decision Support System• The Clarus Initiative• Weather-responsive Traffic

Management• New projects

Program Highlights

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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 treatmentrecommendations on a route-by-route basis.

Maintenance Decision Support System

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Maintenance Decision Support System

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MDSS Treatment Selector

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States Involved in MDSS

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• 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

The Clarus Initiative

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Environmental Sensor Stations (ESS)

An ESS is any site with sensors measuring atmospheric conditions, pavement conditions, and/or water level conditions.

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111

70

4358

83

117

9

87 3190

44 39

5

11

33

154

15

60

86 61

63

19

169

2

82

24

40

81

71

6063

6028

6

30

4

92

63

1

3

0

Alaska74

4

15

4

Hawaii1

D.C.6

34

5

National Total2,336

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ESS in RWIS1,815

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Route Specific Radio & TV

Broadcasts of Travel Conditions

More Effective Websites

Credible & Precise Travel Advice

Add Detail to HAR & VMS

Spawn New Technologies

(PDA, cell)

Clarus

Enhanced decision making tools

In-vehicleInformation

Clarus – Unlimited Possibilities

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Clarus Roadmap

Stakeholder Coordination

System Design

FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09

Multi-State Regional

Demonstration

Final Design, Model

Deployment

Tra

ck 2

Tra

ck 3

Tra

ck 1

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• Integration of Weather into Traffic Management/Operations Center

• Empirical Studies on Weather and Traffic

• Weather Response System for Transportation

• NGSIM Traffic Simulation Models

Wx-Responsive Traffic Management

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• 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

TMC Weather Integration Study

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• 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

Empirical Studies on Wx and Traffic

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• Goal: Utilize existing weather data to support transportation operations

• Prototype Development in Missouri DOT

Weather Response System

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• 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

New Projects

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• 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.

Conclusion