# Presentation: 069627

## Weather Information for Surface Transportation:  AASHTO Activities

- June 13, 2006 WIST Workshop
- Presented by
- Leland D. Smithson
- AASHTO SICOP Coordinator
- leland.smithson@dot.iowa.gov

## AASHTO’s Relationship to WIST

- AASHTO’s Vision
- AASHTO is the voice for transportation & catalyst for organizational & technical excellence
- AASHTO’s Mission
- AASHTO advocates transportation-related policies & provides technical services to support states in their efforts to efficiently & safely move people & goods

## AASHTO’s Relationship to WIST 

- AASHTO’s Goals & Objectives
- Goal 1 Re-establish transportation as a national priority
- Objective 1D  Establish safety as a national priority
- Goal 2 Advocate & communicate to achieve AASHTO’s goals
- Objective 2A Create strategic partnerships
- Objective 2B Develop & communicate the AASHTO Action Agenda to policy makers, partners, stakeholders, and the public

## AASHTO’s Relationship to WIST

- AASHTO’s Goals & Objectives (cont’d)
- Goal 3 Provide world class technical services
- Objective 3A Identify, communicate, and facilitate use of emerging research, technologies, materials, processes & programs
- Objective 3D Expand training opportunities & the array of offerings
- Goal 4 Assist State DOTs with leadership & performance
- Objective 4A Identify & advance 21st century leadership  & management techniques

## Activities Prior to SAFETEA-LU

- Participated in 1999 & 2000 WIST Symposiums
- Participated in the development of the National ITS Architecture
- Participated on the Committee on Weather Research for Surface Transportation: The Roadway Environment to develop the BASC report, “Where the Weather Meets the Road”
- Participated in the AMS Policy Forum, “Highways and Weather”
- Participated in the 2004 AMS/National Academies Congressional Briefing

## Congressional Briefing Focus

- AASHTO supported a road weather R&D program that addresses:
- a robust, integrated observational network and data management system specifically designed to meet the need for enhanced road weather research and operational capabilities;
- a coordinated research effort to increase understanding of road weather phenomena and options for increasing safety, mobility, and efficiency of the nation’s roadways during all types of weather;

## Congressional Briefing (cont’d)

- improved modeling capabilities and forecast tools designed to provide relevant, useful information to those who build, maintain, and use the nation’s roadways;
- multiple mechanisms for communicating road weather information to varied users in ways that support better informed decision making;
- an infostructure that takes advantage of new technologies to monitor and predict road weather conditions and then effectively convey road weather information to end users-both road users and road managers.

## AASHTO’s Winter Maintenance Technical Service Program

- WMTSP (1994) Mission is to ensure that requisite testing & evaluation of potentially implementable international or domestic winter maintenance technologies are performed & that the results of these efforts are presented & disseminated in such a manner that modern winter maintenance technologies are easily understood & integrated into individual state & municipal operational programs.

## AASHTO’s WMTSP (cont’d)

- SICOP is the _S_now and _I_ce Pooled Fund _C_ooperative _P_rogram that supports the WMTSP projects.
- Major accomplishments
- Published Snow & Ice Control Guide in 1999
- Developed AI/RWIS CBT
- Regular participation in winter maintenance research conducted by TRB

## AASHTO Participation in R & D

- Aurora (1996)  is a consortium of public agencies focused on collaborative research, evaluation, & deployment of advanced technologies for detailed road weather monitoring & forecasting.  Aurora seeks to implement advanced road weather information systems (RWIS) that fully integrate state-of-the-art roadway & weather forecasting technologies with coordinated, multi-agency weather monitoring infrastructure.

## AASHTO Participation in R & D

- Aurora RWIS R & D Program (19 projects completed)
- RWIS Communication Standards
- RWIS Data Integration & Sharing Guidelines
- Standardized Testing Methodologies for Pavement Sensors
- Standardized Weather & Road Condition Information Presentation
- Integration of Road Weather Information with Traffic Data

## AASHTO Participation in R & D

- Aurora RWIS R & D Program (26 ongoing)
- Benchmarking the Performance of RWIS Forecasts
- Development of an RWIS Quality Assurance Monitoring System
- Pilot Test of ESS Sensor Testing Guidelines
- Promoting Development of Road Weather ESS Observation Systems
- Support of Clarus Initiative
- Support of MDSS Pooled Fund Study

## AASHTO’s Participation In R & D

- Clear Roads (2004) is a pooled fund research program aimed at rigorous testing of winter maintenance materials, equipment and methods for use by highway maintenance crews.
- Research launched in 2005
- Testing accuracy of ground-speed-control spreaders
- Synthesizing best practices for eliminating fogging & icing on winter maintenance vehicles

## Web Site & Contact Information

- SICOP website _[www.sicop.net](http://www.sicop.net/)_
- Aurora website _[www.aurora-program.org](http://www.aurora-program.org/)_
- Clear Roads website _[www.clearroads.org](http://www.clearroads.org/)_
- National ITS Architecture website _[www.its.dot.gov/arch/index.htm](http://www.its.dot.gov/arch/index.htm)_
- Leland Smithson, AASHTO SICOP Coordinator, phone 515-239-1519