Clarus Multistate Regional Demonstrations: Summary of Evaluation Results and Lessons Learned
Clarus is a national data management system that integrates road weather data from multiple agencies and shares quality-checked surface transportation weather and pavement observations. Operated as an experimental system for demonstration and evaluation purposes, Clarus has grown substantially since its inception in 2004. As of August 2011, Clarus ingests data from over 2,250 environmental sensor stations in 38 states, four Canadian provinces, and five local department of transportation (DOT) organizations. To spur the growth of applications using Clarus data, the FHWA funded a phased multistate research effort to create and demonstrate operational decision tools in a real-world setting. In addition to an overall application demonstrating the enhanced weather forecasting capabilities possible using Clarus data, four new applications, termed use cases, were developed as part of this effort. These included tools for seasonal load restrictions decision support, nonwinter maintenance and operations decision support, multistate control strategy coordination, and enhanced road weather content for traveler advisories. Proof-of-concept prototype applications were developed by two different systems integrators and deployed by the participating state DOTs during 2010–2011. These deployments were independently evaluated for their potential to improve system operations. This paper summarizes the results of the independent evaluations, providing a glimpse into the value of these applications to state DOTs. Results show that the Clarus system enables innovative applications that provide a wide array of decision support system possibilities. While each of the applications has additional research requirements and implementation challenges to overcome, they demonstrate the potential to proactively change maintenance and weather-responsive management.
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00978515
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Authors:
- Gopalakrishna, Deepak
- Cluett, Chris
- Balke, Kevin
- Pisano, Paul A
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Conference:
- International Conference on Winter Maintenance and Surface Transportation Weather
- Location: Coralville Iowa, United States
- Date: 2012-4-30 to 2012-5-3
- Publication Date: 2012-4
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Web
- Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
- Pagination: pp 238-252
- Monograph Title: Winter Maintenance and Surface Transportation Weather. International Conference on Winter Maintenance and Surface Transportation Weather, April 30–May 3, 2012, Coralville, Iowa
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Serial:
- Transportation Research Circular
- Issue Number: E-C162
- Publisher: Transportation Research Board
- ISSN: 0097-8515
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Decision support systems; Deployment; Evaluation and assessment; Maintenance management; Road weather information systems; State departments of transportation; Weather forecasting; Winter maintenance
- Identifier Terms: Clarus
- Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; I62: Winter Maintenance;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01371242
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: WM-STW12-123
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: May 25 2012 10:32AM