Proposed Test Bed for Surface Transportation Weather Technologies

One of the main challenges that face both travelers and department of transportation (DOT) personnel is surface transportation weather. Weather seriously impacts surface transportation, with rain, snow, blowing snow, etc., seriously impacting driver safety and mobility and DOT operations. Because of these impacts, numerous federal, state, academic, and private research thrusts are under way to mitigate them. These include the development of new sensor technologies to measure weather impacts on roadways better, the development of new algorithms to provide better guidance regarding surface transportation weather to improve traveler safety and mobility and to support DOT personnel decisions, and the consideration of human factors that dictate traveler utilization of information. The testing of new technologies has typically been performed at individual, focused sites. While this offers advantages such as significant control over experiments, serious disadvantages exist as well. As transportation systems have scales that are on the order of a state and even a region, there is a need to develop a regional test bed for surface transportation weather technologies. Such a regional test bed has been proposed across the region that encompasses North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. This region has the advantages of (a) encompassing all varieties of weather hazards, (b) enabling the leveraging of existing sensor networks, (c) including both rural and metropolitan travel environments, and (d) enabling the leveraging of special facilities. This paper outlines the characteristics of such a network. Opportunities, challenges, needed partnerships, and potential steps forward will be discussed.

• Record URL:
  http://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/160000.aspx
• 
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00978515
• Authors:
  • Askelson, Mark A
  • Osborne Jr, Leon F
• Conference:
  • Fourth National Conference on Surface Transportation Weather; Seventh International Symposium on Snow Removal and Ice Control Technology
  • Location: Indianapolis Indiana, United States
  • Date: 2008-6-16 to 2008-6-19
• Publication Date: 2008-6

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: pp 27-34
• Monograph Title: Surface Transportation Weather and Snow Removal and Ice Control Technology: Fourth National Conference on Surface Transportation Weather and Seventh International Symposium on Snow Removal and Ice Control Technology, June 16-19, 2008, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Circular
  • Issue Number: E-C126
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0097-8515

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Algorithms; Ground transportation; Partnerships; Regional analysis; Technological innovations; Testing; Weather
• Geographic Terms: Minnesota; North Dakota; South Dakota; Wisconsin
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01103958
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Weather08-025
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jun 30 2008 3:06PM