Aurora

About the research

Road weather decision support systems provide a valuable tool for transportation agencies in planning for adverse weather conditions including personnel scheduling, resource allocations, equipment and material applications, traveler information, and post-storm after-action assessments. A variety of tools exist to accomplish these goals; however, costs associated with customization can become burdensome to some agencies. It is proposed that a consistent baseline tool would provide value to all agencies and offer customization on a select basis for agencies with more unique needs. The NCAR Pikalert® Road Weather Decision Support System is a big data system that provides segment-level integration of road conditions and weather observations alongside road weather forecasts, motorists hazard advisories, and treatment recommendations. The proposed objective is to deploy a minimally viable instance of the Pikalert road weather decision support system for two key interstate corridors (Interstates 70 and 75) that cross several of the Aurora Board member agency states for a 6-month demonstration period. The tasks to accomplish this objective include: (1) Configuration of the Pikalert System which includes acquisition of the necessary input road weather data and interstate shapefiles for configuration of the system, (2) Implementation of the Pikalert System, (3) Maintenance of the Pikalert System, (4) Integration of a simple road friction model into the Pikalert System, (5) Summary system capability and performance assessment from select case studies of opportunity, and (6) Project administration and reporting.