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Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

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Title:

A Comprehensive Approach to Decision Making in Winter Maintenance

Abstract:

The effectiveness of winter maintenance activities is critically dependent upon the quality of information upon which decisions are based, and how well that information impacts the decision making process. In this paper, we illustrate various tools that will aid winter maintenance personnel in making better decisions based on the information that is available to them. The tools considered include data mining techniques, neural networks, and expert system software. However, the decisions made are discrete. In an area where input variables change over time, continuous decision-making ensures more accuracy. Fuzzy logic is one such approach that will aid in the shift from a discrete to continuous decision-making process, and the paper discusses potential use of fuzzy logic to further improve winter maintenance decision making.

Source(s):

83rd Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, University of Iowa. For an electronic copy of this resource, please direct your request to WeatherFeedback@dot.gov.

Date: 2004

Author:

Kochumman, Nixon

Keywords:


Anti-icing/deicing
Snow
Ice/Frost
Winter maintenance
Winter storm
Road weather information system (RWIS)
Forecast/Prediction
Precipitation

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