Road Weather Management Program
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Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

Title:

Environmental Sensor Systems for Safe Traffic Operations

Abstract:

The report provides the results of a detailed investigation of environmental sensors and their applicability in highway operations. It describes the functional requirements for a weather condition detection device to be applied to the roadway infrastructure based upon current guidelines of various State and Federal agencies. The report also analyzes the results of a year-long series of field tests of visibility sensors. A group of five stationary and one mobile sensor were examined to determine the applicability of the data reported by these devices. Among the areas of focus was the accuracy of the reported visibility to the actual conditions, time to respond to visibility changes, and the robustment of the systems. The results of the test appear to indicate that these devices have definite possibilities for future deployment, particularly in conjunction with ITS technologies.

Source(s):

Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, Federal Highway Administration, FHWA-RD-95-073. For an electronic copy of this resource, please direct your request to WeatherFeedback@dot.gov.

Date: 1995

Author:

FHWA

Keywords:


Visibility
Fog
Motorist warning system
Rain
Snow
Ice/Frost
Wind
Pavement condition
Safety
Mobile sensing
Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
Traveler information
Precipitation

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