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Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

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Title:

Using Data to Predict Relative Road Safety and Requirements for Road Closures During Severe Winter Weather Condition

Abstract:

This paper presents a framework for a methodology to predict the relative road safety resulting from severe winter weather. Several states in the U.S. have policies that allow the state police and/or state transportation agency to close a roadway when severe weather makes it unsafe. Determining when a highway is unsafe, however, is generally a subjective decision. We present a model that relates visibility and wind speed to crash rates along a segment of interstate highway. The model provides measurable condition parameters that can be used to define when a roadway segment is unsafe, improving the ability to measure and predict when a road closure is warranted.

Source(s):

84th Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, Iowa State University. For an electronic copy of this resource, please direct your request to WeatherFeedback@dot.gov.

Date: 2005

Author:

Maze, Burchett, Hawkings

Keywords:


Crashes
Safety
Winter storm
Visibility
Wind
Mobility
Costs
Traffic control

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