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CHAPTER 10. OBJECTIVE 7: ADVANCE THE STATE OF THE PRACTICE BY RAISING ROAD WEATHER CAPABILITIES AND AWARENESS ACROSS THE TRANSPORTATION AND WEATHER COMMUNITIESProfessional development is critical to advancing the road weather management (RWM) state of the practice. To this end, the Road Weather Management Program (RWMP) provides resources to enhance the capabilities of both new and seasoned RWM practitioners. These activities include training courses and workshops, webinars to raise awareness of new research and resources, and the information and resources available on the RWMP website. The performance measures (PM) of objective 7 assess the effectiveness of RWMP's continuing efforts to support professional development of RWM practitioners. PM #22: Number of agencies and attendees who have taken any of the training courses and workshops sponsored by the road weather management programTraining is a key approach to increasing knowledge and capabilities of the transportation community and supporting effective deployment of advanced road weather management strategies. RWMP offers several training and workshops on road weather management topics – both through agency-hosted events and partnerships with other transportation and weather agencies, including the Consortium for ITS Training and Education (CITE). This performance measure shows the number of agencies and total number of attendees who have taken training courses or workshops sponsored by RWMP or offered in partnership with CITE. To a degree, this measures the usefulness and relevance of the course offerings to practitioners. Table 18 provides a list of the RWMP-sponsored training, and Table 19 includes a list of CITE-sponsored training.
BCA – benefit/cost analysis
DOT – department of transportation FHWA – Federal Highway Administration ITS – intelligent transportation systems RWIS – road weather information systems RWMP – road weather management program
DOT – department of transportation
FHWA – Federal Highway Administration RWIS – road weather information systems Between July 2013 and May 2015, there were 13 training courses and workshops held for transportation practitioners – eight were offered by RWMP, and five by CITE. A total of 267 attendees participated in this training. Participants included staff from State DOTs, local agencies, private consultants, and federal agencies. PM #23: Number of agencies and participants in road weather management webinars led by the road weather management programThe RWMP has increasingly used webinars as an outreach tool to promote research results and raise awareness about the availability of guidance documents. In recent years, RWMP-led webinars have been hosted primarily by the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Professional Capacity Building Program (PCB) that targets a diverse stakeholder audience. All PCB webinars are available free-of-charge, and the recordings are archived online.(36) This performance measure shows the number and affiliation of RWMP webinar participants, as shown in Table 20.
BCA – benefit/cost analysis
WRTM – weather responsive traffic management PM #24: Number of meetings, site visits, or venues where road weather management presentations/briefings were madeIn addition to sponsoring events, RWMP representatives (staff and contractors) also provide presentations, briefings, and demonstrations at various meetings, site visits, or venues – extending the program's reach beyond its own activities. This performance measure shows the number of presentations on road weather management topics given by RWMP staff and contractors at non-RWMP-sponsored events. This measure indicates the broader presence that RWMP holds in the transportation and weather community. In the 2013-2014 timeframe, RWMP was represented by program staff or support contractors in the following meetings:
In almost all of these meetings, program staff provided a presentation or an update on the program. The exact number of attendees at each presentation is unknown. As seen in previous iterations, the breadth of meetings that feature RWMP presentations, as well as consistent participation (i.e., multiple-year attendance) continues. PM #25: Number of hits/visits to road weather management program websiteThe RWMP website is the primary source of information on the program and serves as an online repository for road weather management resources.(37) This performance measure captures the number of website hits, page views, and unique visitors to the RWMP website. Due to data archiving policies, limited data are available for the RWMP program website. Table 21 compares website hits, page views, and visitors for two consecutive months (June and July) in 2012 and 2015. The data indicate an increase in RWMP website usage since 2012. Website hits more than doubled both months, and the website also experienced increases in unique page views and number of visitors.
Furthermore, in 2013, a survey of attendees at the Road Weather Management Stakeholder Meeting indicated that the website was the most commonly used RWMP resource, which supports a high degree of awareness and use of the RWMP website. SummaryThrough webinars, workshops, meetings, and the program website, RWMP continues to make available various research products, best practices, and guidance to its stakeholders. As the program expands its knowledge and technology transfer efforts, greater coordination between the various activities under this objective can be achieved. 36 USDOT, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, ITS-JPO, "ITS Professional Capacity Building Program – Advancing ITS Education." Available at: https://www.pcb.its.dot.gov/t3_webinars.aspx. [ Return to note 36. ] 37 USDOT FHWA Office of Operations Road Weather Management Program. Available at: http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/weather/. [ Return to note 37. ] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration |
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