EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Nearly a decade ago, the Federal Highway Administration's Road Weather Management Program (RWMP) established a set of performance measures and began collecting data in order to assess progress toward meeting each of their major program goals under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). Over the years, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) RWMP has been actively involved in various programs, projects, and activities to help state and local agencies improve the performance of the transportation system during adverse weather conditions. Assessments of the program's performance were completed in 2009 and 2012, and the program has continued to evolve over time, informed by past performance and influenced by emerging trends and technology. The RWMP continues to conduct a periodic review of its performance indicators to ensure that the performance measures reflect the changes in program objectives as well as the broader policy context. The 2015 Road Weather Management Performance Measures Report is the next iteration of this periodic review of the RWMP's performance and an update to the 2012 report.

ES 1. Updated Performance Measures

Ideally, maintaining consistency in the types of performance measures allows for more complete, long-term assessments of a program. This 2015 update identified necessary changes to address gaps in performance measurement due to current program objectives and activities and recent advances in capability and technology for road weather management. The gaps that were identified in the previous performance measurement framework include:

Extent of use and adoption of mobile data-based applications.
Climate change/extreme weather/resilience.
Section 1201 rule compliance.
Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS) transition.
Expanding partnerships.
Mainstreaming of road weather management programs.
Performance measurement/continuous improvement of road weather management programs.

As a result, seven new performance measures were added in the 2015 performance measure update. The final list of performance measures are shown in Table ES-1 below and are organized by Objective. New measures are highlighted in bold within the table.

Table ES-1. Road Weather Management Program Performance Measures for 2015.
Objective 1: Build and sustain relationships with multi-disciplinary partners to expand road weather management deployments
PM #1: Number of agencies participating in road weather R&D projects
PM #2: Number of agencies participating in, and benefiting from, road weather management stakeholder meetings/workshops
Objective 2: Ensure road weather management investments improve highway performance
PM #3: Number of agencies that collect and report road weather-related performance measures to the public (i.e. winter severity index, mobility index, etc.)
PM #4: Number of agencies that have a process for evaluating the return on investment or net benefit of their road weather management investments
PM #5: Reductions in agency costs of weather-related maintenance and operations activities
PM #6: Reduction in number and types of fatalities and crashes attributed to adverse weather nationally
PM #7: Reduction in the extent of capacity losses and delays due to fog, snow, and ice events including freight
PM #8: Increase in travel time reliability or decrease in variability due to road weather management strategies during adverse weather scenarios
PM #9: Reduction in the number of tons of salt or chemical usage in the U.S. normalized by Winter Severity Index
Objective 3: (Advance) Transportation, weather, and research communities' use of and reliance on fixed and mobile road weather observations
PM #10: Number of State departments of transportation (DOTs) that are participants in the MADIS program
PM #11: Number of State DOTs that subscribe to road weather products and services
PM #12: Number of State DOTs collecting mobile observations of road weather data from appropriate vehicle fleets
PM #13: Number of State DOTs reporting the use of ESS in operations and maintenance activities
Objective 4: Advance the state-of-the-art for mobile sensing and integrating vehicle data into road weather applications
PM #14: Number of/percentage of responding agencies using mobile data-based applications in road weather management
Objective 5: Advance the state-of-the-practice by promoting tailored management strategies for different regions
PM #15: Number of States disseminating weather advisory and other road weather information to travelers
PM #16: Number of agencies using control and treatment strategies during weather events
PM #17: Number of agencies that have participated in or conducted RWM capability maturity assessment exercises
PM #18: Number of agencies that coordinate with their local forecast offices for road weather management and operations

DOT – department of transportation · ESS – environmental sensor station · MADIS – Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System · MDSS – maintenance decision support systems · PM – performance measure · R&D – research and development · ROI – return on investment · RWM – road weather management · RWMP – road weather management program

ES.2 Road Weather Management Program Performance and Results

Objective 1: Build and sustain relationships with multi-disciplinary partners to expand Road Weather Management deployments. Partnerships with State departments of transportation (DOTs) and local agencies are critical to implementing the RWMP's research agenda for road weather management. The RWMP encourages transportation agencies to participate in demonstrations and pilot projects for a number of innovative road weather research areas, including fostering cross-entity collaboration to coordinate road weather messaging for travelers; developing a nationwide network of environmental sensor stations (ESS) to provide web-based accessibility to real-time data for atmospheric and pavement observations; and advancing the use of vehicle sensor technology to collect data about atmospheric and pavement conditions. This objective includes two performance measures that assess the breadth and depth of RWMP's stakeholder engagement, shown in Table ES- 2.

Table ES-2. Summary of Objective #1 Performance Measures.
PM #1: Number of agencies participating in road weather Research and Development R&D projects	Four (4) State DOTs are currently participating in the Pathfinder Project. Seven (7) public agencies have participated in the development and use of the RWMP Capability Maturity Framework. Three (3) State DOTs have participated in the IMO program. Seven (7) State DOTs have been involved in V2I implementation activities. Twenty-four (24) State DOTs have participated in weather data environment research activities. including transitioning to MADIS from Clarus. Five (5) State DOTs have been involved in WRTM implementation support activities.
PM #2: Number of agencies participating in, and benefiting from, road weather management stakeholder meetings/workshops	The number of State DOTs attending the annual RWMP meetings has decreased with more than a 50 percent reduction over two years (2012 to 2014). However, the overall attendance in Stakeholder workshops is increasing with a greater proportion of private sector attendees. Majority of participants expressed that the meetings and workshops met or exceeded their expectations and provided information that is useful and relevant to their duties.

DOT – department of transportation · IMO – integrated mobile observations · PM – performance measure · R&D – research and development · RWMP – road weather management program · V2I – vehicle to infrastructure · WRTM – weather responsive traffic management

Objective 2: Ensure road weather management investments improve highway performance. Through implementation of various activities, products, and services supported by the RWMP and growing capabilities at State and local agencies, meaningful improvements in highway performance are expected nationally during adverse weather conditions. The six measures shown in Table ES- 3 are used to monitor progress and performance to identify how program activities are contributing to overall performance of the highway system.

Table ES-3. Summary of Objective #2 Performance Measures
PM #3: Number of agencies that collect and report road weather-related performance measures to the public	Among the State DOTs surveyed, 23 DOTs reported regularly collecting and reporting some form of road weather performance measures. Eight States reported they did not collect and report road weather performance measures, and eight respondents were uncertain.
PM #4: Number of agencies that have a process for evaluating the return on investment or net benefit of their road weather management investments	The majority of States reported that they did not have a process or were not sure regarding evaluating ROI or the net benefits of road weather management investments. Out of the respondents, five agencies do have a process in place.
PM #5: Reductions in agency costs of winter weather-related maintenance and operations activities	Since the publication of the 2012 report, limited evaluation reports have been published documenting savings, but published case studies continued to show that winter maintenance costs decreased as the use of weather information increased or its accuracy improved. Michigan DOT's benefit-cost calculations for deployment of RWIS and Maintenance Tracking using GPS were positive. Idaho DOT's use of RWIS to monitor winter maintenance response has demonstrated significant reductions in winter maintenance costs.
PM #6: Reduction in number and types of fatalities and crashes attributed to adverse weather nationally	Although the national level data had been showing a decreasing trend of the number of fatal crashes occurring during inclement weather, 2013 shows a slight increase. Practices such as variable speed management systems, ice warning systems, and automated anti-icing spray systems have demonstrated significant benefits. For example, in Colorado, implementation of a variable speed management system consisting of a complete RWIS, resulted in zero winter related crashes in one section of highway in Snowmass Canyon.
PM #7: Reduction in the extent of capacity losses and delays due to fog, snow, and ice events including freight	Although limited evaluations have been found beyond those reported in 2012, systems have been implemented which demonstrated benefits on traffic flow. One example came from Utah, which implemented a weather responsive signal control system. During severe winter weather events, travel times were improved by 3 percent and reduced overall stopped times by 14.5 percent.
PM #8: Increase in travel time reliability or decrease in variability due to road weather management strategies during adverse weather scenarios	No new reliability-related studies for weather were found since 2012. Very few agencies track reliability measures, and even the ones that do, do not distinguish between the various causes of reliability.
PM #9: Reduction in the number of tons of salt or chemical usage in the U.S. normalized by Winter Severity Index	The use of a WSI has continued to gain recognition as a way to gauge the relative severity of winter weather across various time frames or geographic regions. Idaho DOT has reported a significant reduction in winter maintenance costs due to the use of a winter mobility index.

DOT – department of transportation · GPS – global position system · PM – performance measure · R&D – research and development · ROI – return on investment · RWIS – road weather information systems · WSI – winter severity index

Objective 3: Transportation, weather, and research communities use and rely upon fixed and mobile road weather observations. The transition from Clarus to MADIS signals momentum towards the creation of a national operational system of real-time (or near real-time) and archived observational road weather data. Ultimately, MADIS will offer a robust set of quality data that will be available to support traffic management, inform maintenance decision-making and performance measurement, and provide information on current conditions to the traveling public. The performance measures under Objective 3 capture progress towards continued growth in the use of fixed and mobile road weather observations by State DOTs, as shown in Table ES-4. Additionally, this objective not only examines the availability of data, but also the subscription rates and use of observational data at State DOTs – which gauge the impact of the availability of data on strategic and tactical decision-making for weather-related maintenance and traffic operations.

Table ES-4. Summary of Objective #3 Performance Measures.
PM #10: Number of State departments of transportation that are participants in the Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System program	Twelve (12) States have participated in the MADIS program as of April 2015.
PM #11: Number of State departments of transportation that subscribe to road weather products and services	Results show that subscription to National Weather Service Products held steady since 2013. There has been a slight increase in the use of agency sensors (automated surface observing system [RWIS] probes), and a slight decrease in use of Private Weather Service Providers, agency field personnel, and Federal Aviation Administration (automated surface observing system [ASOS], automated weather observing system [AWOS]) products. There was decline in the use of National Sensor Data sources (i.e., MADIS or previously Clarus), likely attributed to the recent transition from Clarus to MADIS and probably a temporary decline as full transition between MADIS and Clarus occurs.
PM #12: Number of State departments of transportation collecting mobile observations of road weather data from appropriate vehicle fleets	Overall, 50 percent of States surveyed collect real-time field data from maintenance vehicles. Results of the survey show that collecting data fleet-wide is starting to become a practice; as many as three DOTs reported using 100 percent of the fleet to collect data, compared to zero in 2013.
PM #13: Number of State departments of transportation reporting the use of environmental sensor station in operations and maintenance activities	In the State DOT survey, the respondents reported a total of 2,473 ESS, which is a slight decrease from the previous update. Ninety-five percent of State DOTs reported using ESS data for decision-making. Majority of agencies also use ESS data to provide current conditions to traveler information systems (61 percent) and input for segment-level forecasts (58 percent).

ASOS – automated surface observing system · AWOS – automated weather observing system · DOT – department of transportation · ESS – environmental sensor station · MADIS – Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System · PM – performance measure · RWIS – road weather information systems

Objective 4: Advance the state of the art for mobile sensing and integrating vehicle data into road weather applications. Translating mobile and fixed observations to meaningful applications to solve problems for road weather management is the goal for this objective. Building from the growing number of States collecting mobile data, activities under this objective are geared towards showcasing applications that demonstrate the added value of mobile sensing in road weather management. However, very few States reported having applications that leverage mobile data to date but this is an area of growing interest and capability. The performance measure shown in Table ES- 5 tracks progress for this objective.

Table ES-5. Summary of Objective #4 Performance Measure.
PM #14: Number of/percentage of responding agencies using mobile data-based applications in road weather management	Fifty-eight (58) percent of States are considering developing applications to take advantage of data collected from mobile platforms like equipped vehicles.

PM – performance measure

Objective 5: Advance the state of the practice by promoting tailored management strategies for different regions. There is not a universal approach to developing and implementing strategies to address winter weather. On the contrary, there are a wide range of potential methods and strategies that can be tailored to address the unique local conditions (pavement conditions, etc.). The RWMP encourages State DOTs to create a customized approach to road weather management that accounts for the local context (e.g., road conditions, forecasts, etc.). The activities under Objective 5 assess the variability of management strategies and methods used by State DOTs in order to consider local conditions. Four performance measures are used to document progress for this objective, as shown in Table ES- 6.

Table ES-6. Summary of Objective #5 Performance Measures
PM #15: Number of States disseminating weather advisory and other road weather information to travelers	After significant increases between 2004 and 2007, the use of websites/social media and dynamic message sign (DMS) steadied around the same level in 2015. There was a significant increase in the use of 511 to disseminate information to travelers, while the use of Highway Advisory Radio (HAR) decreased. Overall, providing road condition information on DMS is more prevalent, followed by agency hosted social media and other mobile applications. Road condition information on DMS and HAR are the most widely deployed.
PM #16: Number of agencies using control and treatment strategies during weather events	The most widely deployed strategy, either partially or statewide, is employing traffic incident management practices (83 percent). The least commonly used strategy is ramp meter adjustment (20 percent).
PM #17: Number of agencies that have participated in or conducted road weather management capability maturity assessment exercises	The framework was recently developed in 2014. While participation in these exercises is currently low, the RWMP anticipates that capability maturity exercises will increase and intends to track the participation levels in the coming years.
PM #18: Number of agencies that coordinate with their local forecast offices for road weather management and operations	Seventy-five (75) percent of respondents reported at least some coordination with the National Weather Service (NWS) local forecast office. Nearly 8 percent of DOTs reported using publicly available information provided by the media and NWS, despite not having direct coordination.

DMS – dynamic message sign · DOT – department of transportation · HAR – Highway Advisory Radio · NWS – National Weather Service · PM – performance measure · RWM – road weather management · RWMP – road weather management program

Objective 6: Weather-related decision support technologies are integrated into traffic operations and maintenance procedures. The implementation of weather-related decision support technologies help State DOTs deploy a more sophisticated approach to traffic operations and maintenance by factoring in the impact of adverse weather conditions. The activities under Objective 6, shown in Table ES- 7, examine the various ways in which weather-related decision support technologies can be integrated into agency decision-making.

Table ES-7. Summary of Objective # 6 Performance Measures.
PM #19: Number of agencies adopting maintenance decision support systems technologies and methods	The percentage of State DOTs with statewide MDSS deployment has remained constant, and partial MDSS use has decreased. Perhaps more significant is that the number of State DOTs expressing a need for MDSS increased, with a corresponding decrease in those agencies reporting no need for a system.
PM #20: Number of agencies using other weather-related decision-support tools	Respondents indicate an overall decrease in the use of weather-related decision support tools for road weather management, and a few states (12.5 percent) reported not using any tools. Providing traveler information remains the most used tool, followed by coordination with other agencies, support of non-winter maintenance, traffic control and management, and seasonal load restrictions.
PM #21: Number of agencies reporting use of appropriate analysis tools to factor weather impacts and strategies	Fifty (50) percent of the respondents either did not use or were not aware of whether their agency used weather-responsive analysis tools and models, while still low is less than the previous update.

DOT – department of transportation · MDSS – maintenance decision support systems · PM – performance measure

Objective 7: Advance the state of the practice by raising road weather capabilities and awareness across the transportation and weather communities. Professional development is critical to advancing the RWM state of the practice. To this end, the 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. Objective 7 assesses the effectiveness of RWMP's continuing efforts to support professional development of RWM practitioners, as shown in Table ES-8.

Table ES-8. Summary of Objective #7 Performance Measures.
PM #22: Number of agencies and attendees who have taken any of the training courses and workshops sponsored by the Road Weather Management Program	Thirteen training courses and workshops were held for transportation practitioners – eight were offered by RWMP, and five by Consortium for ITS Training and Education (CITE). A total of 267 attendees participated in these training courses. 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 Program	Three RWMP webinars have been held in 2014-2015. Three hundred eighty-two (382) people have participated in the RWMP webinars.
PM #24: Number of meetings, site visits, or venues where road weather management presentations/briefings were made	In the 2013-2014 timeframe, RWMP was represented by program staff or support contractors in nearly 60 meetings. 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 RWMP website	Limited website statistics indicate increases in RWMP website use from previous update.

CITE – Consortium for ITS Training and Education · DOT – department of transportation · PM – performance measure · RWMP – road weather management program

Objective 8: Operations community is engaged with climate change & sustainability communities. As climate changes, extreme weather and sustainability become more of a concern to State DOTs. The RWMP continues to highlight the important role that transportation systems management and operations have in ensuring that current and future program effectiveness is maintained. In many ways, activities in this objective are geared towards mitigating the economic, environmental, and social risks of changes occurring to the transportation system. The two measures in Table ES- 9 provide an assessment of how State DOTs are viewing sustainability, climate change, and extreme weather.

Table ES-9. Summary of Objective #8 Performance Measures.
PM #26: Number of public agencies meeting sustainability criteria related to road weather management	DOTs reported progress towards developing and implementing sustainability criteria related to road weather management as identified by Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool (INVEST). An overwhelming majority (95 percent) of State DOTs are pursuing some sort of sustainability effort related to road weather management. The most common sustainability activity among State DOTs is having a documented standard of practice (SOP) for snow and ice control. The least common is having a dedicated road weather management program.
PM #27: Number of agencies conducting vulnerability/risk assessments, developing/implementing resiliency plans or adaptation plans, for their road weather management infrastructure and processes to respond to climate change and extreme weather	The results support this is an emerging area of practice. Thirty-six (36) percent expressed being uncertain about their State's activities related to climate change and extreme weather. Thirty-one (31) percent reported having developed/implemented process for responding to extreme weather.

DOT – department of transportation · INVEST – Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool · PM – performance measure · SOP – standard of practice

Conclusions

The RWMP established a set of performance measures beginning in 2006 and began collecting data in order to assess progress toward meeting each of their major program goals under SAFETEA-LU. Performance measures have been quantified in 2010 and 2012. This report documents a comprehensive review of the existing measures and identifies new measures intended to fill gaps created by recent adjustments to the program in light of new legislation, emerging initiatives, and refinement of program goals and activities. The result is an updated performance assessment document tracking continued progress in meeting each of the RWMP objectives focused on activities occurring in the 2012-2015 timeframe.

This most recent assessment of progress across the country in meeting the RWMP objectives shows continuing adoption of advanced technologies, decision support tools, and more effective use of advanced road weather management strategies. The update received responses from 40 State DOTs which is a significant increase from the previous update of 28 State responses highlighting the primacy of road weather among State DOT operational concerns. The update includes a number of challenges also encountered in the previous update of the measures, a number of which could not be overcome with the available data. These included:

Assessing the impacts and benefits of partnerships, collaboration and training, such as increased awareness, knowledge, use and skills with regard to RWMP content (tools, research, etc.).
The availability of mobile road weather data is increasing, but current availability and use are limited. As mobile data becomes more prominent, it will be important to employ measures of both the increased use of these data and assessment of their unique benefits over fixed data.

Recommendations

Based on the results of the performance measurements, the following recommendations are offered to the RWM Program:

Catalog best practices in State DOT performance measurement and disseminate performance reports reported by State DOTs.
Continue developing methodologies and case studies related to benefit-cost analysis for road weather management.
Improve tracking of participation and long-term outcomes of training, meetings, and workshops.
Cultivate a knowledge and technology transfer effort to increase awareness of RWMP tools and resources.
Develop program area focus around resilience and risk.
Maintain State DOTs engagement around analysis, modeling, and simulation tools.
Support stakeholder interest in mobile data and connected vehicle applications.

Going forward, the RWMP, in collaboration with related FHWA, State, and Pooled Fund programs, can use the results of these assessments to further encourage all State DOTs and transportation agencies to proactively bring weather information, tools, and resources into their operations, especially those States and agencies that have held back due to concerns with costs and risks.

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