TECHNICAL BRIEF #3
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Application | Description |
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Enhanced Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) | Road weather data collected through connected vehicle technologies from snow plows, other agency fleet vehicles, and other vehicles operated by the general public provide input data to Enhanced-MDSS, resulting in improved maintenance operations and increased safety. |
Information for Maintenance and Fleet Management Systems | Road-weather connected vehicle data are key inputs to Maintenance and Fleet Management Systems and can, in turn, be passed on to an Enhanced-MDSS to refine the recommended winter weather response plans and treatment strategies. |
Variable Speed Limits for Weather Responsive Traffic Management | Road-weather connected vehicle data can be used to inform Variable Speed Limits systems to provide real-time information on appropriate speeds for current conditions and warn drivers of coming road conditions; this application envisioned in particular work zones during a adverse driving conditions. |
Motorist Advisories and Warnings | Road-weather connected vehicle data will provide advanced warning on deteriorating road and weather conditions on specific roadway segments to travelers pre-trip and en-route. |
Information for Freight Carriers | Road-weather connected vehicle data will provide information on deteriorating road and weather conditions on specific roadway segments to both truck drivers and their dispatchers. This information can be used to improve scheduling decisions and parking availability and delivery schedules. |
Information and Routing Support for Emergency Responders | Road-weather connected vehicle data will provide emergency responders, including ambulance operators, paramedics, and fire and rescue company road-weather alerts and warnings. Road-weather conditions, especially road or lane closures due to snow, flooding, and windblown debris, for specific roadway segments will be used to determine response routes, calculate response times, and inform decision to hand-off emergency calls from one responder to another in a different location. |
Weather Responsive Signal Timing | Road-weather connected vehicle data is used by signals to optimize timing for safety and mobility during adverse weather conditions. |
To demonstrate the use of BCA for evaluating RW-CV applications, FHWA conducted hypothetical case studies for five of the strategies listed in Table 1, which include:
By evaluating these strategies in a hypothetical State, the case studies provide guidance and examples on how to measure the costs and benefits of RW-CV applications, what information or data are needed to perform a BCA, and how the Tool for Operations Benefit Cost Analysis (TOPS-BC) can be used to conduct the evaluation. The RW-CV BCA report described earlier provides information on what cost and benefit items are associated with the various applications and should be included in the BCA. Those items were used in the hypothetical case studies.
In order to provide detailed guidance on BCAs for RW-CV applications, one of the case studies is presented here, including the required benefit and cost data. The RW-CV BCA case study selected is Motorist Advisories and Warnings, which can use road weather data from connected vehicles to determine existing or impending hazardous travel conditions and develop warnings and advisories that can be provided to motorists and the public at large. With this information, roadway users will be fully informed about adverse weather conditions along their route and can react in time, either by not making the trip, changing their travel plans, or adjusting their driving behavior.
For this hypothetical case study, TOPS-BC Connected Vehicle Beta Version was used to evaluate the RW-CV strategy.
The development and implementation of RW-CV Motorist Advisories and Warnings involves several basic infrastructure cost items that need to be included when conducting a BCA. The following cost items are associated with this CV application:
Table 2 shows these cost items in the TOPS-BC spreadsheet. In addition to these basic infrastructure costs listed, Table 2 also shows the costs of public education and outreach activities associated with this strategy. The average annual cost calculated for this strategy was $2.21 million.
Equipment | Useful Life | Capital / Replacement Costs (Total) | O&M Costs (Annually) | Annualized Costs | Quantity | Count | Unit Costs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic Infrastructure Equipment and Costs | |||||||
Urban Freeway RSE w/ wireline | 25 | $230,400 | $5,760 | $14,976 | 24 | 1 per Mile | $9,600 |
Urban Freeway RSE wireless | 25 | $1,948,800 | $48,720 | $126,672 | 96 | 1 per Mile | $20,300 |
Urban Signal RSE w/ wireline | 25 | $2,331,600 | $58,290 | $151,554 | 201 | 2/3 of signals | $11,600 |
Urban Signal RSE wireless | 25 | $17,951,500 | $448,788 | $1,166,848 | 805 | 2/3 of signals | $22,300 |
Rural Interstate w/ powergrid connection | 25 | $7,647,300 | $191,183 | $497,075 | 261 | 1 per 2 Miles | $29,300 |
Rural Interstate w/o powergrid connection | 25 | $2,411,500 | $60,288 | $156,748 | 65 | 1 per 2 Miles | $37,100 |
Application Development Costs | 1 | $191,746 | $- | $191,746 | 1 | 1 per Application | $191,746 |
System Integration & Backoffice | 35 | $25,886 | $3,835 | $4,575 | 1 | 1 per Application per TMC | $25,886 |
Vehicle On-Board Equipment | 1 | $4,800,000 | $288,000 | $5,088,000 | 48,000 | 1 per Vehicle | 100 |
TOTAL Infrastructure Cost | $37,538,732 | $1,104,863 | $7,398,193 | ||||
Incremental Deployment Equipment | |||||||
Vehicle Data Translator (This Item is RWM-specific only) | 25 | $- | $- | $- | 1 per TMC | $1,000,000 | |
Maintenance Vehicle Costs | 5 | $- | $- | $- | 1 per Maintenance Vehicle | $30,000 | |
Dynamic Message Sign | 10 | $- | $- | $- | VSL ONLY | $82,000 | |
Education & Outreach | 1 | $288,000 | $- | $288,000 | 6,400,000 | 1 per capita | $0.045 |
TOTAL Incremental Cost | $288,000 | $- | $288,000 | ||||
Enter Number of Infrastructure Deployments | 1 | $1,924,,530 | |||||
Enter Number of Incremental Deployments | 1 | $288,00 | |||||
Enter Year of Deployment | 2020 | ||||||
Average Annual Cost | $2,211,530 |
Data available from the RW-CV BCA report was also used to estimate the benefits of this strategy in the case study. According to the report, the effectiveness of the Motorist Advisory and Warning strategy is estimated to be 20 percent, meaning that crashes are likely to be reduced by 20 percent when the strategy is in place. Along with this assumption is the increase in capacity due to a lower amount of incidents that slow down traffic. The report estimates this number to be 10 percent for all CV applications, including Motorist Advisory and Warning. The analyst can refine any TOPS-BC calculation using these spreadsheets if more specific data is available. Through this flexible user interface, more refined and accurate results can be generated.
Safety | $ Value of a Fatality Crash | $10,433,467 |
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$ Value of a Injury Crash | $77,671 | |
$ Value of a Property Damage Crash | $2,656 | |
Total Modeled Crash Related Benefit per Period | $2,765 | |
User Entered Benefit (Annual $'s) | ||
Number of Analysis Periods per Year | 250 | |
TOTAL AVERAGE ANNUAL BENEFIT | $13,321,771 |
The total average annual benefit is calculated automatically by TOPS-BC and can be found at the bottom of the benefit estimation sheet. Table 3 shows the total average annual benefit for this strategy at $13.32 million. Benefit-Cost Analysis Results Table 4 shows the section of TOPS-BC that compares benefits and costs for the RW-CV Motorist Advisory and Warning strategy. The table indicates that the deployment of this strategy in a hypothetical state is cost effective, since the resulting benefit-cost ratio for the strategy is 6.02. The resulting net benefits for this analysis are about $11.1 million.
Benefit/Cost Summary | |
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Annual Benefits | Connected Vehicle Motorist Advisory & Warning |
Travel Time | $12,470,615 |
Travel Time Savings: Non-Recurring Delay | $159,940 |
Energy | |
Safety | $691,250 |
Other | |
User Entered | |
Total Annual Benefits | $13,321,771 |
Annual Costs | $2,211,530 |
Benefit/Cost Comparison | |
Net Benefit | $11,110,241 |
Benefit Cost Ratio | 6.02 |
If you have any questions regarding Road Weather Management BCA please contact one of the individuals below.
Roemer Alfelor
(202) 366-9242
Roemer.Alfelor@dot.gov
Jim Hunt
(717) 221-4422
Jim.Hunt@dot.gov
Ralph Volpe
(404) 562-3637
Ralph.Volpe@dot.gov
1 Federal Highway Administration, Road Weather Management Connected Vehicle Applications, available at http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54400/54480/Road_Weather_Connected_Vehicle_Applications_Benefit-508-v8.pdf Return to note 1.
2 FHWA report Concept of Operations for Road Weather Connected Vehicle Applications is available at http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/47000/47300/47330/74CD2020.pdf. Return to note 2.
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
October 2016
FHWA-HOP-16-092
United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration |
Last modified: April 24, 2020 |