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Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

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Title:

Development of an Advanced Winter Road Management Support System for Greater Sapporo

Abstract:

In the Greater Sapporo Area of Japan, the Advanced Winter Road Management Support System is being developed to support decision-making in which snow removal and anti-icing agent application operations are conducted with due consideration of weather conditions. A system prototype was tested from January to March 2003 by five snow removal contractors on national highways. This system features a weather and road surface condition forecast, a road-icing index (probability of ice formation on road), an index for very slippery road surface emergence (occurrence probability of very slippery road surface), snow removal operation support guidance, anti-icing operation support guidance, and an emergency notification system. In a questionnaire survey, trial users gave the system a somewhat low rating (2.4 on a 5.0-point scale, with 5.0 as the best). This means the accuracy of road surface forecasts and the content of the provided information require improvement. All the test users expressed a desire to obtain current conditions of road and weather and accurate forecasts for efficient and appropriate winter road maintenance operations.

Source(s):

6th International Symposium on Snow Removal and Ice Control Technology, Transportation Research Circular, No. E-C063

http://trb.org/publications/circulars/ec063.pdf

Date: 2004

Author:

Yamagiwa, Kajiya, Uemura

Keywords:


Decision support
Forecast/Prediction
Pavement condition
Snow
Ice/Frost

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