Road Weather Management Program
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Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

Title:

Use of Pavement Temperature Measurements for Winter Maintenance Decisions

Abstract:

Pavement temperatures are now measured at numerous locations in the state of Iowa and reported in real time to maintenance offices. One difficulty in use of such data is the question of how representative measurements made at one location are for other roadways in the vicinity. We have analyzed January pavement temperature data from urban/rural sites for both bridges and roadways in/near Cedar Rapids and Des Moines to evaluate nighttime trends and differences of temperatures at different locations and under different weather conditions. Preliminary results show that urban roadway pavement temperatures near both Des Moines and Cedar Rapids are 2 to 5°F higher than rural roadway pavement temperatures under clear sky conditions but only 1 to 2 or 1 to 3°F higher under cloudy conditions or when cloud cover is changing.

Source(s):

Transportation Conference Proceedings; Iowa State University and Iowa DOT

https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/3028

Date: 1998

Author:

Knollhoff, Takle, Gallus, Burkheimer

Keywords:


Road Weather Information System (RWIS)
Environmental Sensor Station (ESS)

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