Road Weather Management Program The FHWA Program for ITS Requirements, Development and Operations Research

1. Road Weather Management ProgramThe FHWA Program for ITS Requirements, Development and Operations Research To The National Hurricane Conference April 9/10, 2001 Paul Pisano FHWA/HOTO paul.pisano@fhwa.dot.gov 202 366 1301 Gary G. Nelson Mitretek Systems Inc. gnelson@mitretek.org 202 488 5718

2. Outline • Overview of the FHWA Road Weather Management Program. • Decision Support Development • Overview of the Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) project and the National Labs • How this relates to Emergency Management

3. Federal Road Weather Programs Other USDOT Agencies FAA, FTA, FRA, RSPA, USCG FHWA Federal Highway Administration FHWA ITS Joint Program Office Jeff Paniatti ITS-JPO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials AASHTO Operations Core Business Unit Christine Johnson HOP National Weather Service NWS Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology Sam Williamson OFCM Highway Research Gary Larsen HRD Office of Transportation Operations Shelley Row HOTO Public and Fire Weather Jim Lee Committees Weather Information for Surface Transportation (JAG-WIST) Integrated Observing Systems (CIOS) George Schoene Al Benet HOTO Rudy Persaud HRDO FEMA Paul Pisano HOTO Emergency Management Program Road Weather Program

4. Road Weather Management Program Goals 1. Develop improved weather information systems that meet the demands of all users and operators; 2. Develop improved maintenance technologies for winter mobility, and; 3. Develop traffic operations/incident management procedures under all weather events.

5. Decision Support

6. Surface Transportation Weather Decision Support Requirements (STWDSR) Project Weather Operational Technique Decision Transportation Impact Decision Support Information

7. Major STWDSR Documents FHWA Weather Team White Paper 1997-98 STWDSR V3.0/V4.0 TM/EM/Traveler Needs Impacts/Benefits Operational Test Requirements Mar., Sept., 2001 STWDSR V1.0 Needs 1999 Stakeholder Meetings Feb, May 2000 STWDSR V2.0 Operational Concept Definition (OCD) July, 2000 MDSS STWDSR V2.0 Preliminary Interfaces Requirements (PIR) October, 2000

8. References • Electronic Documents Library www.its.dot.gov/welcome.htm • White Paper • STWDSR V1.0 • STWDSR V2.0: OCD • STWDSR V2.0 PIR • STWDSR V2.0 Executive Summary

9. The MDSS Prototype and Test

10. Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) Project • One realization of the STWDSR Operational Concept Definition (OCD) for winter road managers • Set of functions implemented • Set of needs served • Continues STWDSR stakeholder alliance • National Labs will develop non-exclusive components • State DOTs will operate • Vendors will provide and integrate into Road Weather Information System (RWIS)

11. NCAR

12. MDSS: Benchmarks • Prototype Phase • First Prototype Review • Operational test pre-bid meeting (CRREL, 21-22 June) • Prototype demonstration (September) • Operational Test Phase • Notice of Intent (April) • RFP (May) • Award (September) • Initial Operating Capability (August, 2002) • Test and evaluation (winter 02-03)

13. The Program and Emergency Management

14. There has to be an operational continuum from the mundane to the severe. • Our physicalinfrastructure may not survive the most severe threats. • Our informationsystems should survive the most severe threats.

15. Decision Scales Scales Decisions Space-time Domain Contingency Planning Climatic (Planning) Organization, Facilities, Procedures, Consumables Inter-State months-years Landfall- Focused Monitoring, Mobilization, Landfall-Evacuation, Route/Traffic Mgt., Incident Response Search and Rescue Synoptic/Meso (Operational) States/Districts hours-days Micro (Warning) Watershed/ Structure- Focused Flash-Flood Evacuation, Facility Failure Warning Districts/Watersheds sub-hours

16. Inland Flooding Tornado Storm Surge High Surf Winds In the 10 deadliest storms, there were 264 fatalities (78%) from inland flooding. Most of these were associated with drowning and vehicles.

17. Infrastructure Damage Means disruption of evacuations and emergency response.

18. Evacuation: Floyd Results • 3 million (est.) people were evacuated from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, resulting in record congestion problems. • Techniques included: • Mobilizing and prepositioning personnel and equipment, • Opening evacuation shelters, • Executing staged evacuations, • Reversing traffic flow during evacuation, • Altering traffic flow to enable at least one counter-flow lane, • Opening shoulder lanes to traffic and closing roadways, • Disseminating information to evacuees (e.g., residents, tourists), • Communicating with neighboring state agencies.

19. Roadway Environment Roadway Environment Traveler Information Operational Scale Environmental Information and Management Information Service Providers Specialized Traveler/Hazard Info. Dynamic Message Signs Roadside Sensors Transponders Other (wireless) Mobile Obs and Vehicle Control Mobile Obs and Vehicle Control Inter-Vehicle Communication or “Smart Cruise Control”

20. Road Conditions and Network Modeling Road Condition Scales Dynamic Modeling Static Modeling Updates or Contingencies Planning/ Climatic Scale Major Threat (high risk) Trip Generation/ Distribution Trip Generation/ Distribution Synoptic (12 hrs) Normal? Conditions or Contingencies Tight Behavioral Coupling Intra-Model Feedbacks Typical ISP Mode Split Mode Split Special Road Report Quasi-Static Constraints Re-route? Assignment Assignment Direct Obs. Throughput Effects Micro <minutes

21. ITS and Emergency Management • Better threat information • Better monitoring of road conditions • Decision support=information fusion • Support of risk decision making • Open systems for shared information and coordination • inter-agency • inter-jurisdiction • Survivable systems, adaptable techniques • Better information to travelers/evacuees • Time saved = lives saved

22. Technology Showcase