IP0004 - A new winter service index (.pdf - 283KB)

Knowing the severity of a winter has always been an important concern for operators and clients. Some have to size the production tools and others have to set up the budget lines necessary for the operation of the service. Different methods exist to characterise a winter, to account for outings, salt consumption, overtime, etc....these methods are often biased because they depend on the organisation, [...]

IP0014 - A study of the relationship between average visibility and instantaneous visibility in blowing snow (.pdf - 283KB)

The author provides information on snowstorm visibility prediction on the internet. In this system, the average visibility value per hour is estimated based on the hourly wind speed, temperature, and precipitation intensity provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency. However, because the fluctuations of a blizzard are intense, there is a large difference between the average visibility and the instantaneous [...]

IP0272 - Application of the MDSS system in high capacity roads in areas with continental climate. The experience in Spain (.pdf - 53KB)

Winter maintenance works are one of the basic activities within road maintenance contracts. The efficient and optimal performance of such works involves a decision making process that is not free of complexity in certain circumstances and with important implications in terms of safety and reliability of the service provided to infrastructure users. The purpose of this study is the evaluation of the [...]

IP0130 - Applications of Novel Weather Information: Optimization for Deployment of Snow Removal Groups (.pdf - 1.7MB)

In winter, a lot of heavy snow events occur on the north side of Japan, because of significant meteorological characteristics of a convergence zone, Japan sea Polar air mass Convergence Zone; JPCZ. The snow clouds form in a similar process to the “Lake-Effect Snow in the Great Lakes” in the United States. However, heavier snowfall is produced in Japan by the three reasons: high sea surface temperature [...]

IP0169 - Blowing Snow and Reduced Visibility Detection and Warning System (.pdf - 1.1MB)

In Quebec, the difficult winter conditions are conducive to the formation of blowing snow. In fact, safety studies have shown that certain sectors of the Quebec road network are more favorable to the formation of blowing snow, especially some sections of road 175 in the Capitale-Nationale region. Generally, the installation of windbreak hedges is preferred to counter blowing snow on the road network. [...]

IP0037 - Combining Thermal Mapping and Route-based Forecasting (.pdf - 802KB)

Historically, road weather has been predicted at road weather station (RWS) sites, using the RWS observations to initialize and calibrate the forecasts. Extending these site-specific forecasts to the rest of the road network was initially done using thermal mapping. Thermal mapping (TM) techniques only allow for road surface temperature (RST) prediction and fail to take advantage of other data sources [...]

IP0089 - Early results with FMI ensemble road weather forecast system (.pdf - 992KB)

Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has been experimenting with ensemble road weather forecast system since autumn 2019. Early verification results suggest that calibration is still needed to produce reliable probability forecasts. However, the system has great potential to assist the road maintenance personnel when making decisions of weather-related road treatment. Traditionally the decision [...]

IP0144 - Enhancing detail and context through wind-related risk forecasts for major roads in Great Britain (.pdf - 1.0MB)

The Met Office has transitioned to using Impact-based Warnings for its National Severe Weather Warning Service (NSWWS). These warnings aim to communicate the occurrence of weather events that have the potential to cause socio-economic impacts, by using a risk matrix which combines the level of impact the weather could cause, with the likelihood of those impacts occurring. This approach provides a [...]

IP0302 - Event planning integrated into weather forecast models and traffic management as a tool. (.pdf - 1.7MB)

"No snowfall is the same as another", this statement is maintained over time as an absolute truth. Snow episodes are phenomena that develop with the interaction of multiple variables and in many cases have a probabilistic approach. It is these characteristics that have sometimes made them not planned in a systematic way; However, currently, meteorological models have achieved a degree of detail in [...]

IP0316 - Incorporating Weather and Climate Research into Transportation (.pdf - 89KB)

There is a wealth of noteworthy research taking place within the meteorological community that would be of value to the transportation community, but it often goes unnoticed. This may be a function of limited means of communication across the communities, a lack of a common language, or a lack of understanding of the end users’ needs. There is a need for more effective sharing of weather and climate [...]

IP0062 - Kent County Council and Amey AI surface temperature prediction model (.pdf - 2.2MB)

Kent County Council (KCC) together with its partner Amey plc has for the past two years been developing a smart winter project with the following aims: • Improved safety and stakeholder satisfaction • Savings through reduced number of winter gritting runs • Savings through reduced spend on basic winter facility/resource • Savings on materials • Better evidencing for budget allocation and [...]

IP0115 - Optimization of road weather stations through a targeted use of sensor types (.pdf - 859KB)

The weather has a considerable influence on traffic safety and traffic flow. Road weather information is an important database for the implementation of winter road maintenance and traffic management. This information can also be integrated with roadside ITS infrastructure, so that local warnings and data can be transmitted directly to the driver or to an automatically driving vehicle. Stationary [...]

IP0047 - Prediction of Roadside Snow Pile Growth Trends Using Meteorological Observations (.pdf - 897KB)

About two-thirds of Japan is a cold and snowy region. As a result, Japan has several large cities with heavy snowfall. In order to improve winter road services, road managers are required to conduct efficient snow hauling by transporting and clearing the snow that has accumulated on the shoulders of roads within a limited budget. However, the choice of the timing and method of snow hauling has been [...]

IP0060 - Product at road maintenance risk timeline service (.pdf - 6.9MB)

Many weather disaster occur for road maintenance a few years. Example, West-japan heavy rain Jul-2018, Heavy snowfall for Hokuriku in Feb-2017 Low pressure for Capital area in Feb-2017 Hagibis at typhoon in Oct-2019. Each disaster effect road maintenance management. Weathernews Inc. (below is WNI) developed timeline service for road maintenance based on those phenomenon. Exaple -Before phenomenon [...]

IP0263 - Reliable and high quality meteorological information for winter services in Austria (.pdf - 1.5MB)

Reliable and high quality meteorological information for winter services in Austria Christian Csekits and Thomas Turecek ZAMG (Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics), Vienna, Austria The accuracy and quality of weather forecasts has been improving during the last decades. Nowadays weather forecasts provide a rather good presentation of the weather and its impact. In recent years the philosophy [...]

IP0294 - Research of Short-term and Impending Meteorological Forecast Technology of Winter Highway Based on the Thermal Spectrum Map (.pdf - 689KB)

According to the "measurable" demand of expressway meteorology, based on the zhumadian-xinyang section  of Jing-Gang-Ao highway in  Henan Province, China, through the application of "thermal spectrum map" data acquisition vehicle, the pavement temperature of the whole expressway in winter under specific weather conditions was collected, and the temperature spectrum was drawn. At the same time, [...]

IP0088 - Road weather services tailored for autonomous vehicles (.pdf - 654KB)

Finnish Meteorological Institute is continuously studying the possibilities to enhance the Arctic traffic monitoring and related safety services by innovative use of ITS and related methodologies. Autonomous driving is globally addressed as the future trend, also the driving in the Arctic conditions. The research work is relying on a miniature autonomous vehicle with capability to carry AI, measurement [...]

The winter maintenance industry is starting to evolve from a tradition of using RWIS and basic weather forecasts combined with treatment schemes when making decisions about actions. With new big data sources based on IOT - from sensors, floating car data, laser measurement and connected winter maintenance vehicles combined with state-of-the-art climate models it is already today possible to predict, [...]

IP0119 - Semantic segmentation for Winter Road Surface Management using Deep Learning (.pdf - 464KB)

Recent advances in technologies related to deep learning have been remarkable. The expectation for using image recognition methods in the field of road traffic engineering is high. For example, in winter road management, a method using deep learning has been proposed to improve the accuracy of identifying the road surface conditions. The snow and ice conditions on the road surface, i.e., dry, slush, [...]

IP0065 - The City of Calgary Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) (.pdf - 211KB)

Winter weather is accountable for 30% of traffic accidents in Canada and costs Canadians over $60B annually. Canadians use over 5 million tonnes of salt annually to keep their roads safe. But salt has a negative environmental footprint. Devised by the National Center for Amphoteric Research (NCAR), the Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) is comprised of multiple modules that coherently and [...]

IP0183 - The Value of Roadside Weather Observations (.pdf - 261KB)

Roadside Weather Information Systems (RWIS) are widely used to aid decision support for reducing the impact of weather hazards on the roads. We examined the value of individual RWIS and RWIS networks to improving road weather forecasting and monitoring. The Highways England Environmental Sensor Site (ESS) network incorporates high-quality RWIS covering England’s strategic road network. The Met [...]

IP0288 - Using Road Surface Friction Reports in Winter Service- Designing performance tests for continuous friction measuring (.pdf - 1.2MB)

Friction tests are very helpful both before and after abrasives or liquid brine are applied to road surfaces. The friction data may be obtained with continuous friction measuring equipment - otherwise referred to as “CFME”. Modern CFME are mobile test-tire devices that test with accuracy at all speeds within the speed limits. Friction graphs for the entire distance accompanied by numerical values [...]

IP0237 - WEATHER PREDICTION SYSTEMS THROUGH MOBILE PHONE WAVES AT ROAD LOCALISED POINTS. REAL EXPERIENCE AT A-2 HIGHWAY IN GUADALAJARA, CASTILLA LA MANCHA, SPAIN. (.pdf - 714KB)

Weather prediction is essential to perform all the activities related to maintenance highway, particularly in relation to winter serviceability. There are many highway maintenance activities conditioned by adverse climatic events such as heavy rains, strong winds, extreme temperatures (either too high or too low), dense fog or snowfalls. Knowing the likelihood of these adverse climatic events occurring [...]