Monday, December 30, 2002
FHWA 48-02
Contact: Bill Outlaw
Phone: 202-366-0660
DOT
Launches New Tool for Winter Road Maintenance
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
today announced a new and more sophisticated weather information tool, the
Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS), to assist winter road maintenance
managers in predicting the impact of adverse weather conditions and planning
treatment.
“Having
access to proper weather and road condition information before and during
adverse winter weather conditions will help transportation system managers take
appropriate measures to keep roads open,” FHWA Administrator Mary E. Peters
said. “MDSS will help make roads
safer.”
Under
the department’s Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) program, the FHWA
built upon the maintenance approaches already used in the winter maintenance
community today to develop MDSS.
The system combines standards of practice with the latest weather models
and forecasting techniques. It uses
advanced winter prediction capabilities to recommend courses of action.
The system displays various maintenance alternatives and their resulting
benefits, which will allow highway departments to deploy snowplows and improve
road conditions more effectively while also reducing response costs.
The system also will lead to more efficient use of chemicals, which will
reduce the impact on the environment.
The
system was designed to respond to the needs of state departments of
transportation. Private industry
has been engaged in the development process from the beginning and will build
new products and services around the core capabilities of the MDSS.
Adverse weather conditions dramatically affect the nation’s surface
transportation system. Each
year, 6,600 people die, 470,000 people are injured, and 544 million hours of
time are lost on America’s highways because of adverse weather conditions.
FHWA’s
Office of Operations developed MDSS through its Road Weather Management Program.
The Office of Operations is committed to improving highway performance by
advancing the management and operations of the transportation system in real
time and in response to varying conditions.
The MDSS and other useful materials are available on the FHWA’s Road
Weather Management Web site at www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/weather/index.htm.
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