This paper was presented at the `Innovations in Highway Maintenance Activities' session. Snow and ice control practices have been evaluated and modified in many jurisdictions in Britain, Europe, and North America through advancements made in pavement condition sensors, automated weather stations, and computer software technology. These Road Weather Information Systems have allowed maintenance crews to obtain up-to-date information on both weather and road conditions at various key locations on their road network and subsequently be better prepared for expected weather events. This paper presents the work the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Highways has initiated to investigate how a road Weather Information System could be applied in British Columbia and what benefits could be expected from such an implementation. The work conducted to date is evaluated based on several select criteria: System cost; System support requirements; Hardware reliability; Flexibility in weather station components and acquisition/display software; Impact on maintenance operations. Three locations, representing three distinctly different climatic regimes, were selected for Road Weather Installations using different weather station manufacturers and different methods of communication. A software package is utilised allowing automatic retrieval of weather station data and data display in both textural and graphical formats. (A)
Abstract