2019 Road Weather Management Performance Measures Update

Chapter 1. Introduction

Since 2006, the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Road Weather Management Program (RWMP) has conducted a periodic assessment of program effectiveness in improving the performance of the transportation system during adverse weather conditions. Assessments of the program performance were conducted and documented in 2009,¹ 2012,² 2015,³ and 2017.⁴ These updates reviewed program initiatives and major accomplishments; assessed the continued suitability, strengths, and weaknesses of existing measures for evaluation program performance; and incorporated new measures, as appropriate, that reflected current and future program initiatives. The 2019 Road Weather Management Performance Measures Update is a continuation of this periodic review of the RWMP's performance and an update to the 2017 report.

Objectives of the Report

The performance measures update and associated reports allow the RWMP to evaluate its progress and effectiveness in accomplishing its goals and to assess the United States' overall capability with respect to road weather management. The report also serves as a resource and outreach product to advance the importance and widespread implementation of road weather technologies. This assessment helps communicate the overall success of the RWMP and identify areas that need more focus, support, or outreach. The 2019 report presents the latest results of the RWMP's performance measures, highlights significant changes or improvements from the last update, and lists recommendations on future focus areas for the RWMP.

Road Weather Management Program Goals, Objectives, and Key Products

The RWMP strives to better understand the ways weather impacts roads and to promote successful strategies and tools to mitigate those impacts. In broad terms, the program achieves its goals through stakeholder coordination; road weather research and development; technology transfer, training, and education; and performance management and evaluation. The RWMP is guided by eight program objectives used to determine technical direction and activity. The objectives are:

1. Build and sustain relationships with multidisciplinary partners to expand road weather management deployments.
2. Ensure road weather management investments improve highway performance.
3. Advance the transportation, weather, and research communities' use of and reliance on fixed and mobile road weather observations.
4. Advance the state of the art for mobile sensing and integrating vehicle data into road weather applications.
5. Advance the state of the practice by promoting tailored management strategies for different regions.
6. Improve integration of weather-related decision support technologies into traffic operations and maintenance procedures.
7. Advance the state of the practice by raising road weather management capabilities and awareness across the transportation and weather communities.
8. Increase engagement of the operations community with the weather resiliency and sustainability communities.

To support these objectives, the RWMP has produced several research products and services. Some of the most recent products include:

• Every Day Counts (EDC-5) Initiative—Weather-Responsive Management Strategies (WRMS). The strategies focus on using mobile and connected vehicle data from traffic and maintenance management during weather events. Building from the EDC-4 Weather Savvy Roads innovation, FHWA is assisting agencies in the implementation of various activities and products.
• Road Weather Management Capability Maturity Framework (RWM CMF) Workshops. The RWMP has conducted a total of 16 RWM CMF workshops in 15 States. These workshops help agencies evaluate their current capabilities in managing the transportation system during road weather events and assist in creating a roadmap of prioritized actions for increasing capabilities across the six sectors of the CMF.
• National Highway Institute (NHI) Road Weather Management Courses. The RWMP is updating and converting the road weather management Consortium for ITS Training and Education (CITE) courses into a format to be delivered by the National Highway Institute. The Road Weather Information System (RWIS) Equipment and Operations course is available in the Institute catalogue and is free to the public.
• Weather-Responsive Traffic Management (WRTM) Implementation Projects. The RWMP worked with the Delaware DOT and Washington State DOT to evaluate the Guidelines for Deploying Connected Vehicle-Enabled Weather Responsive Traffic Management Strategies.

Research Approach

The research team's approach for the 2019 update included a review of the 2017 update, as well as the program's current objectives, activities, and products. The team then developed a plan for conducting the 2019 update and provided recommendations for presenting the results. In general, the reporting period for the performance updated is from January 2017 to mid-year 2019. These categories of sources provided data elements for the performance measures:

• RWMP Records. The FHWA RWMP's research, training, and stakeholder engagement activities are documented in its records. These data represent the location and extent of RWMP activities.
• State Department of Transportation (DOT) Survey. A targeted survey of State DOTs provided data on the current practices and capabilities for road weather management around the country. The survey was completed by 39 State DOTs, which is one State less than responded to the 2015 and 2017 updates. Figure 1 illustrates the distribution of the survey respondents.
• Agency Sources, Literature Reviews, and Internet Searches. Road weather data from other Federal, State, and local agency sources, along with research institutions (e.g., databases, literature reviews, case studies, and publications) provide additional inputs into the performance measure update—especially information pertaining to system outcomes and specific case studies or evaluations of road weather management strategies.
• Additional Data Sources. Other data resources are used to supplement the primary sources listed above to meet the data requirements for the performance measure update. In many cases, these data elements are used to support the findings for the performance measures.

For this update, the research team designated each performance measure as an output (direct effort of RWMP), an outcome (response from transportation agencies and other stakeholders), or an impact (changes in transportation system performance including user, agency and societal costs and benefits). After designating each performance measure, the team identified data sources, related activities, and the strengths and weaknesses of each measure. By looking beyond each measure's latest result and analyzing the components that factored into the result, the research team was able to take a more holistic look at the RWMP's progress and successes. Table 1 summarizes the 25 performance measures in this way.

Table 1. Data Sources, Related Activities, and Strengths and Weaknesses of Each Performance Measure

PM #	RWMP Performance Measure	Type of Measure	Primary Data Source	Related Activities in 2017-2019 That May Influence the Measure	Link to Activities	Measure Strengths (S) & Weaknesses (W)
Objective 1: Build and sustain relationships with multidisciplinary partners to expand road weather management (RWM) deployments.
1	Number of agencies participating in road weather R&D projects	Output	FHWA RWMP (interviews with staff and review of R&D program)	EDC-4 EDC-5 Weather Data Environment Weather-Responsive Traffic Management (WRTM) implementation support activities	High	S: Clearly illustrates the collaborative nature of RWMP R&D. W: The quantification of the measure is very sensitive to how "participation" is defined.
2	Number of agencies participating in and benefiting from RWMP stakeholder meetings/workshops	Output	RWMP records	RWM stakeholder meetings, 2017 and 2018 RWM CMF Workshops, 2017 and 2018 WRTM stakeholder meetings, 2017 EDC-4 Weather Savvy Roads Innovation EDC-5 Weather Responsive Traffic and Maintenance Management Innovation	High	S: Illustrate the diversity of agencies participating in RWM workshops; workshop participants benefit from the peer-to-peer interaction and additional training. W: While feedback on the workshops is uniformly positive, it is unclear how to quantify the benefits of the workshop to the participants.
Objective 2: Ensure that road weather management investments improve highway performance.
3	Number of agencies that collect and report road weather-related performance measures to the public (i.e., winter severity index, mobility index)	Outcome	State DOT Survey as well as internet research	All activities can support this measure, but direct attribution of specific activity is difficult	High	S: Shows the improvement in agency transparency on RWM efforts. W: Lack of widely accepted standards for measuring success of snow and ice control activities.
4	Number of agencies that have a process for evaluating the return on investment (ROI) or net benefit of their RWM investments	Outcome	State DOT Survey	Compendium and technical briefs on benefit-cost analysis for road weather management	Medium	S: Shows agency engagement in gauging its own performance for continuous improvement.
5	Reductions in agency costs of weather-related maintenance and operations activities	Impact	Highway Statistics publication series and internet research for case studies	All activities can support this measure, but direct attribution of specific activity is difficult	Medium	S: With States' budget constraints, case studies and data showing potential cost savings may encourage more States to implement road weather strategies. W: While individual case studies and national trends are available, linkage to program activities is difficult.
6	Reduction in number and types of fatalities and crashes attributed to adverse weather, nationally	Impact	FARS, NHTSA databases and internet research for case studies	All activities can support this measure, but direct attribution of specific activity is difficult	High	S: With road weather as part of the EDC initiative, case studies and safety effects of road weather strategies are important to show. W: While individual case studies and national trends are available, linkage to program activities is difficult.
7	Reductions in extent of capacity losses and delays due to fog, snow, and ice events, including freight	Impact	Internet research, Case studies	All activities can support this measure, but direct attribution of specific activity is difficult	High	W: No clear national-level dataset on this topic. Localized case studies serve as a surrogate approach.
8	Increase in travel time reliability or decrease in variability due to road weather management strategies during adverse weather scenarios	Impact	Internet research, Case studies	All activities can support this measure, but direct attribution of specific activity is difficult	High	W: No clear national-level dataset on this topic. Localized case studies serve as a surrogate approach.
9	Reduction in tons of salt or chemical usage in the U.S. normalized by winter severity index	Impact	United States Geological Survey Minerals Yearbook: Salt (2006-2015) and internet research, Salt Institute, and AASHTO Standing Committee on Maintenance	All activities can support this measure, but direct attribution of specific activity is difficult	High	W: While individual case studies and national trends are available, linkage to program activities is difficult. The lack of a common winter severity index makes temporal comparisons difficult.
Objective 3: Transportation, weather, and research communities use and rely on fixed and mobile road weather observations.
10	Number of State DOTs participating in MADIS program	Outcome	NWS and RWMP records	Support Clarus transition to MADIS Data sharing agreements support	High	S: Directly shows if the broad national scope of Clarus transitioned to State implementation of MADIS. W: MADIS system is currently still in development stages with NOAA. Hence usage is still limited by DOTs
11	Number of State DOTs that subscribe to road weather products and services	Outcome	ITS Deployment Statistics and State DOT Survey	Road Weather CMFs Pathfinder Integrated Mobile Observations (IMO)	High	S: Directly shows growth in agency use of weather and road weather information.
12	Number of State DOTs collecting mobile observations of road weather data from vehicle fleets	Outcome	State DOT Survey	IMO program Standards support (connected vehicles, NTCIP 1204, J2735 SE)	High	S: Directly shows growth in agency use of mobile data for road weather. Also identifies the type of data that are collected from maintenance vehicles, as well as from what percentage of the applicable fleets. W: Use of mobile data standards is still in its infancy
13	Number of State DOTs reporting the use of Environmental Sensor Stations (ESS) in operations and maintenance activities	Outcome	FHWA's RWMP records, ITS Deployment Statistics, State DOT Survey, Aurora Pooled Fund program	IMO — how permanent and transportable ESS data are enhanced by mobile ESS IMRCP — how permanent ESS data are used in modeling the effects of weather of on the roads WxDE — how quality checked ESS data enhances the correct usage of data	Medium	S: Directly shows and tracks the usage of ESS to support management and maintenance decision-making.
Objective 4: Advance the state of the art for mobile-sensing and integrating vehicle data into road weather applications.
14	Number of/percentage of responding agencies using mobile data-based applications in road weather management	Outcome	RWMP records and State DOT Survey	IMO program EDC-5 WRMS Program	High	S: Directly shows growth in agencies' use of mobile data-based applications for RWM and growth in their partnership with new groups involved in RWM with such applications.
Objective 5: Advance the state of the practice by promoting tailored management strategies for different regions.
15	Number of States disseminating advisory weather and road weather information to travelers	Outcome	ITS Deployment Statistics, State DOT Survey, State statistics	EDC-4 Pathfinder initiative EDC-5 WRTM implementation support activities Messaging guidelines for road weather	High	S: Direct measure to assess adoption of road weather messaging around the country
16	Number of agencies using control and treatment strategies during weather events	Outcome	ITS Deployment Statistics and State DOT Survey	EDC-4 Pathfinder initiative EDC-5 WRTM implementation support activities	Medium	S: Direct measure to assess adoption of road weather control around the country. W: Diversity of strategies and application scenarios make this measure difficult to quantify effectively.
17	Number of agencies that coordinate with their local forecast offices for road weather management and operations	Outcome	State DOT Survey	Pathfinder Initiative Road Weather CMF	High	S: Reflects agency's commitment to enhancing the performance of road weather management and operations activities.
Objective 6: Weather-related decision support technologies are integrated into traffic operations and maintenance procedures.
18	Number of agencies adopting MDSS technologies and methods	Outcome	State DOT Survey and MDSS Pooled Fund program	RWM Stakeholder Meeting	Low. No recent activities relating to MDSS	S: Directly shows growth towards advanced approaches to managing maintenance decisions and operations during inclement weather.
19	Number of agencies using other weather-related decision support tools	Outcome	State DOT Survey	IMRCP Phase 2 and 3 Tools for Operations Benefit Cost Analysis AMS for RW-CV applications WxDE	High	S: Directly shows growth in agency use of decision support tools in road weather.
20	Number of agencies reporting use of appropriate analysis tools to factor weather impacts and strategies	Outcome	State DOT Survey	AMS for RW-CV applications IMRCP	Medium	S: Directly shows growth in agency use of analysis, modeling, and simulation tools in road weather. W: Limited program activity in this area makes it difficult to attribute changes to program.
Objective: 7 Advance the state of the practice by raising road weather capabilities and awareness across the transportation and weather communities.
21	Number of agencies and attendees who have taken any of the sponsored RWMP training courses and workshops	Output	FHWA RWMP records (for CMF workshops) and attendance records from CITE, University of Maryland	RWM CMF workshops CITE training courses	High	S: Directly illustrates the popularity and demand for RWMP training products.
22	Number of agencies and participants in RWM webinars led by the RWMP	Output	FHWA RWMP records and records from the ITS Professional Capacity Building (PCB) Program and other webinar sponsors/venues	RWMP webinars National Transportation Operations Coalition, T3, and Talking Freight webinars	High	S: Directly illustrates the popularity and demand for RWMP outreach topics.
23	Number of agencies that have participated in or conducted RWM capability maturity assessment exercises	Outcome	RWMP records	RWM CMF AASHTO Capability Maturity Model	High	S: Shows growth in agency use of capability maturity assessment tools and commitment to establish RWM as a core function.
24	Number of meetings, site visits, or venues where RWM presentations/ briefings were made	Output	FHWA RWMP records	RWMP partnership activities with partners such as pooled funds, TRB, ITS America, AASHTO, NWS, NOAA, Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology, World Road Association-PIARC National Dialogues on Highway Automation	High	S: Indicates the reach of the technical transfer activities undertaken by the program. W: It is difficult to correlate program success using the number of meetings staff are present at. A large conference with many attendees may present general information to a broader audience, while a smaller site visit may cover information more relevant to a specific agency.
Objective 8: Operations community is engaged with weather resiliency and sustainability communities.
25	Number of agencies conducting vulnerability/risk assessment or developing/implementing resiliency plans for their RWM infrastructure and processes to respond to extreme weather	Outcome	State DOT Survey	FHWA Extreme Weather Adaptation activities	High	S: Shows the growth in agency awareness for weather resiliency, in managing extreme weather and improving the resiliency of operations. W: 2017 results indicate this is still an emerging area but limited activities have taken place within the program supporting this measure.

Performance Measure Mapping

For this report, each of the 25 performance measures are grouped into one of four categories:

1. Road weather management impacts
2. Application of road weather management tools and technologies
3. Road weather management capacity building
4. Partnerships and stakeholder collaboration

By associating performance measures with one or more of these categories, the RWMP goes beyond simply listing each performance measure result and can anecdotally cover the successes of the program. Table 2 maps each performance measure to the appropriate categories. For a detailed analysis of findings by performance measure, see Appendix B: Findings by Measure.

Table 2. Performance Measure Mapping

PM #	RWM Impacts Assessment	Application of RWM Tools & Technologies	RWM Capacity Building	Partnerships & Stakeholder Collaboration
1. Number of agencies participating in road weather R&D projects			X	X
2. Number of agencies participating in and benefiting from RWMP stakeholder meetings/workshops			X	X
3. Number of agencies that collect and report road weather-related performance measures to the public (i.e., winter severity index, mobility index)	X
4. Number of agencies that have a process for evaluating the return on investment (ROI) or net benefit of their RWM investments	X		X
5. Reductions in agency costs of weather-related maintenance and operations activities	X
6. Reduction in number and types of fatalities and crashes attributed to adverse weather, nationally	X
7. Reductions in extent of capacity losses and delays due to fog, snow, and ice events, including freight	X
8. Increase in travel time reliability or decrease in variability due to road weather management strategies during adverse weather scenarios	X
9. Reduction in tons of salt or chemical usage in the U.S. normalized by winter severity index	X
10. Number of State DOTs participating in MADIS program		X		X
11. Number of State DOTs that subscribe to road weather products and services		X
12. Number of State DOTs collecting mobile observations of road weather data from vehicle fleets		X
13. Number of State DOTs reporting the use of Environmental Sensor Stations (ESS) in operations and maintenance activities		X
14. Number of/percentage of responding agencies using mobile data-based applications in road weather management		X
15. Number of States disseminating advisory weather and road weather information to travelers			X
16. Number of agencies using control and treatment strategies during weather events			X
17. Number of agencies that coordinate with their local forecast offices for road weather management and operations			X
18. Number of agencies adopting MDSS technologies and methods		X
19. Number of agencies using other weather-related decision support tools		X
20. Number of agencies reporting use of appropriate analysis tools to factor weather impacts and strategies		X
21. Number of agencies and attendees who have taken any of the sponsored RWMP training courses and workshops			X
22. Number of agencies and participants in RWM webinars led by the RWMP			X	X
23. Number of agencies that have participated in or conducted RWM capability maturity assessment exercises			X
24. Number of meetings, site visits, or venues where RWM presentations/ briefings were made			X	X
25. Number of agencies conducting vulnerability / risk assessment or developing / implementing resiliency plans for their RWM infrastructure and processes to respond to extreme weather		X	X

Organization of the Report

This report is organized so that each chapter can stand alone. Each chapter covers one of the four categories described in the previous section.

• Chapter 2. Road Weather Management Impacts Assessment, describes the recent findings related to mitigating the mobility, safety, productivity, and economic and environmental impacts of adverse weather conditions.
• Chapter 3. Application of Road Weather Management Tools and Technologies, examines the specific road weather tools and technologies and the extent that State agencies have applied them.
• Chapter 4. Road Weather Management Capacity Building, shows how the RWMP is providing stakeholders with flexible and accessible learning and growth opportunities through training, technical assistance, and resources.
• Chapter 5. Partnerships and Stakeholder Collaboration, describes how the RWMP is collaborating and partnering with public and private stakeholders through various activities.
• Chapter 6. Recommendations and Conclusions, presents takeaways from the 2019 update and recommendations for the RWMP and its next performance measure update.

The report also includes two appendices:

• Appendix A: State Department of Transportation Survey lists the State DOT survey questions and response summary.
• Appendix B: Findings by Measure presents the findings for each performance measure in a concise tabular format.