2019 Road Weather Management Performance Measures Update

Chapter 4. Road Weather Management Capacity Building

Overview

Capacity building refers to providing stakeholders with flexible, accessible learning, and growth through training, technical assistance, and educational resources. When applied to road weather management, it includes activities and products that improve the performance of weather-related actions. This includes participation in various stakeholder meetings, road weather research and development (R&D) projects, training programs, conferences, and webinars. The goal of capacity building is to improve individual as well as organizational capacities for addressing and overcoming road weather problems.

Performance Findings

Participation in Road Weather Management Meetings and Communities of Practice

State DOT participation in meetings and workshops has dramatically increased since the prior update. Notably, an increasing number of States are sending representatives to the annual road weather management stakeholder meeting; 32 State DOTs were represented at the 2019 stakeholder meeting, up from 29 in 2017 and 2018. In addition, there is a growing interest in the Every Day Counts (EDC) innovations for road weather management. In 2018, 5 EDC-5 Summits attracted participants from 48 States. Figure 18 shows the consistent and strong levels of attendance at the various road weather management meetings.

Participation in Capability Maturity Improvement Workshops

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Operations created six transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) Capability Maturity Frameworks (CMF) to assist agencies in assessing their capabilities within major operations areas and to identify areas for improvement. The Road Weather Management Program (RWMP) facilitates Road Weather Management CMF workshops for all interested agencies, walking participants through the self-evaluation tool, and using the findings to help identify a list of prioritized actions that the agency can use to increase capabilities in road weather management.

Since the 2017 update, an additional 6 agencies have conducted a Road Weather Management CMF workshop, bringing the total number of State DOTs involved up to 16. An additional 4 agencies have expressed interest in hosting a workshop at some time.

Participation in Road Weather Management-Sponsored Training and Webinars

RWMP staff and contractors supported 26 workshops and 13 webinars in 2017, and 28 workshops and 17 webinars in 2018. These events covered a variety of topics of interest to operations and maintenance professionals, including the EDC-4 and EDC-5 initiatives, transportation system resilience as it relates to adverse weather, cost and benefit analyses, and the potential of connected and autonomous vehicles.

Road Weather Management Engagement with Stakeholders in Public Conferences

The content, topics, sponsors, and attendees evolve among the road weather management workshops or conferences, and the reliability of attendance data can vary. It therefore is difficult to draw conclusions by comparing one event to another. Rather, the RWMP compiles reported attendance (number of participants and number of State agencies) to derive a broad idea of the national interest and involvement in road weather management topics. All public activities and the associated number of participants and agencies represented are shown in Table 3. RWMP staff and contractors regularly make presentations, briefings, and demonstrations at various workshops and conferences, which extends the reach of the program beyond its own activities. Some of these activities also are listed in Table 3. For the 2017-2019 reporting period, RWMP staff and contractors attended or facilitated at least 137 conferences, meetings, or peer exchanges, reaching well over 9,400 participants.

Table 3. Meetings with Road Weather Program Representation, 2017-2019

Year	Road Weather Program Activities, 2017-2019	Number of Participants	Number of State Agencies
2017	Chicago Analysis, Modeling, & Simulation (AMS) Stakeholder Meeting, Chicago, IL	17	5
2017	American Meteorology Society 2017 Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA	80	N/A
2017	Aurora Pooled Fund Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT	27	19
2017	IMRCP Stakeholder Webinar	35	10
2017	Clear Roads Pooled Fund Meeting	20	15
2017	Resilience to Extreme Weather Events Workshop	25	10
2017	AMS Washington Forum	150	2
2017	Road Weather Management Stakeholder Meeting	140	29
2017	4th National Weather Responsive Traffic Management Stakeholder Meeting	70	25
2017	AASHTO Subcommittee of Transportation System Management & Operations Annual Meeting: Weather Workshop, SD	55	25
2017	Weather-Savvy Roads Webinar for Local Communities	100	N/A
2017	Road Weather Management Regional Roundtable #1	33	10
2017	Road Weather Management Regional Roundtable #2	30	12
2017	Road Weather Management Regional Roundtable #3	31	14
2017	Pikalert Peer Exchange	25	6
2017	AASHTO Summit on Resiliency for Extreme Weather and Climate Change, DC	150	20
2017	Optimal Messaging for Dynamic Message Signs	50	25
2018	American Meteorology Society 2018 Annual Meeting, Austin, TX	130	N/A
2018	TRB Annual Meeting, Washington, DC	25	8
2018	Office of Policy about Transportation Data & Governance—Policy Symposium	20	8
2018	CMF and Resilience Overlay Webinar	N/A	N/A
2018	Road Weather Management Regional Roundtable #1	31	11
2018	Road Weather Management Regional Roundtable #2	32	15
2018	Road Weather Management Regional Roundtable #3	31	11
2018	Every Day Counts (EDC-4)/Effective Weather Messaging	N/A	N/A
2018	Weather Responsive Traffic Management Using Connected Vehicle Data	N/A	N/A
2018	Aurora Spring Meeting, Seattle, WA	35	20
2018	ITS Virginia Annual Meeting	80	1
2018	National Webinar: Deployment of CV-Enabled WRTM	125	22
2018	APWA North American Snow Conference	50	1
2018	EDC-4/Weather-Savvy Roads Webinar	100	3
2018	NWS Winter Weather Program Meeting	30	N/A
2018	AASHTO Connected and Automated Technology Coalition: IOO/OEM Forum	40	15
2018	Salt Management Strategies TOPS-Advisory Committee	47	2
2018	National Webinar: Enhancing Transportation Systems Operations Capabilities to Address Weather and Climate Trends	30	10
2018	National Dialogue Launch, MI	150	25
2018	Automated Vehicle Symposium, CA	32	4
2018	2018 AASHTO Maintenance Committee Meeting, NC	400	45
2018	2018 AASHTO Winter Technical Service Program Meeting, NC	N/A	N/A
2018	EDC-5 Kickoff Meeting	N/A	N/A
2018	CMF Workshop: Weather Resilience & CMF	30	3
2018	National Weather Association Annual Meeting, MO	300	N/A
2018	AASHTO Committee on Transportation Systems Operations	120	25
2018	National Webinar: IMRCP	64	14
2018	National Dialogue, Seattle, WA	N/A	N/A
2018	National Dialogue, Atlanta, GA	N/A	N/A
2018	2018 Road Weather Management Stakeholder Meeting	142	29
2018	EDC-5 Pre-Deployment Webinar 1	50	10
2018	EDC-5 Pre-Deployment Webinar 2	50	10
2018	American Meteorology Society: Automated Vehicles & Meteorology Summit	90	N/A
2018	TRB: Resilience Innovations Summit & Exchange	40	10
2018	National Dialogue, Phoenix, AZ	130	20
2018	American Public Works Association (APWA): Click, Listen & Learn Webinar	25	2
2018	EDC-5, Baltimore, MD	250	8
2018	EDC-5, Albany, NY	N/A	N/A
2018	EDC-5, St. Louis, MO	30	8
2018	National Dialogue, Dallas, TX	200	25
2018	EDC-5, Portland, OR	300	12
2018	EDC-5, Orlando, FL	N/A	N/A
2018	Road Weather Management Regional Roundtable #1	34	13
2018	Road Weather Management Regional Roundtable #2	32	11
2018	Road Weather Management Regional Roundtable #3	31	12
2019	American Meteorology Society 2019 Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ	90	N/A
2019	TRB Annual Meeting, Washington, DC	25	7
2019	Northwest Passage Pooled Fund Study	N/A	N/A
2019	AASHTO Committee on Transportation Systems Operations (CSO)	65	30
2019	IMRCP Stakeholder Group	17	5
2019	Aurora Pooled Fund Meeting, San Diego, CA	30	20