Citation

Am. City Cty. 2005; 120(10): 46-52.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Penton Media)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article describes a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funded Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS), a new tool for road maintenance managers that will provide help in planning for winter weather before the first snowflake falls. The MDSS is based on diagnostic and prognostic research systems of weather and road behavior. It offers tools to aid maintenance managers, including pavement chemical concentration forecasts, optimized treatment times and strategies, roadway snow depth forecasts, surface frost prediction, material application amounts, pavement surface temperature forecasts, crew scheduling, road mobility forecasts and snow drift prediction. The prototype: fuses data to create an open, integrated and understandable presentation of current environmental and road conditions; processes data to generate diagnostic and prognostic maps of road conditions along road corridors, emphasizing a one- to 48 hour period; and displays the state of the roadway and provides a tool that recommends courses of action for road maintenance.