Weather Issues In Transportation

Weather has broad and significant effects on the roadway environment. Snow, rain, fog, ice, freezing rain, and other weather conditions can impair the ability of drivers to operate their vehicles safely, significantly reduce roadway capacity, and dramatically increase travel times. Multiple roadway activities, from roadway maintenance and construction to shipping, transit, and police operations, are directly affected by inclement weather. Some road weather information is available to users currently, however a disconnect remains between current research and operations, and additional research could yield important safety and economic improvements for roadway users. Meteorology, roadway technology, and vehicle systems have evolved to the point where users could be provided with better road weather information through modern information technologies. The combination of these technologies has the potential to significantly increase the efficiency of roadway operations, road capacity, and road safety. Where the Weather Meets the Road provides a roadmap for moving these concepts to reality.

Weather can have a profound, negative impact on mobility and traveler safety. Nationally, adverse weather is a factor in 1.5 million car and truck crashes and costs society nearly $42 billion annually. Through intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and better road weather information, winter maintenance managers, traffic managers, and travelers now have the opportunity to manage traffic and travel to more effectively ameliorate weather's safety and productivity challenges. In the past few years, weather-related transportation issues have become a priority for the national research agenda. On June 14, 2004, the Iowa Department of Transportation hosted a regional, multi-disciplined forum. The purpose of the forum was to identify Midwest regional research and technology transfer priorities in weather-related transportation research and to discuss the possibility of establishing a regional research program to support the national road weather research agenda. The June 14 Weather Issues in Transportation focus group forum provided an opportunity for transportation agency professionals, professionals representing transportation users, commercial weather data and forecast providers, and members of the meteorology community to express their priorities for weather-related transportation research and technology transfer. Focus groups were organized into the following eight initiatives: (1) Weather Providers, (2) Weather Users, (3) Maintenance Equipment & Technologies, (4) Maintenance Management, (5) Maintenance Operations, (6) Traffic Operations & Safety, (7) Intermodal Traffic, and (8) Design & Construction. The focus groups identified and ranked 25 research problem statements that would require over $20 million for first-year funding if all projects were started in the same year.

Climate Change Adaptation for Transportation Systems examines the international state of knowledge on climate change and weather and their potential impacts on the planning, design and serviceability of transportation networks. The book describes alternative frameworks for adapting to climate change in the planning, provision and management of transportation systems. It discusses methods and models for including climate and weather factors in planning and design for use in transportation asset systems under risk and uncertainty. Giving specific attention to road, rail, ports and harbors, the book provides users with the tools they need in decision-making approaches where there is uncertainty. Examines the impact of climate change and extreme weather on the performance and serviceability of transportation assets Explores the issues, methods, frameworks, models and techniques for assessing transportation systems' performance, including considerations for climate and the environment Provides case studies from around the world to illustrate methods, covering a wide range of climatic conditions, considerations and approaches for transportation planners

This report addresses the fundamental challenges that climate change poses to infrastructure owners, who face two major challenges. First, they must ensure continued asset performance under sometimes significantly modified climate conditions that may decrease the present value of their networks ...

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Division on Earth and Life Studies (DELS) have released the pre-publication version of TRB Special Report 290, The Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation, which explores the consequences of climate change for U.S. transportation infrastructure and operations. The report provides an overview of the scientific consensus on the current and future climate changes of particular relevance to U.S. transportation, including the limits of present scientific understanding as to their precise timing, magnitude, and geographic location; identifies potential impacts on U.S. transportation and adaptation options; and offers recommendations for both research and actions that can be taken to prepare for climate change. The book also summarizes previous work on strategies for reducing transportation-related emissions of carbon dioxide--the primary greenhouse gas--that contribute to climate change. Five commissioned papers used by the committee to help develop the report, a summary of the report, and a National Academies press release associated with the report are available online. DELS, like TRB, is a division of the National Academies, which include the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council.

"Extreme weather such as floods, hurricanes, snow storms, and prolonged heat test the people and infrastructure that make up our transportation systems. This study examined eight recent cases of extreme weather in the United States from the perspectives of transportation operations, maintenance, design, construction, planning, communications, interagency coordination, and data and knowledge management." -- Preface.

This report addresses the fundamental challenges that climate change poses to infrastructure owners, who face two major challenges. First, they must ensure continued asset performance under sometimes significantly modified climate conditions that may decrease the present value of their networks or increase maintenance and refurbishment costs. Second, they must build new assets in the context of changing and uncertain climate variables. This creates a risk of over- or under-specification of infrastructure design standards, potentially resulting in non-productive investments or network service degradation. This report investigates strategies that can help transport authorities contain network performance risks inherent in changing patterns of extreme weather.