Alberta Road Weather Information Systems Network Expansion, Winter Risk Assessment and Priority List for Advanced Winter Maintenance Strategies

In 2003, Alberta Transportation (AT) completed an Advanced Traveller Information System (ATIS) and Advanced Transportation Management System (ATMS) Blueprint project. Part of this project was to determine where Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) sites should be located on the National Highway System (NHS) to provide the optimal coverage. After deployments it was recognized that coverage solely on the NHS resulted in gaps in the real-time and forecast road condition information throughout the province. In 2008, AT undertook an RWIS expansion study to identify the gaps and determine which technology would best provide the relevant road weather information necessary to support winter maintenance activities. The expected outcome of this project is a consistent coverage across the province which will redefine current maintenance levels on a regional basis, reduce priority based maintenance activities, and help in the continued provision of a consistent level of service. Based on the relative ranking of the risk and a short list of winter risk mitigation strategies, AT was provided with a relative ranking and priority list for deployment of advanced winter maintenance technologies. This paper will discuss the regional and micro level RWIS assessments that were completed. It will also review the risk assessment which identified the locations with a high winter collision risk. Finally, the paper will overview the resulting deployment plan which recommended approximately 20 RWIS sites on the provincial highway system.