Integrating Weather into Transportation Operations: A Utah Department of Transportation Case Study

Recent years have brought increased awareness of the impacts of weather on surface transportation operations. A variety of approaches to improve the utilization of weather information have emerged, including investments in technologies, such as road weather information systems and decision support systems, and an increasing array of private-sector and public-sector sources of weather information, including emerging initiatives such as Clarus. One recent trend, documented in federal studies, is the idea of integrating weather information into transportation operations decisions. This is a promising direction for improving the reliability and safety of the transportation system. The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has taken an innovative step in this direction through the creation of a weather operations program as a part of UDOT. The weather operations program utilizes an in-house meteorologist, augmented by private-sector forecasting support, to provide customized weather information to a variety of users within UDOT, ranging from winter maintenance to construction to operations. A research project was conducted to examine this unique program more closely to see how its services were used by DOT customers to change and improve business practices. The project included surveys of many UDOT maintenance foremen and construction engineers, as well as a quantitative benefit–cost analysis based on data collected regarding winter maintenance activities and outcomes. The results of the research showed that the weather operations program provides significant benefits to UDOT merely from a winter maintenance perspective. There are additional benefits of the weather operations program to other functions within UDOT that, though not quantified in the research project, were clearly indicated. This paper describes the findings of the research project, with the idea of applying it as a case study for consideration by other states. The paper will integrate other recent studies that have explored the question of how weather can support transportation operations and will highlight directions for promising innovations in this direction on the basis of what was learned in the UDOT experience.