1	Baselining Current Road Weather Information Road Weather Management Stakeholder Meeting September 9, 2011
2	Project Background FHWA Road Weather Management Program Contract: DTFH61-06-D00006, Task Order 2 Initial study conducted from August 2007 - June 2009 Report: FHWA-JPO-09-055, June 2009 Follow-up study conducted from August 2009 – January 2011 Report: FHWA-JPO-11-018, January 2011 COTM: Dr. Roemer Alfelor
3	Project Objectives To characterize the availability and quality of road weather information focusing on the information content and usefulness. To serve as a baseline for future comparisons of enhanced road weather information enabled by the Clarus system and other advanced road weather management technologies. To recommend a strategy for future monitoring of road weather information quality
4	Methodology Characterize Available Road Weather Information Scan Road Weather Information Sources Characterize Road Weather Information Develop Baselining and Comparison Procedures 2008 Survey Design survey Survey DOT transportation managers (Advisory, Control, Treatment) Analyze and report results 2009 Survey Refine survey Survey DOT transportation managers (Advisory, Control, Treatment) Analyze and report results
5	Road Weather Products
6	Road Weather Elements
7	NWS Current Weather Elements Air Temp Dew Point RH Wind Dir & Speed Weather Precipitation type & amount
8	ESS Current Weather
9	Product Components
10	Product Components 14 Products (2008 survey) 37 Elements (2008 survey) 92 Product Components (2010 survey)
11	Quality Assessment Quality Attributes Accuracy Completeness Relevance Latency Reliability Ease of use Composite average of six attributes Importance
12	Quality Attribute Question
13	Computation of Results STEPS List Likert scores for each Product Component by Attribute Calculate statistics Number of responses Average (mean) Median Standard deviation Range
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15	Interpreting Results - Averages
16	Interpreting Results - Rankings
17	Interpreting Results - Rankings
18	Key Findings Pavement Weather Forecasts Highest rated resource Overall quality attribute ratings were high Watches and Warnings Second in importance and overall quality rating Camera Imagery High in importance High in accuracy and currency Radar Timely and reasonably accurate Derived services need improvement
19	Key Findings ESS Observations Lower level of importance Issues with accuracy, timeliness, and reliability Road Weather Alerts Important to users Users disappointed with content and timeliness Road Condition Reports Average level of importance Issues appear in most quality attributes
20	2008 – 2010 Results Comparison ELEMENTS Advisory - averages increased by 0.54 Control – averages increased by 0.54 Treatment – averages increased by 0.08 PRODUCTS Advisory - averages decreased by 0.19 Control – averages increased by 0.34 Treatment – averages decreased by 0.08
21	General Findings Perceived quality is “good” – Likert score of 4 Attributes needing weather support emphasis: Accuracy Ease of Use Differences between user expectations and perceived quality are affected by: Sensor performance Forecast accuracy Complexity of ‘abstract’ secondary formats Human factors have an important influence on the estimation of quality
22	Recommendations Sample Size Increase the number of participants Expand the sampled community Length of Survey Separate into survey components Perform series of shorter survey components Survey Clarity Use example of product at beginning of each section Simplify questions
23	Program Recommendation FHWA Road Weather Management Program should… Have oversight of an ongoing quality “monitoring” program Establish a road weather information quality attribute database that is periodically updated Guide an open dialog of the monitoring process at appropriate road weather stakeholder community meetings
24	Contact Information Dr. Roemer Alfelor - FHWA Road Weather Management Program Roemer.Alfelor@dot.gov Bob Hart - Meridian Environmental Technology, Inc. bobhart@meridian-enviro.com Leon Osborne - Meridian Environmental Technology, Inc. leono@meridian-enviro.com