Weather Report: How DOTs Are Shielding Road Users From the Forces of Nature

This article describes the history of the development of road-weather information systems (RWIS) in the U.S. as an outgrowth of a decision in 1999 by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to use technology to mitigate the effect of weather on roadway crashes and injuries and deaths. In 2002, the influential WIST (Weather Information for Surface Transportation) Report was issued. Approval for the 511 service to provide weather information soon followed. A major result is that motorists are much more concerned about potential weather impacts and seek out information about weather more aggressively. Plans to expand the scope of weather information systems include satellite radio providers and commercial mapping and guidance systems. The Clarus Initiative, a government-sponsored effort to coordinate and synthesize weather information for government services such as snow removal or traffic management is another step in extending the scope of RWIS. Plans are to eventually use two-way communications between vehicles and infrastructure to provide even more up-to-date and complete data.