Wydot Road Reports
Kerrie Gingrich
The Department has reported commuters have been asked to detour around using US 26 through Swan Valley and then into the Snake River Canyon. WYDOT crews are currently evaluating the stability of the area and investigating adjacent areas for potential safety hazards. This is being considered an extended closure and currently, there is no estimated opening date.
WYDOT crews have been working closely with other agencies and partners to secure the area and explore potential interim access, as well as long term reconstruction options. Currently, WYDOT geologists and engineers are confident they can build a safe, temporary detour around the slide area using local fill material and paving two temporary lanes. They are hoping to have a temporary detour open to the public, likely with some strict weight and width restrictions, in a few weeks.
According to WYDOT, geologists and engineers are evaluating the area and putting together a long term plan to rebuild the road. There is no current estimated timeline for that construction. WYDOT will be flying the area with a survey plane and doing some geological drilling in preparation for the reconstruction.
WYDOT is working closely with the US Forest Service to provide access to recreation areas outside the slide area, despite the road closure. Agencies are collaborating to place signage on the road to allow users to access campsites unaffected by both the landslide at milepost 12.8 and the mudslide at milepost 15. Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National park remain open for visitors.
Gordon has issued an Executive Order declaring an emergency in response to both the mudslide at milepost 15 and the landslide at milepost 12.8. The declaration will help the state access additional resources from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to begin the substantial repairs required.
WYDOT reports they are thankful for the quick responsiveness and support from other government agencies, including the US Forest Service and the Idaho Transportation Department, which has allowed WYDOT to mobilize quickly with planning and repairs.
Every year, adverse road weather results in about 6,000 fatalities nationwide and costs more than 32 billion hours of delay among commercial vehicle operators. Improved traffic management strategies during weather events can reduce crashes and resulting delays, but limitations in data coverage and quality have constrained their effectiveness. Specifically, sparsely located road weather sensor stations have prevented agencies from gathering the site-specific information on road weather conditions needed to make informed decisions regarding traffic management and maintenance.
In addition to providing more frequent and timely data, technologies like mobile devices and connected vehicle instruments generate location-specific road weather information. Such information helps transportation agencies make more accurate assessments of conditions and leads to more effective decisionmaking during inclement weather.
To assist agencies in adopting and implementing these technologies, the Road Weather Management Program recently developed guidelines for deploying applications for connected vehicle-enabled weather responsive traffic management.
The effects of weather on the performance of the highway system are well documented. Of the more than 5.7 million crashes that occur each year on U.S. roads, approximately 22 percent, or roughly 1.26 million, occur in inclement weather. Likewise, weather is the cause of an estimated 23 percent of nonrecurring delays on the highways.
Although roads and drivers are not exposed to bad weather every day, the staggering impacts compel transportation agencies to implement both maintenance and traffic management strategies to improve the safety and mobility of the travelers during these conditions. The benefits that result from these actions are significant, whether the responses to weather events are made proactively or reactively.
Since 2004, the Weather Responsive Traffic Management Program has worked with public agencies and the private sector (including weather service providers, researchers, and the academic community) to advance the knowledge, capabilities, and tools used for weather responsive traffic management. Program activities have included determining the state of the practice; identifying best practices; conducting research; providing guidance on integrating weather in traffic management centers; disseminating road weather messages; modeling traffic flow on the transportation system during various weather conditions; and evaluating system performance, including the costs and benefits of traffic management strategies.
The program partnered with a number of transportation agencies in developing, implementing, and evaluating reporting systems for road conditions; weather responsive variable speed limits; traffic signal timing; and advanced traveler information systems, including dynamic message signs, Web sites, weather alerts on mobile devices, and 511 traveler information services. More recently, the program has focused on utilizing mobile and connected vehicle technologies to support improved traffic management strategies in adverse weather.
Many transportation agencies in the United States already are incorporating road weather information, both current and predicted, into their traffic operations and management strategies. Current strategies for weather responsive traffic management range from advisory (alert and warning) systems to traffic signal control, all of which are used to facilitate travel in inclement weather.
Advisory systems make drivers aware of current and impending weather and roadway conditions through passive and active warning systems, en route weather alerts, pretrip road condition information, and pavement condition information.
In 2011, FHWA prepared a comprehensive description of existing and potential strategies for weather responsive traffic management. The report, Developments in Weather Responsive Traffic Management Strategies, details the strategies, where they have been used, the benefits realized, and how to implement and evaluate them. For more information, download the report at _final_report_06302011.pdf.
Recent advances in mobile sensing and data collection technologies for traffic and weather, including those coming from the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and the Connected Vehicles programs at the U.S. Department of Transportation, have helped researchers and practitioners use more accurate, real-time, and location-specific data.
Portable road weather information system (RWIS) sensors are now available to supplement fixed RWIS stations and are an attractive solution for many transportation agencies because of their mobility and ease of relocation. The portable systems are cost-effective and agencies can use them to monitor specific road weather conditions on the sites where deployed.
Electronic tablets and personal mobile devices have become more accessible, powerful, and affordable, and they enable the collection, processing, and dissemination of road weather information from road weather service providers (including transportation agencies) to the public and vice versa.
The project demonstrates how weather, road condition, and other related connected vehicle data can be collected, transmitted, processed, and used to support decisionmaking applications and activities, including traffic management. These technologies are now being actively promoted by FHWA in the fourth round of Every Day Counts. For more information, visit www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_4.
In 2013, the Weather Responsive Traffic Management Program partnered with State DOTs in Michigan, South Dakota, and Wyoming to develop, implement, and evaluate strategies that utilize mobile road weather data (using field devices and vehicles) for traveler information, traffic control, and winter maintenance activities. The ITS Joint Program Office funded all three State projects.
The States shared the same goal: to improve the way they manage traffic conditions during weather events by using field observations from maintenance vehicles to inform and alert travelers through 511, dynamic message signs, Web sites, and mobile applications, as well as control traffic through variable speed limits. The States also share common adverse weather conditions and experience similar impacts on traffic flow from weather.
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) developed a weather responsive traveler information system called Wx-TINFO. The system integrates multiple sources of weather data into one program, enabling transportation operations center (TOC) staff to provide near real-time weather-related advisories and alerts for travelers.
MDOT designed the system to provide more accurate, timely, and effective messaging, enabling the traveling public to make informed travel decisions. In addition, Wx-TINFO provides information on road weather conditions that MDOT maintenance staff can use for weather maintenance operations.
The information for the travel alerts is generated by Wx-TINFO, linked to dynamic message signs in the coverage area, and delivered to the advanced traffic management system automatically. TOC operators retain the ability to approve or override messages from the system if deemed necessary.
The South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) developed and implemented a weather responsive traffic management strategy that involves mobile data collection and traveler information dissemination during weather events. The project simplifies data collection by plow drivers and provides new traveler information to motorists, including 24-hour road condition forecasts.
The SDDOT mobile software application enables plow drivers to directly enter road conditions into the Integrated Roadway Information System using mobile data collectors already in the trucks. This improvement provides drivers with immediate and direct access to the system. Traditionally, drivers had to use radio communication to inform a supervisor, who would then enter the road conditions into the system, or maintenance staff, who would enter it into the system at the end of a run or shift.
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