Surface Transportation Impacts

This technology has been adopted by private sector firms and State DOTs saving states millions of dollars annually in anti-icing materials and staff time. A USDOT benefits study indicated that the annual net benefit of using MDSS outweighed the costs, by significant amounts, ranging from $2.68 million to $488,000 in New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Colorado. Indiana DOT saved $12M in one winter using the MDSS.

Pikalert® is currently installed and configured for real-time operations for 5 state departments of transportation (DOTs), along with a single private company that provides snow plow guidance to local freelance snow-removal companies. The Pikalert System also includes a quality-control module that notifies state DOT’s about potential problems within their RWIS sensors, helping states to more rapidly correct sensor failures. Pikalert not only provides hazard and treatment forecasts, but also provides winter storm guidance to National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters. 

The ML models developed through this research can be used at RWIS stations around the state that don’t currently offer friction measurements. It can also be used in between RWIS stations by leveraging available forecast data, helping state maintenance managers more accurately anticipate and respond to weather-related impacts for the traveling public.  This research earned the AASHTO award for High Value Research. 

LOGICast™ is being used as a core forecasting technology by commercial weather companies. Leveraging this system, other applications now include road temperature forecasts along an entire roadway, and soil temperature forecasts for agriculture.