Clarus Initiative: Overview and Progress James Pol, PE, PMP USDOT ITS Joint Program Office MDSS Stakeholder Meeting #7 October 2005

2

3 The Problem Adverse Weather affects Operations and Safety –1.57 million weather-related crashes, leaving over 713,000 injured and over 7,300 dead (annually, based on an 8 year average) –Delay caused by adverse weather has reached nearly 1 billion hours per year NOAA estimates that weather adversely affects 1/3 of nation’s GDP

4 What Travelers Typically Get SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC 505 AM EST FRI DEC FOGGY AND WET MORNING COMMUTE... WIDESPREAD FOG CONTINUES ACROSS THE REGION...WITH VISIBILITIES REDUCED TO NEAR ZERO IN SOME LOCATIONS. IN ADDITION...RAIN WILL CAUSE PONDING OF WATER ON SOME ROADWAYS ACROSS LOWER SOUTHERN MARYLAND AND ACROSS SOME COMMUNITIES EAST AND SOUTHEAST OF BALTIMORE AND THE DISTRICT...WHILE LIGHTER AND MORE ISOLATED SHOWERS ROAM THE REMAINDER OF THE REGION THROUGH THE MORNING COMMUTE. MOTORISTS SHOULD SLOW DOWN AND USE CAUTION DURING THE MORNING COMMUTE DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF WET ROADWAYS AND LOW VISIBILITIES.

5 Stakeholder Coordination System Design FY04FY05FY06FY07FY08FY09 Multi-State Regional Demonstration Final Design, Model Deployment Track 2 Track 3 Track 1 Clarus Roadmap Overview

6 Value to the Public Sector Offset some of the deployment costs of new Environmental Sensor Stations (ESS) by integrating observations from other surface observation sources –Asset multiplier to additional sources of data that otherwise would not be integrated Utilization of quality-controlled data –More effective decision-making –Better forecasting –More informed operations management of the State DOT’s resources –Direct QC feedback to DOT ESS maintainers –Easy access to RWIS data from neighbor districts and states Low cost to implement, reduced cost for determining maintenance needs

7 Value to the Weather Enterprise Steady, reliable access to quality assessed data Improved market entry for value added services –Tailored, niche, and personalized dissemination Improved quality data stream for new forecast development –New models are sensitive to quality of data –Broader geographic and temporal range of data Clarus will likely be the portal to access VII-related weather data

8 Activities & Actions Concept of Operations –Complete System Design Contract –High Level Requirements completed –Configuration Management Plan drafted, minor comments collected –System Architectural Description drafted; currently under review –ESS Survey drafted; currently under review –Detailed Requirements under development Task Force meeting scheduled for Nov. 1 & 2

9 Activities & Actions On-going coordination with NOAA –Information sharing with Forecast Systems Laboratory and National Weather Service Business models assessment –Comprehend the capabilities of enterprise to sustain Clarus post- initiative phase Research Projects –VII project (UCAR) –CCTV project (MIT/LL) –Phased Array Radar requirements development

10 Upcoming Activities ICC Meeting #3 –Salt Lake City, UT –Review of the Design Development progress to date –Stakeholder feedback on the Detailed Requirements –Will include tour of Utah DOT TMC and MesoWest –Nov th Clarus System Proof-of-Concept –March through September, 2006 Clarus presentations/papers –TRB, January 2006 –AMS, January 2006

11 Contacts Paul Pisano FHWA Office of Transportation Operations (202) James Pol, PE, PMP USDOT ITS Joint Program Office (202) Web site information