Weather and Surface Transportation A New Collaboration Presented By Arthur L. Handman Greater Hartford Transit District

Col`lab`o`ra´tion Act of working jointly Act of cooperating traitorously with an enemy that is occupying your country

The Issue Adverse weather estimated to play a role, directly or indirectly, in 800,000 injuries and 7,000 fatalities annually from vehicle crashes About 28 % of all highway crashes and 19 % of all fatalities are weather related $42 billion is the estimated annual economic cost, just from weather-related crashes (deaths, injuries and property)

The Players People affected The public – drivers and riders Transportation providers – highways and transit Maintenance workers Emergency responders

The Players (Continued) People trying to help Weather information providers (public & private) Weather instrumentation providers Transportation providers and agencies

Problematic Current Practices Weather products today generally insufficient for transportation operations Too generalized - Ground observations plentiful, but not managed to form coherent picture Communication issues – Processing, dissemination to multi user community

Clarus Initiative Collaborative effort of FHWA et al. Demonstration of a regional road weather observational data management and forecasting system & partnership to establish a nationwide road weather observation network. Reduction of impact of adverse weather for all road and transit users and operators

Who will benefit from Clarus? State and Municipal DOTs (Traffic & Maintenance Mgrs.) Public Weather “Forecasting” Agencies (NOAA/NWS) Public Weather “Consumer” Agencies (USDA, DHS, DOD) Private Weather Information Providers (data & forecasts) Electronic & Print Media (traffic reporters, USA Today) Road Users (Commuters, Tourists, CVO/Truckers) New innovations/VII (e.g., OnStar) Mass Transit Rail General Public

The second definition arises….. Turf wars among stakeholders Federal DoT vs. state Dots Public vs. private weather organizations Manufacturers proprietary interests vs. federal standards Internal Jurisdictional conflicts “Maintenance” vs. “operations” Researcher vs. practitioner

Other Challenges to Address Broader modernization efforts within NWS/NOAA Data ownership & licensing Vehicle Information Integration (VII) and other emerging technology Institutional barriers for sharing Liability

Purpose Promote multilateral stakeholder ownership, consensus in design & build partnerships. Activities Establish partnership with NOAA Create Interagency Coordinating Committee Directly engage stakeholders at key decision points and throughout the initiative Source of interdisciplinary expertise for design reviews and guidance Transportation; Weather; Private Sector The Fix? - Stakeholder Coordination

Success will result in….. Enhanced forecasting for surface transportation Stable, reliable access to road weather information and other weather sources Broadened participation for NOAA/NWS in surface transportation weather A regional model deployment of the observation data-sharing network and a suite of forecasting tools enabled through the Clarus system design

Questions?