Evaluation of the Wyoming DOT's Road Condition Reporting Application
Cheyenne, Wyoming, United States
Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) Road Condition Reporting Application for Weather Responsive Traffic Management: Final Report
Summary Information
The U.S. DOT FHWA partnered with the Wyoming DOT (WYDOT) to develop a weather responsive traffic management (WRTM) application to improve the way WYDOT maintenance personnel report road weather data, recommend variable speed limit (VSL) changes, and report traffic incidents. The new application designed to work with tablet computers enabled maintenance staff to connect to Wyoming’s statewide communication system backbone called WyoLink.
FINDINGS
Although the deployment was technically complex and required intense management attention, the application improved the effectiveness and efficiency of WYDOT road condition reporting activities and TMC operations. The following conclusions were excerpted from the source report.
- Strong support for the application and corresponding system was expressed by both maintenance staff and TMC operators with 100 percent and 89 percent, respectively, stating that the DOT is better off with the new system
- In addition to the application, traffic management was improved through the development and implementation of supporting data management systems, such as TRAC and traveler information update automation software
- Significant TMC operator time savings were calculated from the automation of several key tasks – data logging and traveler information system updates. Based on road reports including storm days and non-storm days from January 2014 to December 2014, WYDOT estimated that using the application can result in more than one person-year of time savings
- Efficiency of data collection, transmission, and management were realized, allowing for a higher frequency of road condition reporting and VSL change requests
- Accuracy of the traveler information was improved due to higher-frequency reporting of the conditions from the field and resulting higher DMS/VSL update rates
- Accuracy of information transmitted to the TMC from the field was substantially improved, specifically road condition reports, VSL change requests, and other reporting such as location of incidents
- Future system enhancements were identified to further refine the application and related systems to improve the application of the new technology in the next winter season.