Abstract

AbstractThe use of road weather information systems for the winter maintenance of roads is now widespread around the world. However, road weather forecasts are normally only made available for a limited number of road sensor sites in a region. For example, in Birmingham, UK, there is one forecast site for 26 salting routes. XRWIS is the next generation road weather information system that forecasts for every 20 m along each salting route (typically 50 km long) using a geographical information system, sky‐view factor analysis and mesoscale weather forecasts. Treatment requirements for each salting route are then visualised in simple ‘traffic‐light’ style colours. In a recent winter‐long trial in Devon, UK, up to 78 salting runs on six salting routes could have been prevented saving up to £80,000 in labour and materials. Other potential applications of XRWIS include the prediction of low rail adhesion in winter, due to ice, frost and snow, and track buckling in summer.

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