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National Highway Visibility
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Greetings: I?m interested in determining who would be interested in participating in the upcoming National Highway Visibility Conference, which will be weather-related (and more specifically fog-related) . We?ve had an initial planning meeting April 8, 2003, and we think the conference will be in early 2004, hosted by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT;
http://www.dot.state.wi.us/). The intention of this project is to follow-up on the last National Highway Visibility Conference ? held in Huntsville, AL in 1996 ? as well as in response to the recent fog-related I-43 accident involving 45 cars and trucks, leading to 10 fatalities, in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, on October 11, 2002. In March 2003, this conference was awarded $20K by the FHWA Resource Center?s Technology & Innovation Funding Program, and the initial sponsors include the Wisconsin Division, FHWA; FHWA Midwestern Resource Center; Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT); Midwest Regional University Transportation Center (MRUTC) AND University of Wisconsin; FHWA Washington Office -Traffic Management Team Lead; Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Wisconsin Division. Participants can be from anywhere that has an interest in highway visibility issues, particularly fog-related: FHWA, State Highway Administrations (SHAs), local government agencies, academic and research institutions, vendors, manufacturers, consultants, etc. Please post a reply here, or e-mail me. Call me if you want. Best regards, Mark R. Chandler, PE, CMfgE Technology Transfer/Quality Engineer; Marketing U.S. DOT - FHWA Wisconsin Division 567 D'Onofrio Dr. Madison, WI 53719-2844 office: 608-829-7514 fax: 608-829-7526 mark.chandler@fhwa.dot.gov
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/widiv/index.htm
Mark - Our road weather team here at NCAR would be interested in the visibility conference from two perspectives: a) gaining a better understanding of user (state DOT) needs and decision processes related to fog events, and b) trying to identify unmet needs that require R&D before a solution can be found. We currently are working on winter maintenance problems (Maintenance Decision Support System) for the FHWA, but are increasingly turning our engineering and scientific skills toward emergency evacuations, congestion, and visibility problems. FHWA POC: Shelley Row (leaving at end of June) and Paul Pisano (HOTO). Rich
Dear Mr. Chandler, I've got dust problems. I'm down in then SW corner of New Mexico. Over the past 6 years, we have had a significant number of multi-vehicle crashes with fatalities due to limited visibility from air born dust on the I-10 corridor. Wish it was fog, then that would mean that there is actually some moisture in the air. The drought continues, adjacent pastures are poor and the wind keeps blowing...... Yeah, I'm interested. --PWG
I would be interested in participating in a highway fog conference. Another person would be Bruce Whiffen als with the Meteorological Service of Canada. His e-mail is identical in structure to mine. Regards,
I would like to share with you the comments I made to the FHWA earlier today. Recently, at the National Rural ITS Conference in FL, I heard of interest in using satellite technology to locate fog or low visibility threats. Based on my understanding of this satellite technology, it could provide a wide area watch, but not the resolution for warnings. The critical goal of any fog systems should be reducing vehicle speed differentiation. Lighted delinators and pavement markings can actually increase speed differentiation, by increasing confidence in some drivers and not in others. Warnings or alerts that are grossly conservative will only increase driver complacency. Generic messages ("fog ahead, use caution"), have less impact on driver behavior (reduced speed differentiation)than dynamic speed limits (advisory or enforceable). We also need to look more closely at fog sensing and alerting packages that are "off the shelf", which can provide lower costs (higher ROI), improved functionality and flexibility, and easier / lower costs on maintenance support, than the use of "snow and ice" RWIS for fog.
Greetings: The Planning Committe has selected the date and location for National Highway Visibility Conference. We?re looking toward a Monday May 17th, 2004 evening registration and then an evening icebreaker, an all day program Tuesday May 18th, and Wednesday May 19th, 8 am to noon (or slightly later, 2 pm); vendor time from Monday evening to Wed. after closing. Will be located in Madison, WI, on the UWMadison campus. Meals, hotel, request for papers, distance participation are being worked out now and more details will follow. Please contact me if you have any questions or comments. Mark R. Chandler, PE, CMfgE Technology Transfer/Quality Engineer; Marketing U.S. DOT - FHWA Wisconsin Division 567 D'Onofrio Dr. - Suite 100 Madison, WI 53719-2844 office: 608-829-7514 fax: 608-829-7526 mark.chandler@fhwa.dot.gov
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/widiv/index.htm
Would visibility in blowing snow be a subject of interest? Have any papers on this subject been proposed? Has there been a formal invitation for papers? Thanks, ron
Hi, Ron. The Planning Committee has intentionally skirted the issue of blowing snow, which has some very similiar characteristic to 'fog-related highway visibility.' There are other conferences that specifically deal with Winter Maintenance and that tends to cover the issues of blowing snow. To differentiate our topic, we are probably not going to specifically ask for papers on this specific topic. However, you may have notices that there has been postings on blowing sand/dust in the west, and other atypical conditions such as smoke + fog. So I'll leave it open, and I'll bring it up at the next Planning Committee meeting. Do you (or anyone else) have any relevant resources you'd like to point out, or suggest more strongly we might consider blowing snow? I'll try to follow up after the next Planning Committe meeting in a couple of weeks. We are getting the vendor contract for handling the request for papers. best regards, Mark Chandler
Greetings: The May 18-19 2004 fog-related 2004 National Highway Visibility Conference Conference website is now available at www.topslab.wisc.edu/nhvc This includes online registration; event program; exhibitors/sponsors; distance participation information, lodging/transportation, contact information and other visibility resources. best regards, Mark R. Chandler, PE, CMfgE Technology Transfer/Quality Engineer; Marketing U.S. DOT - FHWA Wisconsin Division 567 D'Onofrio Dr. - Suite 100 Madison, WI 53719-2844 office: 608-829-7514 fax: 608-829-7526 mark.chandler@fhwa.dot.gov
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/widiv/index.htm May 18-19 2004 fog-related 2004 National Highway Visibility Conference Conference website: www.topslab.wisc.edu/nhvc Related website:
http://knowledge.fhwa.dot.gov/nhv
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This page last updated on 11/23/2009 01:39:10 PM |
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