The AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications are intended for use in the design, evaluation, and rehabilitation of bridges. The specifications employ the Load and Resistance Factor ..... Read More
These guide specifications provide guidance for developing transportation contract specifications and are the national standard for best practices in highway and road construction. This consensus-based guide ..... Read More
This 2020 3rd edition includes the following revisions and updates from the previous 2015 2nd edition: new fracture mechanics-based model for reflective cracking in AC overlays over flexible, ..... Read More
The AASHTO Materials Standards contain specifications, test methods, and provisional standards commonly used in the construction of highway facilities.
The Materials Standards are updated three times ..... Read More
A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, 7th Edition, 2018, commonly referred to as the “Green Book,” contains the current design research and practices for ..... Read More
AASHTO has released a project proposal for the development of AASHTOWare Project Data Analytics. Learn more about this new addition to the AASHTOWare Project Software Series.
One of the benefits of the Connected Vehicle Pilot Project is the ability to generate weather alerts including high wind blow over hazard warnings. This system is proving to be most helpful to commercial traffic along Interstate 80 through Wyoming. During last years Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting Rhonda Young made a presentation on this topic The material she shared is being revisited in this podcast.
Weather Responsive Management Strategies is one of the rapid deployment initiatives that is part of the FHWA program Every Day Counts.Every Day Counts is a program that helps states rapidly deploy proven but underutilized technologies.
When it comes to managing the transportation system during adverse weather events there are three actors involved in making this a success. The maintenance operators who are performing the winter maintenance operations of plowing and applying chemicals to remove the snow and ice from the roads, the network operators who staff the traffic management centers and insure motorists have the most up to date information about the transportation network, and the motorists who actions or inactions can keep the network operating smoothly or tie it in knots.
Every Day Counts #5 – Weather Responsive Management Strategies is designed to demonstrate how road management strategies driven by data from the road users themselves can help keep the system operating smoothly.
Controlling drifting snow has been a winter maintenance challenge for as long as there has been the desire to have mobility.Departments of transportation have using these structures for many years to help keep blowing snow from the roadway.One way to look at the effectiveness is how well they keep snow off the road and another is to see what positive benefit there is for the driver.
On this episode we’re talking with Graduate Student Rachael Larson and Dr. Mohamed Ahmed of the University of Wyoming about a presentation made at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting on recently completed work looking at the safety effectiveness of snow fences in Wyoming based on vehicle crashes.You can view this paper “19-05707 Quantifying the Safety Effectiveness of Snow Fence Implementations Based on Crash Severity and Snow Fence Type Utilizing Contemporary Statistical Analysis Methods” at the TRB Annual Meeting Online 2019 website at http://bit.ly/2JStNcz
Keeping the public moving in all weather conditions is an orchestrated dance between the maintenance forces, the network operators, and the public.The actions of one influences the reactions of the others.Road weather management strategies are employed by both the maintenance forces and the network operators independently or in unison to help mitigate the mobility challenges for the motorists to maintain a safe, reliable transportation system.This is what we call Transportation System Management Operations every day of the year, rain or shine, or TSMO365.
SICOP talks Winter Ops with Steve Cook of the Michigan Department of Transportation, Chairman of the Community of Practice on Road Weather Management and member of the Committee on Transportation System Operations, Committee on Maintenance, and the SICOP Steering Committee.
For more about the Community of Practice on Road Weather Management Strategies click on the LINK
Maintenance is used to responding to severe weather but when the storm escalates into a state of emergency maintenance becomes just one of the players addressing the event.Clear Roads commissioned a project – Emergency Operations Methodology for Extreme Winter Storm Events.SICOP Talks Winter Ops with the Principle Investigator, Jim Sullivan from the University of Vermont – Transportation Research Center and the best practices he uncovered during this project.
For more information about Clear Roads and this project head over to the Clear Roads website at http://clearroads.org
SICOP exists to support member states in fulfilling their winter maintenance mission.As one of AASHTOs Technical Service Programs we are supported through voluntary contributions made by state DOTs.Throughout the year SICOP performs many different activities in this cause.In this episode, SICOP Steering Committee Chair Steve Lund from the Minnesota DOT talks about the accomplishments of the program in 2018. You can see the 2018 Year In Review publication at 2018 year in review.
Send comments directly to the SICOP Coordinator, Rick Nelson at rnelson@aashto.org or start a thread on the Snow & Ice Listserve
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Agencies have been performing winter maintenance in one manner or another for a hundred years. Measuring how well we’ve been doing is a much harder proposition largely because no two storms are alike and the fact that they come and go so quickly and often overlap. Our two guests on this episode are no strangers to winter maintenance; Steve Lund is the State Maintenance Engineer for the Minnesota DOT and Caleb Dobbins is the State Maintenance Engineer for the State of New Hampshire. Both states have well developed programs to measure how well they perform winter service. Listen in as we talk about levels of service and performance metrics in use today and how they are used to manage winter maintenance operations.
Send comments directly to the SICOP Coordinator, Rick Nelson at rnelson@aashto.org or start a thread on the Snow & Ice Listserve
Why do travelers make the decisions they do during bad weather is a much more difficult question than many transportation agencies are geared up to answer.The trinity of successful winter operations is the maintenance operation, the road weather, and the motorist.Highway agencies have focused much resource on the maintenance operation and road weather but not so much on understanding why motorists do what they do.
The National Academy of Sciences impaneled a project team to explore opportunities to integrate social and behavioral sciences in the weather enterprise during 2016-17.I had the privilege and honor to serve on this panel co-chaired by Dr. William “Bill” Hooke, American Meteorological Society, and Dr. Ann Bostrom, University of Washington.Our final report, Integrating Social and Behavioral Sciences within the Weather Enterprise, has implications for surface transportation.
In this episode Dr. Hooke draws some parallels from his past experiences making the case that if we focus some more energy on the motorist we can have a better winter maintenance operation.
Dr. Hooke has been involved in the atmospheric sciences since 1967 when he began working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). During his tenure at NOAA he was involved in many programs and research efforts.In 2000 Dr. Hooke became a Senior Policy Fellow at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and directed the Policy Program from 2001 to 2013.Today he serves as the AMS associate executive director.He authored the book: Living on the Real World: How Thinking and Acting Like Meteorologists Will Help Save The Planet and blogs at Living on the Real World.
The Transportation Research Board is a lot more than the week long Annual Meeting that happens every January. Listen in as SICOP Talks Winter Ops with James Bryant, TRBs Maintenance and Preservation Engineer, as he shares whats on the calendar this next year for the TRB committees on Winter Maintenance and Surface Transportation Weather.
The TRB eNewsletter is another way to keep on top of all the activities and offerings of the TRB throughout the year. Anyone can subscribe through the link HERE
Want to take an active role in the winter committees, AHD65 Winter Maintenance and AH010 Surface Transportation Weather? Head over to My TRB and sign up as friend of the committee to get involved.
Send comments directly to the SICOP Coordinator, Rick Nelson at rnelson@aashto.org or start a thread on the Snow & Ice Listserve
How did the evolution of modern winter maintenance take place? What significant milestones ushered in the tools that make up the modern winter maintenance tool box?
Lee Smithson, formerly of the Iowa Department of Transportation and a past SICOP Coordinator, was one of the few individuals leading the charge that produced significant advancements in winter maintenance technologies. Listen in as SICOP Talks Winter Ops with Lee Smithson, as he shares his recollections on how we got where we are with winter maintenance in the US.
