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Web-based Road Monitoring
James Evans writes "The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are testing a Web-based system for weather forecasting and winter road treatment that could soon save lives, cut costs, and help keep millions of drivers on the move. Highway officials and road crews in Des Moines and Ames, Iowa, will test the Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS) February 3 to April 4. The MDSS uses several computer models to project hour-by-hour weather and road conditions up to two days in advance, with an update every three hours."
I used to live on a mountain and came down several times a week. It would often start snowing while I was off the mountain and I would call the Highway Patrol to ask about the roads. There were 2 highways I could take and, invariably, the Highway Patrol would tell me that both were unsafe and that I should not drive on either.
Luckily, I only took their word for it the first time. I drove a Geo Metro (the only way I could afford the gas with the mileage I was putting on at the time) and never had any problem whatsoever with either highway.
I hope this system doesn't default to "roads are unsafe" or else people will stop bothering to check.
The truth doesn't care what I think.
At first I though? What? Why are they testing this in Iowa? Then, I saw the light . . .
As a Des Moines native and a student at Iowa State University in Ames, I can see why they picked these roads. The sections of highway that were picked for this test have very predictable traffic patterns. One can always count on the Des Moines "rush-15-minutes" and the commute from surrounding small towns to Des Moines. By using roads in a smaller city, with very predictable traffic patterns, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Federal Highway Administration have eliminated many of the variables associated with larger cities.
Of course, this probably means that Iowa State University will be less likely to cancel classes due to poor road conditions . . . but I'm a Computer Engineer, so it's not like I have anything better to do than to go to class. :-)
...we've had this kind of service offered by Finnish Road Administartion for years, I believe it was opened in 98-99 or so. It's in English too, you can check it out here. It has been a great help many times. Especially those dozens of almost-real-time weather cameras by roads all over the country are very nifty. This one, for example, is quite near where I was born. Pretty sad picture at the moment :(