The Guide for Snow and Ice Control was first published back in 1999 and with the exception of an addendum has remained unchanged since then. Since then there has been a vast amount of research, field trials, and advancements in winter maintenance and road weather technologies. In 2018 a project was launched through the National Cooperative Highway Research Program to rewrite the Guide incorporating the latest state of the practice. The new guide has been produced, accepted by AASHTO’s Committee on Maintenance, and is in the process of being published by AASHTO as the AASHTO Guide for Snow and Ice Control.

While we don’t know exactly when the new Guide will be released, Brad Darr, Chair of the Committee on Maintenance - Maintenance Operations Technical Working Group, John Habermann, Texas A&M Transportation Institute and Principal Investigator for the project, and Diana Clonch, Subject Matter Expert supporting the project give us some insight into the new Guide, what you can expect to see in it, and how it came to be.

For more information on this project and the new Guide you can reach out to Brad Darr at bdarr@nd.gov John Habermann at j-habermann@tti.tamu.edu and/or Diana Clonch at dwclonch@gmail.com

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In 2004 a group of 5 states got together and pooled their money to test winter maintenance materials, equipment and methods for use by highway maintenance operations. The program has grown to 40 states and amassed a large collection of research and training. The Clear Roads Pooled Fund Program is funded through a $25,000 annual contribution per subscribing state and is eligible for SP&R federal pass through dollars.

Craig Bargfrede, Winter Maintenance Administrator for the Iowa DOT also serves as the current Chair of the Clear Roads Pooled Fund Study and is our guest to explain the program.

For more information you can check out the Clear Roads website at clear roads.org or reach out to Craig Bargfrede at craig.bargfrede@iowadot.us or Greg Waidley at greg.waidley@ctcandassociates.com

Listen in as Craig talks about the Clear Roads program and how it works to clear roads.

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Twenty years ago in 2004 “Where The Weather Meets The Road” was published by the National Academy of Science and it proposed a research roadmap over the next 20-years to advance road weather services. Now in 2024 the future described in Where The Weather Meets The Road is here Paul Pisano, Chair of the TRB Road Weather Committee and Dr. Gina Eosco, Division Chief, Science, Technology, and Society for the Weather Program Office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were both involved in this report and are here to discuss where we were, where we’ve come, and what the future might hold.

Check out the report at this link Where The Weather Meets The Road

You can continue the discussion of what you think the future of road weather management holds with Paul Pisano or Dr. Gina Eosco

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Full scale testing of modern snowplow blades can be a difficult and often unrepeatable proposition depending on the weather and where your test track is located. In this episode Alex Klein-Paste of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) set about to design scale model testing of a particular snowplow blade design in a laboratory setting. Alex demonstrated that these tests closely mirror their full scale counterparts and set the stage for rapid development and testing of various designs. This work was presented at the 2024 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

Check out this video of the model snow plow clearing snow at this link
https://youtu.be/KDTDGT96-j0?si=gcwmTeQbjWs_dN4t

You can reach out directly to Alex by email at alex.klein-paste@ntnu.no and view the high speed videography of the plow blade tests at link here.

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You would think that it wouldn’t be difficult to see something as big as a snowplow but during a winter storm event at night you’d be surprised how hard it is recognize a slow moving maintenance vehicle. In this episode Jeff Pifer, Director of the Equipment Division at the West Virginia Division of Highways discusses techniques that are being used to make snowplows and other maintenance vehicles more conspicuous. Vehicle color, lighting packages, and reflective markings and patterns are the topic of discussion.

Clear Roads has also sponsored several research projects into vehicle conspicuity and you can review this work at their website https://www.clearroads.org/equipment-plow-trucks/

For more information on this topic you can reach out to Jeff Pifer at jeff.m.pifer@wv.gov

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Whenever you mix snowplows, winter storms, and motorists on the same stretch of pavement everyone needs to be at the top of their game in vehicles equipped for conditions. Most of the time folks get where there headed and the roads get cleared without incident. But, there are times when vehicles get tangled up with a snow plow and the outcomes can be catastrophic.

On this episode we’ve got Jed Falgren, State Maintenance Engineer for the Minnesota DOT who’s been involved in some really innovative projects to help reduce the number of interactions between snowplows and motorists from their CAV-Traveler Alert System to reflective materials and lighting.

For more information on MnDOT’s efforts to reduce crashes with snowplows and other slow moving maintenance operations you can reach out directly to Jed at jed.falgren@state.mn.us

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When it comes to liquid deicing products how do you know you’re getting what you paid for and that it’s likely to perform as promised? The Nebraska DOT has been working on developing a easy to run, repeatable, and cost effective test method to determine the ice melting capacity of liquid deicing products.

Mike Mattison and Jasmine Dondlinger of the Nebraska DOT take us on the journey this test method has taken from the initial idea using a instrumented martini shaker to the Rocker AASHTO Provisional Test Method and why this test method should be part of your winter operations program when it comes to liquid deicing products.

If you would like more information about the new Rocker Test Method or how it might fit into your winter maintenance program you can contact Mike Mattison at mailto:Mike.Mattison@nebraska.gov or Jasmine Dondlinger at mailto:Jasmine.Dondlinger@nebraska.gov .

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There’s lots of discussion going on these days regarding artificial intelligence or AI. Like it or not you’re probably using or at least taking advantage of AI applications right now and you might not even know it. Winter operations takes place in an environment well suited for AI applications to provide assistance across a broad spectrum of activities from road weather forecasting to decision support to operator assistance in the cab through lane guidance, material applications, and a host of other potential applications.

In this episode Software Engineer Tom Brummet with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Research Applications Laboratory discusses AI and ongoing work in winter maintenance and road weather.

If this episode peaked your interest in Artificial Intelligence applications in winter maintenance you can check out what’s happening at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Research Applications Laboratory at this link https://ral.ucar.edu/technologies/artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning or you can email Tom Brummet directly at brummet@ucar.edu.

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