00798893

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/1700-04

http://scholar.google.com...nger&publication_year=2000

The growth of winter travel on alpine roads in the western United States, a result of the demand for reliable winter access, has increased the hazard to motorists and highway maintenance personnel from snow avalanches. Configurations are presented for systems that can detect and provide, in real time, warnings to motorists and highway maintainers of roadway avalanches. These warnings include on-site traffic control signing, in-vehicle audio alarms for winter maintenance vehicles, and notifying maintenance facilities or centralized agency dispatchers. These avalanche detection and warning systems can detect an existing avalanche and use the avalanche's remaining time of descent to initiate on-site alarms. Alternatively, real-time knowledge and notification of the onset of avalanching may used to proactively manage the evolving hazard over an affected length or corridor of highway. These corridors can be several tens of kilometers in length and may be very remote, low-volume rural highways. As a consequence, these detection and warning systems must be cost-effective alternatives to existing avalanche hazard reduction technology. Results and experiences from the winters of 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 are presented, along with recommendations and criteria for future deployment of these automated natural hazard reduction systems for rural transportation corridors.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1700, Winter Maintenance Innovations; Vehicle Rental Rates.

English

p. 17-23

2000

Transportation Research Record

0309066786

Figures (5) ; Photos (2) ; References (7) ; Tables (2)

Alarm systems; Avalanches; Cost effectiveness; Detection and identification systems; Intelligent transportation systems; Real time information; Rural highways; Snow; Warning systems

Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I62: Winter Maintenance

TRIS, TRB

Sep 11 2000 12:00AM

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• INVESTIGATION OF PASSENGER VEHICLE RENTAL RATES: CASE STUDY IN VIRGINIA
• ROAD SAFETY BENEFITS OF LIQUID ANTI-ICING STRATEGIES AND AGENTS: KAMLOOPS, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
• ROAD/WEATHER INFORMATION SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE FOR INTEGRATION AND EXPANSION
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• WINTER STORM EVENT VOLUME IMPACT ANALYSIS USING MULTIPLE-SOURCE ARCHIVED MONITORING DATA