Supplier of applied informatics systems for the transportation industry, Iteris Inc. has been awarded a five-year software-as-a-service (SaaS) contract to provide hyperlocal weather data to support road maintenance operations across Colorado.
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has selected Iteris’ cloud-based ClearPath Weather platform to provide weather forecasting services for improved year-round road maintenance response covering the agency’s entire road network throughout the state. The five-year contract will give CDOT access to high-resolution pavement weather forecasting and treatment alternatives, and maintenance decision support system (MDSS) services across the state during winter and summer weather events. In addition, Iteris will provide CDOT with 24/7 access to the ClearPath Weather platform’s severe weather advisories and alerting services, as well as direct access to the company’s meteorologists forecasting from its Weather Operations Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
The weather forecasting initiative supports CDOT’s ‘Whole System – Whole Safety’ program, which aims to improve the safety of Colorado’s transportation network by reducing the rate and severity of crashes, and improving safety conditions for those traveling by all modes through a systematic statewide approach to safety.
ClearPath Weather is based on Iteris’ Highway Condition Analysis and Prediction System (HiCAPS) pavement condition model and makes use of proprietary application programming interfaces (APIs) to access weather data. The cloud-based MDSS solution features an easy-to-use interface, and advanced visualization tools and mapping, which give state and local agency maintenance managers access to real-time information, such as looping radar, satellite imagery, weather forecasts, plow location, and route-specific weather and pavement conditions.
The cloud-based platform will provide CDOT decision makers with an easy-to-use display for effectively managing road weather issues. With ClearPath Weather, the agency’s maintenance managers can access real-time information that contains ideal action given the current and forecasted weather conditions. Each ClearPath Weather forecast provides hourly current and forecasted site-specific road and weather conditions for:
- Pavement/Bridge temperature;
- Pavement/Bridge condition;
- Pavement/Bridge frost risk (%);
- Route-specific treatment recommendations;
- Wind speed and direction;
- Visibility and obstructions;
- Precipitation type, rate, and accumulations;
- Snow accumulations.
“The ultimate goal of our Whole System – Whole Safety initiative is to get everyone home safely, which requires the most accurate current and forecast weather and pavement information possible,” said Kyle Lester, director of maintenance and operations at CDOT. “By using ClearPath Weather as part of our MDSS operations, we can better address winter and summer weather impacts across the state to achieve our goal of improving safety conditions for all road users.”
Ben Hershey, vice president for agriculture and weather analytics at Iteris, said, “We are proud to support Colorado DOT’s goal of improving the safety and mobility of Colorado’s road users by providing access to hyperlocal current and forecast weather data through the ClearPath Weather platform. Vital data insights from ClearPath Weather will allow Colorado DOT to make the best maintenance decisions possible, both on a day-to-day basis and after extreme weather or storm events.”
