Use of MDSS by the City and County of Denver March 14, 2007 Pat Kennedy, P.E. Denver Street Maintenance

DENVER

Full Deployment –65 plows, staff per 12 hour shift Partial Deployment –25+ plows, 35 staff per shift Standby –Crews off duty but on-call Deployment Options

Joined MDSS & Clarus in March 2005 Saw possible value in MDSS Worked with NCAR/UCAR Primary snow response technical tool

MDSS Modules Weather forecasting Roadway conditions Treatment recommendations Treatment selector

Weather Forecasting 48 Hour Prediction 3 hour updates Data –event start time –duration –intensity –precipitation type –accumulation amount

Weather Forecasting 48 Hour Prediction 3 hour updates Data –event start time –duration –intensity –precipitation type –accumulation amount –wind –regional RWIS data

Roadway Conditions Pavement Section Temperature Profile Moisture composition wet ice chemical wet Condition forecast temperature physical state of moisture

Treatment Recommendations Based on Denver Standard Practices –Liquid Apex © MgCl –Dry Ice Slicer ©

Treatment Recommendations Based on Denver Standard Practices –Liquid Apex © MgCl –Dry Ice Slicer ©

Treatment Recommendations Based on Denver Standard Practices –Liquid Apex © MgCl –Dry Ice Slicer © Mobility Index –Dimensionless –0 to 1

Treatment Selector Effect of various strategies –material availability –environmental effects –traffic speeds –economics Supervisors experience Test MDSS strategies and historic methods

Future Applications Severe summer weather (thunderstorms) –effects on normal operations paving striping –emergency operations road closures localized flooding Additional roadway sensors

Conclusions Important tool in our snow response strategy Cost of deployment for one 12 hour shift is $50,000 Improved level of service to the Public Contact:Pat Kennedy, PE, Denver Public Works, Street Maintenance phone:

19 MDSS Status Releasing Version 5.0 of the Prototype Conducting 2 Benefit/Cost analyses Promoting deployments –RoadShows (Ray Murphy) –AASHTO TIG (MDSS PPT/Video) –Deployment Resource Kit (planned) Expanding into Maintenance & Operations Decision Support System (MODSS)

20 MDSS RoadShow Presentations State DOTs & Symposia APWA Pacific Northwest Snowfighters Conference Rural ITS Conference Mid Continent Research Forum Arizona Winter Maintenance Conference Transportation & Highway Engineering Conference RoadShow scheduled

21 MODSS The Maintenance & Operations Decision Support System (MODSS) builds upon the core capabilities of the base MDSS Leverages lessons learned & technologies developed to expand the MDSS investment to other operations within surface transportation: –Summer Maintenance –Traffic Management –Construction First phase is to document requirements and develop a concept of operations –Expanding stakeholder groups –Initial workshops held the week of 26 Feb 07

22 Maintenance & Operations Decision Support System (MODSS) Stakeholders Traffic Management DSS Stakeholders Non-Snow & Ice DSS Stakeholders