Intelligent Transportation Systems and Winter Operations in Japan

FHWA-PL-03-016

U.S. transportation agencies seek to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of winter maintenance operations by developing advanced systems and equipment. The Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored a scanning study of Japan to investigate advanced technologies for winter maintenance operations and implementation of those advances in Japan's intelligent transportation system (ITS) architecture.

The U.S. delegation visited Hokkaido, Japan, to review advances in winter operations procedures, winter maintenance equipment development, and road weather data collection. The team also observed that significant advances are being made in Japan on improving communication systems and protocols used between road weather information system sensors and operations centers.

The scanning team's recommendations for U.S. application include testing several advanced winter maintenance vehicle systems, investigating integration of weather-related information into ITS corridors, developing performance-based standards for winter maintenance, and establishing a data-sharing project involving the National Weather Service and transportation agencies.

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