Established under the UDOT Traffic Management Division, the Weather Operations / RWIS Program has two main components – the Weather Operations function and the intelligent transportation systems (ITS) component. The Weather Operations has four staff meteorologists stationed in the Traffic Operations Center (TOC) providing year-round weather information for winter maintenance, construction and rehab projects, planning, the highway avalanche safety program, TOC operations, risk management, and training. The ITS component manages 48 RWIS stations and expert systems such as bridge spray systems, high wind alerts, and fog warnings.

 Due to funding constraints, the research team will take a phased approach to evaluation. This project will involve Phase I of the evaluation, focusing on the forecasting services provided by the program to Central Maintenance, Maintenance, and Construction.

 The evaluation of the forecasting service provided by the program to the TOC, and the activities involving the offices of Forensic Meteorology, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), RWIS-ESS, and Training will be included in future phases.