2.0  Key Informant Interviews

This analysis examined interview input from ITD headquarters and field maintenance personnel.  The methodology, results, and conclusions of the analysis are presented in this section.

ITD interviews were a critical source of information for the evaluation.  Interview data played an important role in assessing many of the project objectives, contributed to the testing of several hypotheses, and were a primary source of management and deployment issues information—“lessons learned” and the like.

Interview data from field personnel, foremen, and “lead workers” (senior maintenance crew personnel) played the primary role in evaluating the fundamental project objective to provide a consolidated, easily accessed source of information useful in District and shed-level winter maintenance decision-making.  Interviews with field personnel also provided supporting data for the evaluation of several other objectives related to traveler information, safety, and maintenance resource utilization.

In the case of traveler information, it was hypothesized that the RWIDS webpage might reduce the number of information requests received by ITD maintenance personnel.  In the case of safety and winter maintenance resource utilization benefits, the interviews helped establish a general expectation as to whether measurable benefits in these areas are likely, and how best to identify those benefits.  Benefits in those areas that could be attributed to the RWIDS project depend first on the maintenance personnel utilizing the new resource and altering their decisions and practices as a result.  There are also many other variables that influence safety and resource utilization which cannot easily be controlled in an evaluation.  Therefore, field maintenance personnel input regarding the role of the RWIDS webpage in influencing their decisions and practices, as well as perspectives on other factors influencing these variables, was useful in shaping the safety and resource utilization analyses.

2.1  Methodology

2.1.1  Development of Discussion Guides

Interview discussion guides were developed for each type of interview:

• ITD Headquarters – project and senior management
• ITD Headquarters – information technologies (IT) staff
• ITD Headquarters – public information officer
• Field Maintenance – foremen and lead workers

The interview with headquarters project and senior management personnel focused on overall project objectives, lessons learned in developing, implementing and operating the RWIDS webpage, and coordination of the RWIDS project with other ITD maintenance and public information activities.  The interview with headquarters IT staff focused on technical issues associated with the website itself.  The interview with the ITD public information officer focused on the overall ITD traveler information program, the relationship between RWIDS and that program, feedback from travelers, and any marketing of the RWIDS webpage.  The interviews with the maintenance personnel focused on the following topics:

• Usage and usefulness of the RWIDS webpage – frequency of use and overall usefulness.
• RWIDS data types – use of various data types and preferences.
• Website special features – experience with the RWIDS webpage features not available to the public.  Those features consist of the ability to graph and print data from individual ESS and the ability to set e-mail alerts, based on any of several types of data (wind speeds, temperatures, etc.) at any individual ESS.
• Benefits of the RWIDS webpage – benefits stemming from the website and how the information makes those benefits possible.
• Other types and sources of information – other (non-RWIDS) information utilized in support of winter maintenance.
• Feedback from the public – the impact, if any, of the RWIDS webpage on public requests to ITD maintenance personnel for winter travel information.
• Training – level of participation and material covered.
• RWIDS webpage layout and data formats – reactions to existing webpage and suggested modifications.
• Next steps – perspectives on useful changes to the RWIDS webpage and information for maintenance decision-making in general.

The preceding discussion topics for the field personnel interviews were developed in conjunction with the ITD RWIDS project manager.  The specific questions asked during the interviews and their sequence of topics varied somewhat among the interview sessions.  The overall objective was to stimulate a constructive dialog around these themes and to follow the useful discussion threads that surfaced.

In addition to the specific discussion topics, all of the interviews were framed by the four basic RWIDS project components and associated objectives (see Section 1.2.1), which the interviewers summarized in the introduction to the interview sessions.

Interviews with ITD Headquarters personnel were conducted individually (two members of the evaluation team speaking with one ITD representative).  The interviews with ITD field personnel were conducted in groups ranging from 6 to 10 ITD personnel.

2.1.2  Selection of Interviewees

Identification of ITD headquarters interview subjects was straight forward.  There were few personnel associated with the project and the evaluation team was acquainted with those individuals from interactions during the planning and baseline data collection and analysis phases of the evaluation.

ITD Headquarters interviewees consisted of the following:

• Mr. Bryon Breen, assistant maintenance engineer and RWIDS project manager
• Mr. David Jones, maintenance engineer, responsible for ITD’s overall maintenance program
• Mr. Jeff Stratten, public information officer
• Mr. Greg Clark, information technologies, RWIDS webmaster.

Selection of field maintenance personnel for interviewing was more involved.  The ITD winter maintenance decision-making process is decentralized, with most decisions made at the foreman area level or by individual maintenance vehicle operators.  The objective was to interview a sampling of foreman area personnel—foremen and lead workers—from as many of the 6 ITD districts as possible.  There are three levels of jurisdictions in ITD maintenance, namely, district, foreman area, and maintenance shed.  There are 6 districts statewide with a total of 45 foreman areas.  Figure 2-1 shows the foreman area boundaries in relation to the district boundaries.  Each foreman area includes, at a minimum, one maintenance shed, where the foreman offices are located and where all activities for the foreman area are coordinated.  If there are multiple sheds, as there are in most foreman areas, the other sheds are typically smaller and used primarily for vehicle and materials storage. 

Figure 2–1.  Foreman Areas

 

 In selecting ITD maintenance interviewees, a variety of viewpoints were sought, reflecting varying conditions related to:

• Type of Internet access
• Winter weather conditions
• Topography and transportation system characteristics
• Urban/rural character
• Levels of RWIDS usage and satisfaction

The pool of candidate interview subjects consisted of the foreman and lead workers from the
45 ITD foreman areas.  The interviews targeted the foremen and individual workers rather than district personnel because most of the decisions for which RWIDS would play a role are made by foremen and workers.

The recruitment of foreman and lead worker interview subjects was aided by a brief e-mail survey of foremen.  A six-question survey was developed with the input of the ITD RWIDS project manager.  The survey was e-mailed to all of the maintenance foremen shortly before their June 2004 annual maintenance meeting in Boise.  The meeting provided an opportunity to encourage completion and submittal of the surveys.  A total of 31 surveys were returned, 26 from foremen (58 percent of the total 45 foremen statewide), one from a district engineer, and four from lead workers.

The screening survey provided input to the finalization of the interview discussion guide by providing an overall sense of the usage and reaction to the RWIDS webpage.  The survey was also useful in identifying the specific usage and reactions to the website of individual foremen.  Later, as foremen responded to the interview invitation, this information allowed the evaluation team to track the composition of the interviewee pool by those variables.  Finally, the survey gauged the extent to which foremen had utilized the employee log-in feature.  That feature had been added to the website for the express purpose of tracking usage by individual maintenance shed.  That information was useful in assisting the interpretation of the results of RWIDS usage analysis (see Section 3.0).  The results of the survey were reported in conjunction with the interview results in the section that follows.

All but one of the foreman interviews were conducted in person.  One interview with the District 5 Maintenance Supervisor was conducted by telephone.  The results of that interview are included with the results from the on-site interviews.

ITD headquarters personnel assisted the evaluation team in identifying three locations for the interviews.  Once the locations and dates for the interviews were identified, invitations were sent to all of the foremen throughout the state.  A set of 14 interviewees, representing 12 foreman areas and 3 Districts was identified.  Twelve of the 14 interviewees were among those who completed the initial screening survey.

Table 2-1 identifies the locations represented by the interview subjects, organized by the three interview sessions.  Table 2-1 also identifies a number of salient characteristics of the interviewees in each session (including data from the survey, presented in full in Table 2-2 as part of the interview results) and the areas they represent.

 

2.1.3  Data Collection

Interviews were conducted over the period of `August 3-6, 2004.  Headquarters personnel were interviewed at the ITD headquarters building in Boise, Idaho.  Foremen and lead workers were interviewed at three ITD maintenance sheds (see Table 2-1):  Mountain Home, Orofino, and Boise.  Each interview was conducted by two members of the evaluation team.  Headquarter interviews were approximately one hour in length.  Field interviews were approximately two hours in length.

2.2  Results

2.2.1  ITD Headquarters – Project and Senior Management

Overall, both the Project Manager and State Maintenance Engineer believe that the RWIDS project has been very successful.  They feel that three of the four major project objectives have been well accomplished—those related to establishing a consolidated, easily accessed source of new information for ITD maintenance personnel; establishing a common data platform capable of accommodating various types and brands of Environmental Sensor Station input; and enhancing coverage by including data from other organizations.  The one area where they felt the project had not been fully successful was the public traveler information aspect of the project.  The assessment of each of these objectives is discussed below.

The successful implementation and operation of the RWIDS webpage constitutes the basic measure of success for the project objective related to providing maintenance personnel with a convenient access to a wide range of weather information.  Aside from a two-month period immediately following the system launch in November 2002 when data was not always updated, the system has operated as intended, and very reliably.  The RWIDS webpage is easily accessed via the Internet and contains most of the very wide range of data in which maintenance personnel expressed interest during the project design.  ITD headquarters maintenance personnel acknowledged that the foremen and maintenance workers will ultimately judge the usefulness of the website.  However, based on the accomplishment of the basic design objectives and the encouraging anecdotal feedback they had received from some maintenance users, they felt this aspect of the project has been very successful.

The objective of establishing a common data platform to support expansion of the ITD RWIS was also considered successful.  The RWIDS system rolled out in November 2002 accomplished the first objective of combining data from the then two different brands of RWIS procured by the ITD.  Since the RWIDS launch, the system had also proven the ability to accommodate additional brands of ESS.  The incorporation of data from additional sensors was performed by ITD staff and required no support from the RWIDS system integration consultant.  No longer constrained to the one or two “incumbent” brands of ESS, ITD had been able to comparison shop and had saved money.  The cost to deploy four sites using one of the two new brands of ESS was about 12 percent lower than the bid submitted by the former incumbent vendor.  ITD estimates that in that particular procurement, the flexibility provided by the RWIDS platform provided a savings of about $30,000, or about $7,500 per site.

ITD headquarters maintenance personnel felt that the RWIDS project had definitely accomplished the objective of providing a quick, relatively low-cost means of greatly enhancing statewide weather data coverage.  The RWIDS project provided access to approximately 120 additional ESS throughout and adjacent to Idaho operated by other organizations—three times the number of ITD-operated stations.  There were disadvantages associated with using other organizations’ stations.  Most of those stations did not include pavement sensors; they were often not ideally suited to support roadway-related maintenance decisions; and the level of calibration and maintenance of the non-ITD stations was inconsistent.  Despite these drawbacks, headquarters personnel felt these additional stations had significant value in providing at least basic atmospheric data.  Although they were considering the options of enhancing some of the non-ITD stations with pavement sensors and possibly implementing ITD ESS in some of the locations, they felt that in many cases the non-ITD sites represented a viable, fairly long-term alternative.

The headquarters maintenance management personnel that were interviewed point to the public traveler information area as the one area in which the project has not yet fully accomplished its objectives.  They also emphasized that the public traveler information objective was not an after thought or a byproduct, but was, from the beginning, as important as the other ITD maintenance-oriented objectives.  The RWIDS webpage is available to the public, via the Road Report homepage.  However, the maintenance management staff’s concerns were that it has not been well integrated into the overall Road Report or overall ITD public information strategy, and that the RWIDS site had not been marketed.  They were not sure that the value of the RWIDS information for both ITD and public users was fully appreciated throughout the organization.

Very few significant technical challenges were encountered in implementing the RWIDS project.  The most significant had to do with securing access to the incumbent RWIS vendor’s raw data, which necessitated a software purchase and took considerable time to accomplish.  Although ITD actually owned the RWIS components (i.e., field ESS, communications systems and central computers), traditionally, what they purchased from an RWIS vendor was actually a processed data stream, accessible only via the vendor’s proprietary user interface.  Integrating various brands of data into a common, ITD designed interface necessitated collecting the raw ESS data themselves from the vendors, a product that was not previously provided. 

The ITD project manager was asked about possible plans to provide foremen with more synthesized information and/or a Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS).  For the near-term at least, the ITD intends to continue to provide discrete pieces of information and let the users utilize that information as they see fit.  They indicated that the MDSS concept is a good one, but that smaller steps toward such an ultimate system are necessary.  They also questioned whether, given the extremely complex, highly variable (across the state) and changeable weather environment in Idaho, current MDSS are sufficiently sophisticated.

The ITD project manager was also asked whether he thought the RWIDS project has generated any measurable safety and resource utilization benefits.  He thought that productivity has improved, based on the anecdotal feedback he heard from maintenance personnel, but was doubtful that benefits can be successfully quantified given the many exogenous factors.  He noted that ITD has been conducting a similar safety and productivity analysis as the one performed in this evaluation, focusing on freeze-point depressant chemical (magnesium chloride) utilization.  Although there was considerable evidence that the freeze-point depressant chemical was very useful, they were unable to isolate quantitative safety and productivity benefits.

2.2.2  ITD Headquarters – Information Technologies (IT) Staff

The IT staff interviewee served as the RWIDS webmaster and provided technical support for the integrated RWIS.  The interview focused on his experiences in maintaining the RWIDS system, including integrating new Environmental Sensor Stations.  Overall, few significant technical challenges were encountered, and the webmaster thought the project has been successful.  The RWIDS system developer, a consultant, was retained for a period of one year after the RWIDS roll-out to provide technical support.  That contract expired in late 2003 and ITD has had full responsibility for operating and maintaining the system since that time.  The system has been stable and integration of data from differing brands of new ESS has been performed in-house without difficulties.

As noted by the ITD project manager, the greatest challenge encountered in the development of RWIDS was in obtaining the raw data from the incumbent RWIS vendor and integrating it into the system.  This necessitated discussions with that vendor and ITD purchase of a software module enabling the interface with the proprietary data format.

The ability of RWIDS to accommodate data from additional brands of ESS was proven when several stations of two different brands were implemented in District 5.  Overall, that effort went smoothly and was performed entirely by the RWIDS webmaster, working with the vendors.  No support from the RWIDS vendor was required.  That integration included use of SQL database tools to retrieve the proprietary RWIS data and development of an XML program to translate that proprietary data into the common format used in RWIDS.

2.2.3  ITD Headquarters – Public Information Officer

The ITD public information officer indicated that the full potential of the RWIDS project as an information source for the traveling public has not been realized, and feels that the traveler information objective of the project is not yet successful.  That lack of success, he said, was primarily a result of two factors: lack of a single ITD “owner” for the Road Report website, and the lack of a clear, overall ITD traveler information vision and motivation.

The public information officer indicated that no single ITD group is fully responsible for the Road Report website.  There is therefore no single vision for the website and no one group with authority and accountability.  “Ownership” of the Road Report system is split between the Public Affairs Office, which operates the system and interacts with the public, and the Maintenance Department, which provides the information for the system.  The traditional, non-RWIDS Road Report information is phoned in several times a day during the winter months by individual maintenance foremen.  The Road Report has, in a sense, a “dual personality”—partly an “engineering” project and partly a “public affairs” project.  These two viewpoints have traditionally been very different and not integrated at ITD.

In addition to the lack of single owner for public traveler information, the failure to fully capitalize on the traveler information potential of RWIDS is a result of the lack of a clear, overall ITD traveler information program vision—one integrating the various current information dissemination strategies.  The lack of a clear vision was the result of several factors.  Several mild winters in the years leading up to the RWIDS deployment reduced the need for winter weather information.  Perceiving that the traditional Road Report website and phone system were effective, and given the excess capacity in the phone system, there was no strong motivation for ITD to change their winter weather traveler information strategy.  In addition to the lack of an overall, department-wide vision for traveler information, the public information officer did not fully realize the potential usefulness of the RWIDS webpage for the traveling public.  The public information officer indicated that he viewed the traveler information aspect of the RWIDS project as something of an after thought or byproduct of what he viewed as, in essence, a maintenance resource.

As a result of all of these factors, the RWIDS information was not integrated with the traditional Road Report information.  Instead, a link to the separate RWIDS webpage was merely placed, not particularly conspicuously, on the Road Report homepage.  There has also been no marketing of RWIDS to the public.  The only way travelers become aware of the new resource is by happening upon the RWIDS link on the Road Report homepage, or by word-of-mouth.  The public information officer indicated that the current approach is something of a “kitchen sink”, with a collection of discrete RWIDS information and no integration or relationship with the traditional Road Report information.  The information is not easily digested; there is no clear “bottom line” that reflects all of the available information.

Conditions have improved since implementation of RWIDS, at least in terms of progress toward the development of an overall ITD traveler information vision.  After a previous unsuccessful start, the department is now engaged in planning both a 511 telephone information system and a comprehensive traveler information program to incorporate 511, dynamic message signs, highway advisory radio and the Road Report website (including the RWIDS webpage).  A motivated new ITD Director with successful statewide traveler information experience, several recent colder and wetter winters, and an Road Report phone system that did not provide sufficient capacity during major winter storms, have combined to “light a fire” under the recent traveler information initiatives.

There are currently few specific plans in regard to the RWIDS information, but the idea of moving camera images to the Road Report homepage is being considered.  The public has expressed a great deal of interest in camera images.  There are no plans to eliminate the traditional Road Report highway condition information based on the maintenance foreman reports.  That information leverages all of the knowledge and judgment of the foremen, is intuitive, and has been popular with the public and the media.

2.2.4  Field Maintenance – Foreman and Lead Workers

The results of the maintenance foremen and lead workers interviews are organized according to the major discussion topics described in Section 2.1.1.

Usage and Usefulness of the RWIDS Webpage

Overall, most of the ITD maintenance personnel that were interviewed use RWIDS frequently and find the website useful.  Frequency of use and perceptions of usefulness do vary somewhat by location, however.  Interviewees in the south-central portion of the state, Districts 3 and 4, uniformly found RWIDS to be a very useful tool and used it frequently.  In the north-central part of the state, in District 2, reactions were more mixed and frequency of use was more variable.  This is directly related to the number of ESS in the area and the level of experience in working with RWIS data.  There are very few ESS—ITD or other organizations’—within or adjacent to District 2, whereas there have been for several years many stations of interest to Districts 3 and 4.  Also, personnel in District 2 who did not find RWIDS as useful and who used it less frequently were quick to point out that their perception was based primarily on the lack of relevant Environmental Sensor Stations.

The general perception of RWIDS as a useful new tool was also supported by the ITD maintenance foreman survey results.  Table 2-2 presents the full survey results.  Information on usage and usefulness is presented in the first two rows of the table.  On average, respondents used the RWIDS webpage more than once a week during the winter, and 40 percent reported using the site on a daily basis.  Fifty percent of respondents find the website at least “very useful”.  Ninety-seven percent of the respondents find the website at least “somewhat useful”.

 

 

Generally, the maintenance interviewees view the RWIDS webpage as a useful new tool in their toolbox, but not a panacea.  Several interviewees indicated that they continued to seek out weather and road condition information through their traditional channels, including book marking National Weather Service webpage of their maintenance areas, weather reports on commercial radio and television, and information from ITD maintenance personnel in neighboring areas via telephone or voice radio.

Although the RWIDS webpage is primarily intended to support winter maintenance decision-making, several interviewees indicated that they used the site during other times of the year as well.  Specifically, the weather information helps support decisions on when to apply herbicides (high winds must be avoided) and when to patch roadway surfaces (rain must be avoided).

The number of ESS in the maintenance area and the level of experience with RWIS data clearly impacted the usage and perceptions of usefulness of RWIDS.  The other factors noted were the reliability of individual Environmental Sensor Stations, that is, data not being updated as it should be, and some difficulties with the log-in feature of the website.  In District 3 in particular where many interviewees had extensive experience with the pre-RWIDS method of accessing ITS RWIS data, the log-in feature was viewed as inconvenient.  This appears to have prompted several interviewees to bypass the log-in feature by logging in once, and then book marking a sub-page of RWIDS for later visit.

RWIDS Data Types

Nearly all of the interviewees used several types of data from the RWIDS webpage.  Many interviewees used all or almost all of the information types.  Camera images and basic weather information (e.g., air temperature, precipitation, etc.) are among the most popular data, though it was noted that not all cameras are equally useful.  Those associated with non-ITD ESS are often not ideally situated to support roadway maintenance decisions.  Several interviewees also indicated that lights at camera locations would also be useful, noting that rain and snow can be hard to distinguish at night. 

Only two types of information appear to be used infrequently or by only a few users:  isobars and avalanche alerts.  Few of the interviewees seemed to be able to translate the isobar data into useful information.  Avalanche alerts were specifically identified as very useful by several interviewees.  It appears that the only reason this information is not more widely used is that many maintenance personnel are not located in areas prone to avalanches.

Several interviewees distinguished data types that are especially useful in longer term planning, that is, 12 hours or more.  These include satellite images, jet stream images, Pacific Loop satellite images, and data from ESS located west of Idaho, from which direction comes most winter storms.  It was noted that radar images would be more useful if a legend was included explaining the color codes.

Several interviewees continued to rely on the Idaho State Communications Department for winter storm alerts, in addition to the RWIDS.  During winter, the foremen are in constant communication with the State Communications Department as they provide pavement condition information to the traditional road conditions portion of the Road Report website.  Traditionally, State Communications has been reliable in passing on NWS alerts to the maintenance foremen during these interactions.

Most interviewees found data from non-ITD ESS useful.  Many made no distinction between ITD Environmental Sensor Stations and other organizations’ ESS.  However, several interviewees indicated that, although useful, the non-ITD stations could not fully replace the surface transportation-oriented ESS, and additional ITD ESS would be useful.  This is likely due to the less than optimal locations of the non-ITD devices, the absence of pavement condition information, and the variability in the type of data available among non-ITD stations.

A few of the maintenance personnel actually preferred the pre-RWIDS method for accessing the ITD RWIS data.  These interviewees, located in Districts 3 and 5 (one telephone interview was conducted with the District 5 maintenance engineer) indicated that there was some subscribed forecast data (provided by an RWIS vendor and accessible only by using the vendor’s password protected web site) previously available that is not included on RWIDS.  They indicated incorporation of those forecast data, in the same format, into the RWIDS webpage would represent the “best of both worlds.”

Benefits and Impacts

Although there were perceived benefits of RWIDS, the maintenance personnel identified several factors that could limit the RWIDS impacts on their maintenance practice.  They noted that there is considerable “political pressure”, as well as their own appreciation for their public safety responsibility, to continue extensive field checking of conditions.  They noted that it only takes one instance where dangerous conditions are unreported to draw public criticism. 

Some maintenance personnel also indicated that their resource commitment decisions are inherently inelastic, and therefore even with better information there may not be dramatic cost savings or increase in effectiveness.  Most of their resource investment decisions are “lumpy”, that is, go or no-go in nature, and if there is any doubt, they typically commit the resources.  In the case of manpower, individual employees in reasonable chunks of time must be utilized, rather than keeping them on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  They also noted that conservatism is rewarded; they were seldom criticized for sending trucks out when not needed, but the reverse is not true.

Website Special Features

Very few of the maintenance personnel used the special features (e.g., e-mail alert, printing and graphing) available only to ITD maintenance personnel when assessing the RWIDS using the employee log-in.  In fact, many of them were unaware of those special features.  In the few cases where the interviewees had used the special features, the experience was limited to the setting of alerts.  Their concern is that the ESS coverage is not sufficient and data is not always current enough to allow them to rely on alerts as a primary mechanism for anticipating bad weather.  One foreman had tried the alerts function but after getting no alerts he assumed the function was not working correctly or that he was not using it correctly.  A couple of foremen indicated that they rely on Idaho State Communications to provide them with National Weather Service (NWS) alerts and therefore did not need the alerts function.  None of the interviewees had any experience with the weather data graphing or printing special features.

Other Types and Sources of Information

Maintenance personnel considered RWIDS a useful, new source of consolidated information but they still rely on other sources.  Those sources include commercial radio and television reports, other websites (e.g., NWS website), Idaho State Communications Department (who passes along NWS alerts) and maintenance personnel in neighboring areas.  Although RWIDS incorporates some NWS information, the appeal of going to the book marked NWS site for a particular region appears to be that the NWS site loads faster and includes NWS forecast “discussion notes” that are not available on RWIDS.  In the case of information from other maintenance personnel, a couple of foremen indicated that listening in on other district or other foreman area radio conversations is a good way to monitor coming weather.  Foremen also call each other directly to exchange information.

Public Feedback

Maintenance personnel interacted directly with the public to some extent, primarily when travelers or residents call them to request information on driving conditions.  Several foremen indicated that they received telephone inquiries from many commercial vehicle operators in particular who apparently obtained their number from telephone directory or by being transferred from other ITD offices.  The introduction of the RWIDS webpage has not influenced either the volume or the nature of the interactions between the maintenance personnel with the general public. 

None of the interviewees had heard anything from the public specifically about the RWIDS webpage, although the foremen did offer a couple of observations based on their general familiarity with travelers’ information needs.  First, travelers would be interested in camera images which are intuitive and self-explanatory.  Second, the foremen speculated that the public may have difficulties synthesizing the wide array of discrete data on the RWIDS webpage.  Travelers are looking for clear “bottom line” information on their selected route with explicit advice (i.e., “should I take this route or not?”).

Training

Many of the interviewees felt that additional RWIDS training is needed and would increase the benefits associated with the system.  The initial training provided shortly after the system roll- out, in the winter of 2003-2004, was considered a useful tutorial to the RWIDS interface.  However, trainings focusing on strategies of utilizing the data in support of specific maintenance decisions would be very useful.  As one interviewee put it, “we’re asking personnel to be forecasters; putting them in a position of making resource commitment decisions.”  We need to provide them the tools and the training to do so.

Opinions were somewhat mixed as to whether the additional training should include reiteration of the system basics.  Some users thought that a refresher would be very useful, noting that they could not absorb all of the first round of training since they had no experience with the system at that point, and that people tend to forget details (like the special features).  Others thought that only new material should be presented.  Several interviewees felt that, without additional training, usage of RWIDS among maintenance personnel will not increase, and is likely to slowly drop off, as ambivalent RWIDS users quit using the site.

A couple of interviewees felt that in order to be effective, any additional training should be hands on, with each trainee having a computer in front of them.  These personnel felt strongly that in order to be useful, any additional training would need to be focused and of high quality.

RWIDS Enhancements – Next Steps

Maintenance personnel from all three interview sessions had specific ideas for how the RWIDS webpage should be improved, but opinions varied systematically by location.  The Mountain Home meeting included a very experienced, “early adopter” foreman from the eastern portion of District 3 as well as several foremen from District 4 who were experienced RWIS users, including one individual who had participated in the early RWIDS design discussions.  Given these backgrounds, it is not surprising that the Mountain Home interviewees focused on the as yet only partially realized public traveler information potential of the system.  They felt that the system has not accomplished its objectives in that area, due to a lack of integration of the RWIDS information more fully into the Road Report and a lack of marketing.  These interviewees also expressed interest in mobile Internet access, which would allow maintenance personnel in the field to access RWIDS.  Mobile access would also allow foremen to enter their Road Report information directly into the system, rather than relaying it verbally to State Communications who in turn relay it to the Public Affairs Office which inputs the information to Road Report.

District 2 personnel, where the Orofino interview session was held, have much less RWIS experience, since there are very few ESS of interest to them.  In contrast to Districts 3 and 4, District 2 has only the slower dial-up Internet access, and generally does not have as many computers in maintenance sheds.  Understandably, District 2 personnel were primarily interested in adding more ESS to the system and receiving more computers.

The Boise interview session included maintenance personnel from the Boise metropolitan area as well as the western, more rural portions of District 3.  These personnel have had much more experience with RWIS so their perspectives were similar to those of foremen at the Mountain Home interview session.  District 3 personnel identified several relatively minor improvements, which have been discussed in previous sections (including adding subscribed forecast information to the RWIDS, adding lights to cameras, etc.).  Where the Boise interviewees differed from the Mountain Home group is in their perceptions of the public information objectives of system.  Not having been involved in the scoping of the RWIDS project, these individuals were unaware of such objectives and did not identify recommended actions to address them.

Interviewees from all three sessions shared the same perspective on one issue.  None of them felt that a more sophisticated, decision-support tool for winter maintenance decisions is currently needed.  Some interviewees saw the potential for such a system but felt that neither the technology nor ITD maintenance personnel were ready for such a leap.  Others did not see the future potential of such a system, feeling strongly that humans can do the best job of synthesizing a wide range of information.  They felt that the winter maintenance decision-making environment is too complex and too changeable for any other approach.

The results from the ITD Maintenance Foreman survey, shown in Table 2-2 are generally consistent with the input from the interviews, although they tend to focus on more pragmatic, near-term issues.  Twenty-one of the 31 survey respondents provided specific suggestions.  By far the most common suggestion, made by 12 of the 31 respondents, was to add more ESS.  The only other commonly mentioned suggestion was to add Doppler radar data. 

2.3  Conclusions

• The RWIDS project is viewed by many interviewees as successful.  The system was deployed and operates as intended and provides the intended functionality.  No major compromises were made.  The project is viewed as very successful in accomplishing three of the four major project objectives:  providing a convenient, integrated source of data; establishing a platform that facilitates integration of varying brands of new equipment; and augmenting ESS coverage statewide, and at a much lower cost than implementing an equal number of ITD ESS.  The RWIDS webpage has been used frequently by many ITD maintenance personnel.  Those personnel found it to be very useful and felt that RWIDS has benefited their winter maintenance practice.  Maintenance personnel, by and large, used a very wide range of data available on the RWIDS website.  They also considered the data from non-ITD stations useful, if not necessarily as useful as data from the ITD ESS due to the less optimal location and lack of pavement sensors of non-ITD stations.
• The RWIDS project has been widely viewed as less than fully successful in regard to the public traveler information objective.  All of the interviewees, including RWIDS project personnel, the statewide maintenance program leader, the Public Information Officer, and the field maintenance personnel, felt that the potential of the RWIDS website as a traveler information resource has not been realized.  All parties agreed that this is due to a lack of marketing and, to a lesser extent, to a failure to meaningfully integrate RWIDS information into the traditional Road Report website.  These shortcomings were attributed to the lack of an overall ITD traveler information strategy and the lack of a single “owner” of the Road Report website.  ITD is now moving forward with a traveler information strategy and intends to reconsider how the RWIDS information is being presented to the general public.
• Most ITD maintenance personnel were generally satisfied with the RWIDS webpage but had identified several desired enhancements.  Perspectives are largely a function of the number of ITD ESS and the level of experience in using RWIS information.  Overall, the most common suggestions by far were that additional ITD ESS and improved internet connection are needed to promote the use of RWIDS.  These concerns are greatest in remote areas like District 2 where very few (ITD or non-ITD) ESS currently exist and dedicated network connections are lacking.  Some maintenance personnel were concerned about the amount of (in particular ITD’s) ESS downtime.  Most ITD foremen believed that additional training would stimulate usage and promote more effective utilization of the RWIDS data.  That training should be hands-on and should include instruction on how to use the various RWIDS data in making specific winter maintenance decisions.
• Most ITD maintenance personnel were comfortable with synthesizing a wide range of discrete data and drawing their own conclusions.  Although a few of the less experienced personnel felt somewhat overwhelmed with the quantity of information, no one had a problem with the lack of decision support, or synthesized, “bottom line”, information.  Most ITD foremen believed that experienced maintenance personnel can do a better job of synthesizing information and developing strategies than can any sort of decision support expert system.  They did not feel that such systems can cope with the very complex and transitory nature of the winter maintenance decision-making environment.  They also felt that ESS coverage is not yet dense enough to support such systems.
• Few technological challenges were encountered in developing the system.  The one major challenge was in integrating the data from the two incumbent RWIS vendors into a single user interface (the RWIDS webpage).  This required considerable coordination with the vendor to obtain the “raw” data in their proprietary format and the purchase (at a modest cost) of a software module to allow interface with that data.
• Many ITD maintenance personnel felt strongly that the system improved overall winter maintenance practice, but they were pessimistic about the ability to quantify associated safety and productivity gains.  Many ITD maintenance personnel believed that the RWIDS webpage helps them utilize resources more efficiently and to more effectively maintain safer roadway conditions.  However, they did not feel that these improvements can be easily isolated and quantified.  They viewed safety and productivity “end results” as the product of many factors, including better road weather information.  They also identified several factors that, even given better decision-making, limit the productivity benefit potential of RWIDS.  First, winter maintenance resource allocations are inherently conservative.  Committing resources, even unnecessarily, is less risky and far less likely to be criticized than failing to commit resources.  Second, labor resource commitments in particular are “lumpy”, that is, mostly go/no-go rather than highly scalable.  Staff cannot be kept continuously on-call, to be quickly scrambled and put to work based on constantly changing weather conditions.  So, marginal improvements in decision-making of the sort associated with RWIDS may not manifest in quantifiable productivity gains.  Third, although much improved, existing ESS coverage and reliability is not sufficient to significantly reduce the amount of field observation (snow patrols) necessary.
• Although a very useful addition, RWIDS does not replace other traditional sources of information for maintenance decision-making.  Nearly all of the maintenance personnel valued the RWIDS data, but they viewed it as “just another tool” rather than a comprehensive, definitive source of information.  They continued to utilize other sources of information, including commercial radio and television reports, Idaho State Communications (for NWS alerts), maintenance personnel in other areas, and considerable field observation.
• ITD has had no specific feedback on RWIDS from the public.  Neither maintenance personnel nor the Public Affairs Office had received much feedback from the public regarding RWIDS.  This reinforces their perception that the site is probably not widely used by travelers.  Foremen and other field maintenance personnel report that the significant volume of calls they received from travelers seeking road condition information and specific advice about routes had not changed since the RWIDS implementation.

 

1.0 Introduction and Background  |  Table of Contents  |  3.0 Web Usage Data Analysis

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