Ten Years of WYDOT/Private Sector Pathfinder Experiences and Modifications

Wyoming was the second state of the Pathfinder program, joining in 2014. While Wyoming is a rural state, and the least populated state in the country, three major Interstates traverse Wyoming. This includes I-80 for 403 miles, I-25 for 301 miles and I-90 for 209 miles. I-80’s highest point at 8,640’ also lies within Wyoming, which is approximately 35 miles west of Cheyenne. Various severe weather conditions impact Wyoming’s Interstates, highways and secondary roads, but none more than winter weather road impacts and high crosswinds. I-80 is a vital commerce artery for the country with on average 13,000 commercial vehicles traveling across Wyoming on I-80 every day. Keeping it open during the winter months can be extremely challenging to say the least and blow-overs are all too common! Pathfinder messaging and collaboration between Wyoming’s Pathfinder partners (WYDOT, NWS & DayWeather) play an interquel role in communicating upcoming road weather impacts to commercial vehicle operators, and the traveling public on the Wyoming’s Interstates, Hwy 28(South Pass) and some secondary roads. Pathfinder messaging and collaboration with neighboring states is also vital for large scale, high impact road weather events. Over the 14 years that WYDOT has participated in the Pathfinder program, several challenges have arisen in trying to provide the most useful, and accurate pre-storm road impact messaging. There have been three major modifications to pre-storm messaging headlines over the 14 years. The changes were made to better convey expected storm road impacts, and to improve accuracy of impact timelines for commercial operators and the traveling public. While there are numerous sources for weather forecasts, there are limited road weather impact forecasts, and this has become the focus of WYDOT and Pathfinder messaging in Wyoming. The focus on road weather impacts and pre-storm messaging has created some challenges with collaboration, consistent messaging between partners, and the sharing of pre-storm road impact messaging. This session will focus on discussing the lessons learned over the last 14 years, the reasons behind the changes in the Pathfinder pre-storm messaging headlines, and high wind events. Furthermore, this session will focus on the challenges and benefits of focusing on road weather impact messaging versus weather forecast messaging, and the challenges and benefits of Pathfinder partner sharing of specific road impact times.