Road Weather Management Program - FHWA Operations - U.S. ...

Best Practices for Road Weather ManagementVersion 3.0PDSL - OPEN46 th St 42 nd St38 th St35 th St 28 th St26 th St◊◊*40MPH45MPH40MPH45MPH40MPH45MPH40MPH45MPHCongested Traffic* The dotted white line between 42 nd and 38 th Street represent the in-road lights.The lights will be spaced similar to the painted broken white lines in the other lanes.Figure MN-7. Striping and signing with PDSL open.Lane widths for the dynamic shoulder lane and the general purpose lanes vary from 11 feet to12 feet. Between the dynamic shoulder lane and the general purpose lanes is a two foot buffer.Reaction distance from the dynamic shoulder lane to the center median barrier varies from 2.5feet to six feet. Static signing as shown in Figure 4 together with intelligent lane control signalswill designate when the shoulder lane is open to traffic.After the first several snowfalls, MnDOT Maintenance staff recommended that the dynamicshoulder lane remain open during snow and ice events to help spread the de-icing materialthroughout the lane. During off-peak periods when no vehicles were present on the dynamicshoulder lane, de-icing materials were not able to be spread out by passing vehicle traffic thusleaving icy patches across the lane. By leaving the lane open to traffic, just enough vehiclesused the lane to keep de-icing materials spread out and keep the lane free of ice.Contact(s):• Brian Kary, Freeway Operations Engineer, 651-234-7022, brian.kary@state.mn.usReference(s):• Minnesota Smart Lanes website Keywords: Dynamic Message Sign, traffic management, incident management, weathermanagement, incident response, intelligent signage, variable speed, variable lane configuration,advisory speed, dynamic pricing, dynamic shoulder54