Not all tall structures lead to contentious debate. A high-tech upgrade planned for U.S. Route 460 in Mercer County will feed real-time road condition data to the West Virginia Department of Highways and local emergency officials.
Bids are expected to be opened today on a 30-foot-tall weather monitoring station that will be constructed near Crumpecker Hill on U.S. Route 460. A second tower will also be erected at a site still to be determined — although possibly U.S. Route 52 — in McDowell County.
In addition to the two weather stations, a dynamic messaging sign system will also be located on Interstate 77 near Bluefield where emergency messages can be displayed to motorists, along with other data like Amber Alerts and weather alerts.
The high-tech upgrades are welcomed for our region. Giving the area’s unique terrain, it’s no secret that we often see snow, sleet and freezing rain before other parts of the state. And motorists across the region can attest to the headaches caused by black ice each winter. Fortunately, the new weather stations will include embedded sensors in the roadway capable of detecting black ice before it actually forms.
In fact, the new weather stations will essentially capture every bit of meteorological data as possible at one site, including the surface temperature, roadway temperatures, the percentage of salt solution on the road, and black ice conditions.
All of the data gathered from the weather station will then be sent to the DOH in Charleston, as well as the DOH’s District 10 office in Princeton, and the Mercer County 911 Communications Center.
The real-time data will help snow plow crews be better prepared for approaching winter storms, and also will assist road crews in determining what type of salt solution is already on the roadway. The Mercer County weather station is expected to be erected in about two months.
We applaud the DOH for including the deep south counties of Mercer and McDowell in the weather station expansion project. All too often our region is overlooked when it comes to such developments.
We believe the local weather stations will be put to good use, and we also welcome the addition of the messaging sign system along the local I-77 corridor. Being able to alert motorists to potential problems such as an accident or dangerous road conditions is vital, and that is just what these new electronic billboard-like systems will do.
The timing of this smart road upgrade is encouraging. Our region is experiencing one of the worse winters in recent history, and it’s still far from over. Snow and sleet is back in the forecast once again today. Anything that can be done to assist local highway crews with their ongoing snow removal and storm preparation efforts is welcomed.
Editorials
February 8, 2010
A smarter road — Highway weather stations welcomed
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