Tennessee, United States
Best Practices for Road Weather Management: Version 2
Summary Information
This report, Best Practices for Road Weather Management: Version 2, contains 30 case studies of systems in 21 states that improve roadway operations under inclement weather conditions. The focus of this benefit is the low visibility warning system implemented in Tennessee in 1994. The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and the Tennessee Department of Safety (TDS) deployed the low visibility warning system to control traffic during foggy conditions and close the freeway if necessary on Interstate 75 in southeastern Tennessee.
The low visibility warning system implementing a variable speed limit system has dramatically reduced crashes. While there had been over 200 crashes, 130 injuries, and 18 fatalities on this highway section since the interstate opened in 1973, by 2003, only one fog-related crash had occurred on the freeway since the system was installed in 1994.