Cornwall invests in weather station

Vaisala has completed the first full-scale installation of 12 next generation RWS200 Road Weather Stations in the United Kingdom.

Cornwall Council is the first local authority to take delivery of the new technology which is designed to provide accurate information for road managers, so they can tackle whatever the winter weather throws at them.

In addition, the stations include a range of sophisticated devices that report road conditions at regular intervals throughout the day and night. A constant weather eye is kept on Cornwall's roads to ensure that they are as safe and free flowing as possible at any time of the year.

Lydia Hewitt, ITC operations officer for Cornwall Council, said: "In these challenging times of austerity this is a very exciting project for Cornwall. We are pleased to be working with Vaisala on such a project. The new stations provide accurate information allowing for enhanced decisions for salting to be made. This is a capital investment that will deliver revenue savings in both equipment maintenance and road salting."

Antero Järvinen, director for Vaisala's road and rail business, added: "With the Vaisala iRWIS system Cornwall now have a seamlessly integrated and the most comprehensive road weather solution in the industry."

Vaisala launched the RWS200 road weather station, with improved measurement reliability, earlier this year. Combined with sophisticated decision support software RoadDSS(TM), it forms an intelligent road weather information system called iRWIS.

According to the company, the RWS200 was designed with the future of road weather and ITS in mind. The advanced algorithms bring in raw data from the pavement sensor, and by using other atmospheric information, can create better calculations of surface conditions. The station utilises state-of-the-art sensors that are accurate and reliable in the most demanding weather conditions. These all help to improve decision-making and reduce costs, while offering greater operational efficiency.