Road Weather Systems on D4 highway

The motorway construction began in 2021. It is the D4 section between the cities of Příbram and Písek, or nine sections from the Skalka exit in the Central Bohemian Region to the Krašovice MÚK in the South Bohemian Region. This involved the construction of 32 km of new motorway and the modernization of 16 km of existing road. After commissioning in December 2024, the concessionaire will operate the motorway for 25 years, including winter and routine maintenance. And our delivery concerns the support of winter maintenance.

For the first PPP (so-called Public Private Partnership) project in the field of transport infrastructure, we supplied complete hardware and software equipment required for monitoring weather conditions and conditions on the motorway surface itself. A total of 10 fully equipped roadside meteorological stations using Vaisala technology are installed on the 48 km long section. Five in the direction of Prague and five in the direction of Písek. In addition to standard measurements of air, precipitation, visibility and wind, an indispensable part of the station is mainly a road sensor that monitors the road surface to detect freezing phenomena such as icing or black ice. This is especially important for bridge structures that freeze faster. That is why 4 out of 10 measuring points are located near bridges, including the longest one over the Skalice River.

The weather stations are connected to the newly built Lety dispatch center at exit 63. Our METIS software is installed on the virtual server, which, in addition to collecting data, also ensures their distribution to both the local dispatch system and the national transport information center via the central meteorological information system MIS of the ŘSD. Data from the weather stations is collected every minute so that the dispatcher can immediately respond to changing conditions.

Here, we not only monitor the conditions, but also predict them. The METIS application also includes the dispatcher forecast module MDSS (Maintenance Decision Support System), which combines weather station measurements with a general meteorological forecast and provides dispatchers with a linear forecast of the temperature and condition of the highway surface with appropriate warnings against dangerous phenomena and recommended maintenance intensity. The forecast is targeted at one-kilometer sections and is updated every hour with a range of 12 hours.

Meteorological information is not only part of the dispatcher's support during winter maintenance. Weather stations operate year-round and their measurements can be used to display warnings on information boards to directly inform road users even in the summer, for example in the case of heavy rainfall or reduced visibility.

We make sure that you drive safely.