The program’s mission is to support cooperative research, evaluation, and deployment of innovative technologies that advance road weather monitoring and forecasting in highway design, construction, maintenance and operations and to serve as an international advocate for expanded uses of these technologies.

The Aurora Program is a consortium of public road agencies focused on collaborative research, evaluation, and deployment of advanced technologies for detailed road weather monitoring and forecasting. Members seek to implement advanced road weather information systems (RWIS) that fully integrate state-of-the-art roadway and weather forecasting technologies with coordinated, multi-agency weather monitoring infrastructures. Aurora’s research projects are designed to improve the efficiency of highway maintenance operations and distribute effective real-time information to travelers. Its initiatives are expected to result in technological advancement and improvement of existing RWIS, significantly reducing the adverse impacts of inclement weather on mobility. Six primary goals are: 1. To improve dissemination of road weather information to transportation providers and end users, ultimately increasing safety by reducing potential weather-related incidents and improving transportation safety, reliability, and mobility in both urban and rural areas. 2. To improve the efficiency of maintenance operations. 3. To aid in the development of technologies that seamlessly integrate to facilitate the formation of partnerships between maintenance and operations and facilitate the dissemination of road weather information. 4. To develop initiatives that assist public agencies in deploying RWIS technologies and methodologies. 5. To encourage greater cooperation and information exchange between transportation agencies and the other agencies and groups. 6. To support development of expanded uses of RWIS technologies. Defined areas of interest on which to focus its research program are: * Decision Support Systems * Meso-scale Modeling * Standards and Architecture * Small-scale Modeling and Analysis * Information Dissemination Technologies * Equipment Evaluations * Road Condition Monitoring * Innovative weather-related Data Collection and Dissemination Instrumentation and Methodologies

SCOPE The Aurora Program scope entails: * Administration: The Aurora Executive Board works with a management consultant to oversee day-to- day administration of the program activities including facilitation of progress reports and meetings. * Meetings: The program holds periodic administrative meetings by the program chair and vice chair, board web meetings, and semi-annual on-site board meetings to discuss program-level (financial, outreach, project progress, etc.) issues. * Projects: Members may also serve on research project teams to provide guidance and oversight to the research. Examples of prior projects are listed at http://www.auroraprogram.org/projects-comp.cfm. Current initiatives are included in the “Project Status Summary” document. * Outreach: Program members are also involved in various outreach activities to advocate for advancement and use of road weather information systems (RWIS) technologies. DELIVERABLES The Aurora Program will fund research and advocacy that supports its vision and goals, including: * Technical research reports * Outreach activities * Participation in RWIS related initiatives at the national and international level * Webinars

Various project contracts each year plus administrative contract (which includes peer exchange and business meetings). 2014 and 2015 Admin fees are funded under SPR-3(042) per SPR-3(042) TAC approval. SPR-3(042) still has active project contracts during 2014 and 2015; the 2014 and 2015 admin contracts cover both SPR-3(042) and TPF-5(290).