PURPOSES : Adverse weather conditions such as heavy rain, heavy snowfall, and thick fog and so on have highly affect on the change in traffic conditions on the road. In particular, heavy snowfall causes capacity reduction as well as crash occurrence. This study investigated the effects of snowfall on speed on a freeway. METHODS : Vehicle detection systems data were matched with corresponding weather station data by regression analysis. RESULTS : The results show that the travel speed is reduced by 6.7% under little snowfall and by 12.8% under heavy snowfall. Regarding the speed variation, 8.7% and 114.7% increases are observed under little snowfall and heavy snowfall, respectively. It is also found that 1 cm increase in snowfall leads to 0.4% decrease in travel speed. In addition, the travel speed increases by 0.4% when the temperature increases by 1℃. CONCLUSIONS : It is expected that the outcome of this study will be useful in establishing more effective strategies for winter operations and road maintenance in practice.

이 연구는 악천후가 교통 흐름에 영향을 미칠 것이라는 전제하에 악천후 상황 중 강설에 따른 고속도로 용량변화를 분석하기 위한 것으로, 자료수집과 통계분석을 통해 연구를 진행하였다. 분석결과 강설수준에 따른 용량 변화를 살펴보면, 기후 양호시 대비 Light Snow(약한 눈)인 경우 13.2% 감소하였으며, Medium Snow(보통 눈)은 18.6%, Heavy Snow(강한 눈)은 32.0% 감소하는 것으로 나타나 강설수준이 높아질수록 용량감소율은 증가하는 것으로 분석되었다. 기상악화는 도로의 운영 효율을 저하시키는 요인으로 작용할 가능성이 매우 큰 것으로 나타났으며, 이에 따라 향후 이를 고려한 도로 설계 및 운영 방법이 제시되어야 한다.