Snow and ice can make driving hazardous. That’s why highway agencies make winter road maintenance a high priority, spending more than $2 billion annually in the United States on materials, crew time, and equipment. Most of the effort goes toward clearing streets and highways but the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) found that a more efficient process would be to treat the pavement before conditions make it ripe for snow to stick. This strategy, known as anti-icing, relies on information supplied by road weather information systems (RWIS), which consist of a network of monitoring stations located along primary roads and at potential trouble spots, such as bridges. By monitoring air and pavement temperatures to predict whether precipitation will freeze on the pavement, an RWIS allows highway agencies to make more informed decisions about where and when to deploy materials, crew, and equipment.

From 1995-2000, the members of the Lead States Team for anti-icing/RWIS provided States with guidance and technical assistance on the use of anti-icing techniques and RWIS technologies for snow and ice control.

In September 2000, the Anti-icing/RWIS Team transferred its responsibilities to the Subcommittee for Maintenance of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), specifically, the subcommittee's task force for snow and ice. The leadership and primary support for the team's continued implementation activities will be coordinated through the AASHTO Winter Maintenance Policy Coordinating Committee (WMPCC) and SICOP. Additional support will be derived from the TRB Subcommittee on Winter Maintenance (A3C09), with liaisons with APWA and NACE.

The Team prepared a Transition Plan detailing the results of their work and recommendations for the future.