CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – New Hampshire highways are getting smarter.

Starting next month, hockey-puck-sized disks embedded in roads throughout the state will record information about road temperature and moisture levels. If the road gets slippery, the disk will send an alert to a computer, notifying road-crew chiefs who can send workers out to treat the road with sand or salt. The information also will be available online for drivers, who can use it to plan trips around bad weather.

The disks are part of the Road Weather Information System, or RWIS for short. They will be located both at the road surface and 17 inches below the surface, and will transmit road conditions and temperature data to a computer mounted on a 30-foot tower nearby. Three times an hour, those 11 computers will transmit the data to a central computer at the state Department of Transportation. Instruments on the tower also measure and transmit data on humidity, wind speed and precipitation.

“If we can prevent one accident, save one life, this will pay for itself,” said Stephen Gray, project manager for the state Transportation Department, as he stood in the Canterbury rest area off Interstate 93 northbound, looking at the tower and the highway just beyond it. “It’s a wonderful opportunity.”

The state is splitting the $720,000 cost with Plymouth State University, which helped choose tower locations and is creating a Web site where residents and transportation officials can access detailed information on road conditions.

Brendon Hoch, technology manager at Plymouth State University, said the data also will be shared with the National Weather Service, making its forecasts more detailed. He said one day the data could also be tied into the 511 system, the phone number motorists call to get road conditions.

State road crews also benefit from the technology. Instead of driving around to check out road conditions, they can go online at home to decide which roads need salt or plowing. They also can see what weather may be moving toward them.

That forecasting ability has proved very handy in Iowa, one of the first states to use the system. Dennis Burkheimer, winter operations manager for the Iowa Department of Transportation, said there are 53 disks and towers scattered around the state.

“They’re able to tell that, Gee, the guy to the west of me, his pavement temperatures are dropping down to 15 degrees and winds are out of the northwest at 15 miles an hour. I better get some guys in here and prepare for this thing,”‘ Burkheimer said.

Massachusetts has used the system for about a decade and is now spending $1 million to add new towers and upgrade old ones. Unlike in Iowa, the information recorded in Massachusetts is not available to the public, but the state is looking into that option, said highway department spokesman John Carlisle.

The bulk of New Hampshire’s sensors will be along Interstate 93, including Salem, Derry, Canterbury, Ashland and Littleton. Other sites include Interstate 89 and Route 9 near Keene.

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Information from: Eagle Tribune, http://www.eagletribune.com

AP-ES-12-27-05 0216EST