On July 7, 2026, the DEP API introduced a new real-time quality assessment capability for VDOT RWIS data. This deployment introduced a quality metric field that gets set for certain data elements based on their values and agreed upon thresholds and special codes. This means that when VDOT RWIS data record comes into the DEP, it is compared to set thresholds and special codes and if the value falls outside of expected range or is set to a special code, the quality field is populated with relevant information. The new <dep-quality> field value is set to “valid” if the field is assessed and its value is determined to be within preset thresholds. If the value is a special code, the <dep-quality> value is set to “INFO:” followed by a brief explanation of the special code. If the value falls outside of the preset range or is an error value, the <dep-quality> field is set to “WARNING:” or “ERROR:” respectively followed by appropriate explanations.