Commercial Operations

This paper introduces innovative mobility services and explains how these services could
operate and might improve the performance of managed lanes on freeways. The mobility
services outlined include real-time freeway management, speed adaptation services, car
following services, condition warning services, and merge integration services. These
basic mobility services can be deployed through the fundamental vehicle-infrastructure
cooperation (VIC) communications architecture that has been proposed for the Vehicle-
Infrastructure Integration (VII) partnership, complemented by additional in-vehicle
service applications. The potential value of these applications is discussed in the context
of illustrative operational scenarios that compare the potential performance of a freeway
with a designated HOV/HOT lane with and without the inclusion of vehicles with VIC
enabled car following services.

U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

In 2007, the New York State Department of Transportation, in partnership with the New
York State Fair, New York State Thruway Authority, and Traffic Technologies Inc., launched
a pilot operation and developed an innovative, unique and robust system to help improve
traffic management at the Great New York State Fair, held annually in Syracuse, NY. The
system is self-contained in small standalone trailers referred to as Mobile E-ZPass Units. The
Mobile E-ZPass Unit (MEU) utilized E-ZPass Plus Electronic Toll Collection technology to
speed parking fee acquisition and improve traffic flow into the State Fair’s parking grounds at
different locations. TTI designed the system by integrating hardware components and
developing software to operate with NYSTA supplied mGate readers and Automatic Vehicle
Identification (AVI) antennas (purchased from Mark IV Industries Corp) on retrofitted
NYSDOT trailers. Each MEU embodies a computer control system, a power system, an
mGate tag reader and antenna system mounted on an overhead arm structure over an E-ZPass
designated toll lane, allowing motorists with E-ZPass tags to pay for parking through their EZPass
accounts. This first time use of the MEU was successful as it demonstrated a safe and
time saving mobile system mechanism that improved traffic flow conditions throughout the
course of the Fair.

New York State Department of Transportation

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

The planned widening of the Highway 402 approach corridor to the border toll plaza of the Blue Water Bridge between Canada and U.S.A. presents new and exceptional challenges for Variable Message Sign (VMS) response. Some of the physical and operational challenges include: a unique configuration (an express stream destined to the Bridge, and a local collector lane stream with closely spaced interchanges); separation of express traffic lanes by vehicle type and frequent border user efficiency programs, using pavement marking buffers; display of variable lane designations using segmented VMS messages; and display of lane-specific queue warning information and incident information on VMS, layered over the lane designation information. This paper describes the concept of operations for VMS response, which is intended to drive the automatic response generation software for this system.

IBI Group

Ministry of Transportation of Ontario

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

Technology, in the form of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), offers a valuable tool to
improve the operations and management of our existing transportation facilities. Therefore, the
careful and efficient inspection and maintenance of ITS equipment have great importance. ITS
device manufacturers, system vendors, suppliers, and contractors, etc., develop and provide
drawings, guides, manuals, inspection and maintenance procedures to achieve this important
goal. Thus, there is a vast amount of knowledge needed to be extracted and then incorporated
into a Manual of Guidelines for effective inspection and maintenance of ITS equipment by
knowledgeable, experienced and well-trained inspectors and/or subcontractors. The principal
motivation of this study is to develop a state-of-the art and practical ITS Inspection and
Maintenance Manual, and to implement this manual in the form of a computer tool. This manual
and its computer implementation will be used as a reference document to assist the inspectors,
traffic operations, and ITS design and maintenance personnel to ensure effective day-to-day
inspection and maintenance of ITS facilities.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) safety goal is to reduce the
number and severity of crashes involving commercial motor vehicles. One way to improve
highway safety is through the expanded deployment and use of effective intelligent
transportation systems onboard commercial motor vehicles to prevent crashes. Over the past
several years, FMCSA and the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) have worked
together with the trucking industry to test, evaluate, and encourage the deployment of several
onboard safety systems to increase the safety of all roadway users. This paper provides an
overview of the steps taken in a collaborative technology transfer and deployment program that
facilitates information exchange with stakeholders in the motor carrier industry to accelerate the
deployment of onboard safety systems.

American Transportation Research Institute

FMCSA

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York