Commercial Operations

The UK Highways Agency has adopted a supply chain community approach to the
delivery of key national intelligent transport systems research, development and
implementation programmes. The various strategic aims and objectives behind this
approach are explored within the case study of the Highway Consultancy and
Research Group commissions.

Mott MacDonald

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

The authors are working on the research and development of traffic flow smoothing services
applying AHS (Advanced cruise-assist Highway System) based on the concept of ‘Smartway’,
the platform to integrally realize diverse ITS services through road-vehicle cooperation. As a
part of the approach, sag section is focused, which is one of major cause of traffic congestion
on intercity expressways in Japan. The authors have proceeded with the research for the
desirable service forms to optimize lane utilization rates for practical use. Following the past
years research, this paper reports the fundamental system design based on the desirable
service forms and inspects the driver’s service acceptability through proving tests on driving
simulator (‘DS’, hereafter).

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan

AHS Research Association, Japan

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

Due to the increase of traffic demand, current traffic facilities are not sufficient to
accommodate the dramatic increase in traffic volume during peak hours, especially for the
left-turn demand on traditional diamond interchanges. To deal with this problem, one of the
solutions is to replace the traditional diamond interchange with the Diverging Diamond
Interchange (DDI) design. This study aims to conduct the preliminary study on a series of
design and operation topics related to the DDI  design with respect to safety and efficiency
followed by a case study of a new DDI design in Kansas City, MO.

University of Missouri, Kansas City

HNTB Corporation

Presented at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

The National Traffic Control Centre (NTCC) in England has introduced a new service that gives
real time predictive traffic information to Road Users using Variable Message Signs.  The service
was introduced using a rapid prototype technique from which lessons were learnt and user
reactions assessed.  The full service went fully live in September 2007 using nearly 400 Variable
Message Signs and has received extremely positive reactions from road users.  The system uses a
predictive technique rather than just reporting actual journey times, by combining historic data
collected by the NTCC with real-time journey times collected by over 1000 ANPR cameras.  The
predicted Travel Times have been proven highly accurate within the rounding errors for the
messages.  The technical paper describes the history of the implementation, its purpose, the
techniques used, user feedback and how the services will be further enhanced.

The National Traffic Control Centre

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

There is world-wide interest in moving to charging for road use, in order to reduce congestion
and pollution, and to move to a “fairer” system use than fuel duty and fixed charges such as
Vehicle Excise Duty. However, there is also concern that the capital and running costs of
implementing electronic road pricing are disproportionate. This paper reviews the reasons for
moving to electronic road pricing (aka congestion pricing, road user charging, electronic fee
collection), and indicates the costs of scheme implementation, based on real case studies and
on the aspirations of some national Governments. It concludes that costs are significantly less
than is generally perceived and are also falling rapidly.

Transport Technology Consultants Ltd,

University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Thales

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