Cross-cutting Issues

This paper illustrates the potential of using cellular phone positioning techniques in tracking

cross-region traffic and deriving dynamic transit demand data. A traffic corridor between Topeka,

Lawrence, and Kansas City, Kansas was used to test and demonstrate the application and

operational process of the proposed cellular phone tracking algorithms. The experimental test

found that the cellular phone data provided by the vendor can capture about 14 percent of the

average traffic data in the study area. About 49 percent of the total traffic was identified as

commuting traffic, which had a round trip between two regions (cities). Assuming the

commuters among these regions are the potential transit users, the expected values of dynamic

transit demand data by various time intervals were derived based on the commuting traffic O-D

data, the possible staying and commuting times. These data can be used for transit schedule

assignment and to assess traffic impacts along the traffic corridor by the time-of-day.

KU Transportation Research Institute

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, The University of Kansas

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida

One solution for mitigating the adverse impacts of weather on the transportation system is to provide improved road and atmospheric hazard products to road maintenance operators and the travelling public. With funding and support from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) Connected Vehicles initiative and direction from the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Road Weather Management Program, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is conducting research to develop a Vehicle Data Translator (VDT) that incorporates vehicle-based measurements of the road and surrounding atmosphere with other, more traditional weather data sources, and creates road and atmospheric hazard products for a variety of users.

 Authors: Sheldon D. Drobot, Michael Chapman, Paul A. Pisano, Gabriel Guevara

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida

Winter road maintenance is one of the biggest challenges for agencies responsible with providing safe environments for the public, and it has been a major growth area for ITS systems in the past few years. At the same time, budget issues have forced agencies to do ‘more with less’ and the use of smarter, more intelligent systems such as mobile data collectors have contributed to address these issues. Manufacturers of these systems are staying on the cutting edge of technology and adapting their systems to the needs and requirements of states and other winter road maintenance agencies, both in terms of increased capabilities and reduced costs.

The Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS), adopted by the majority of states with
severe winter weather, has introduced a more scientific approach to the management and
direction of snow plows, by utilizing expert weather service providers to give route specific
weather reports and more precise application rate recommendations tailored to the specific
weather conditions being experienced.

Author: Michael Howarth

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida

ITS Standards development has changed over the past few years requiring a need to update and improve previous ITS Standards Training courses. Several ITS Standards are now available as later version standards and some ITS Standards that have been developed with a Systems Engineering Process (SEP) contain additional content that helps deployers ensure that they can implement a system that is interoperable, interchangeable, and conformant to ITS Standards. Such ITS systems will be able to provide information and services to other systems and use exchanged information and services to operate together effectively. As a result, there is a renewed interest within the ITS community for assistance with procuring and testing when deploying systems implementing ITS Standards. The ITS Standards Program and ITS Professional Capacity Building Program (ITS PCB) are undertaking a project to develop a new set of training materials that emphasize the acquisition, implementation, and testing of ITS Standards.

U.S. DOT

Noblis

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida

Connected Vehicle and Active Traffic Management (ATM) are the innovative traffic management strategies emphasizing Information Technology (IT)-based intelligent vehicle and infrastructure, advanced control technology, and system integration to address the grand challenges in transportation systems, such as severe congestion, increased risk of traffic incidents, and traffic pollution. Connected Vehicle aims to facilitate better traffic operations through two-way wireless communication of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure. ATM is an operational approach for optimal performance of highway system through various advanced control strategies. Seamless integration of Connected Vehicle and ATM strategies can generate significant benefits to optimize overall traffic system operations. This paper provides a comprehensive review on the state of the art and the practice of Connected Vehicle and ATM strategies. The study findings are helpful to better understand their fundamental control and operation mechanisms, practical applications, system benefits, and operational challenges.

Authors: Tanveer Hayat, Lily Aung, Gouhui Zhang, C. Michael Walton

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida