Cross-cutting Issues

The federal ITS program has been oriented to fund large-scale integrated transportation management systems as demonstration of a broad range of ITS functions. For the most part, state ITS programs have evolved from these large urban demonstration projects, with significant program champions and substantial federal investment. While beneficial to showcase ITS potential, cost containment, cost effectiveness, and scalability have not always been a major focus of the federal ITS program. Thus, the program has a significant gap: ITS deployment in small- to medium-sized American cities. It is relatively easy for a state to support one large urban ITS system—as did Washington (Smart Trek) and Georgia (Navigator). But given the expense of such systems, how can states be expected to build and operate them in their far more numerous, smaller urban areas?

Policy makers at both the federal and state levels need to review their ITS programs to answer the following questions: Do smaller urban areas experience significant traffic congestion? Can they benefit from traffic management/incident management programs? If so, how can they afford the capital outlay an ongoing operations cost necessary to provide such services? This paper suggests that traffic problems in small-to medium-sized urban areas is real; the principles of incident management are universal; and there is great potential to economize technology investments for system operations, while still realizing substantial benefits.

Ohio Department of Transportation

PB Farradyne

Presented at the 11th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, June 4-7, 2001 Miami Beach, Florida

This paper updates an earlier paper presented to ITS America in 2000 that described a Caltrans Internet Protocol-based CCTV network being deployed in San Diego County, CA. In this paper, changes to the network architecture from ATM to Gigabit Ethernet technology and from MPEG-1 to H.261 video compression technology are described. The CCTV video distribution system has been considerably simplified in the new architecture and deployment experience has validated the technology selection.

National Engineerign Technology Corporation

California DOT (Caltrans)

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, May 19-22, 2003 Minneapolis, Minnesota

Vehicular and truck traffic across the George Washington Bridge facility increased substantially throughout the late 1990s, mainly as a result of a booming US and New York-New Jersey metro area economy. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey recognized that action had to be taken to prevent deterioration of the region’s mobility. With an inability to construct new capacity for many reasons, the Port Authority turned to technology for a solution to the growing travel demand. In 1997, the Port Authority embarked on a project to deploy a unique Intelligent Transportation System at the George Washington Bridge. This paper focuses on the origins, motivations, procurement, complex system integration and installation of Intelligent Transportation System technologies in the specific areas of Incident Management and Traveler Information.

ITS America Coordinating Council

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Presented at the 11th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, June 4-7, 2001 Miami Beach, Florida

This paper provides a background on the history of public wireless packet data networks, specifically Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD). Who has been using the network and how? Specifically, how has it been utilized in to serve the transportation industry? It also outlines the evolution currently underway in these networks. Why are billions of dollars being spent to build the next generation wireless networks? What standards are being utilized? What are the differences between service providers? How fast are the networks? When can we expect to see higher bandwidth? What applications are suitable to run on these networks? What technical issues need to be resolved? What will be the costs to utilize these networks?

AirLink Communications, Inc.

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, May 19-22, 2003 Minneapolis, Minnesota

To date, most ITS deployments have focused on large metropolitan areas. Over the last few years, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Minnesota State Patrol (MSP) and Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) have reached out to its rural areas in an effort to extend the range of ITS benefits. These agencies are experiencing reductions in cost, improvements in safety and increases in efficiency by undertaking an initiative for deploying ITS user services across the state. As a result, Mn/DOT and the MSP have developed a strong partnership through recent tests of ITS technologies while having deployed the nine rural Transportation Operation Communication Centers (TOCCs) throughout Minnesota. This program has spanned over six years and has brought together the resources of both departments in order to provide comprehensive communication services and systems statewide.

Minnesota DOT

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, May 19-22, 2003 Minneapolis, Minnesota