Cross-cutting Issues

Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) projects are a critical part of managing traffic, responding to incidents, and informing travelers in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has been a longtime advocate of ITS technology and has modified its processes to accommodate ITS in its transportation planning, project development, operations and maintenance processes. In the past 2 years, a number of projects have been planned, developed and initiated to respond to an aging infrastructure in need of replacement, the availability of stimulus funding sources, and the New Technologies Initiatives involving applications related to ATM, ICM and the connected vehicle that will improve VDOT’s ability to manage traffic and increase the safety of those traveling on Virginia’s roads. This paper will explore how Virginia’s ITS Architectures have been used to improve ITS Planning in Virginia.

Iteris, Inc.

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

The  probe  data  sampling  rules  that  have  been  developed  for  the  VII  program  in  the  SAE J2735  draft  standard  incorporate  a  variety  of  provisions  intended  to  protect  the  privacy  of drivers  and  to  limit  the  probe  data  traffic  for  reasons  of  communication  efficiency.    These rules have been simulated for a suburban signalized arterial corridor, where they are shown to produce consistent voids in coverage and to significantly limit the accuracy of the estimates that can be derived of real-time traffic conditions such as speed and travel time.  Alternative strategies for overcoming these limitations are suggested.

University of California, Berkeley

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

The richness of video data makes the camera in many ways the ultimate sensor. The potential of
gaining so much contextual information makes camera networks a compelling solution to today’s
traffic management needs. Cameras have become so prevalent in metropolitan living primarily
because, for those tasked with traffic management or law enforcement, actually being able to
investigate a scene as events unfold provides greater context as opposed to looking at dots or
exclamation marks on a map. Network managers and operators are most effective when can see the full extent of what is happening so they can prioritize and react with the most efficient use of limited resources. This paper assesses the current uses for traffic data and projects its potential to effectively mitigate congestion and improve performance. The paper compares this potential to the benefits of using digital video to prove performance, increase safety, assist traffic enforcement and criminal investigations, and reduce fuel consumption and travel times.

MetroTech Partners, LLC

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

The use of CCTV cameras has been in continuous expansion for the past 30 years in the
transportation industry. As the use of CCTV cameras in the field of traffic and roadway
monitoring continuously expands, systems are beginning to meet with limitations.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, Traffic Operators at the Caltrans Traffic Management Center
deal with several hundred cameras and monitor hundreds of miles of highways and
expressways. This is the reason why Caltrans and MTC have decided to test a video-base
incident detection system in order to quickly and efficiently warn Traffic Operators of
incidents occurring on the roads.
A video-based incident detection system was deployed on 8 existing PTZ cameras monitoring
the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge in the San Francisco Bay. The self-learning system image
processing algorithm analyses movement and automatically warns Traffic Operators of any
vehicle stopped within the field of view of a given camera.
The test showed that the system proved to be efficient in detecting accidents or incidents on
traffic lanes and also in detecting vehicles pulled-over on the shoulder. The system showed
little sensitivity to traffic conditions, night/day, weather conditions and disturbances such as
vibrations of the cameras.

Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Citilog, Inc

Presented at the 12th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 6-10, 2005, San Francisco, California

The use of video technology for traffic signal detection is well proven and has been in use for almost two decades. Advances in technology and supporting applications make it possible to do much more with video. Existing CCTV systems can now be used to deliver the visual image, collect traffic data and support automated incident detection. The paper explains the overall architecture of the video system and illustrates how transportation agencies are using it for data collection in support of performance management applications and as a means to detect potential road hazards.

Iteris, Inc.

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