Cross-cutting Issues

Deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) can lead to significant impacts on the operation of a metropolitan area’s transportation system. This paper will review the documented impacts recorded in some of the U.S. cities that have been leaders in the deployment of ITS. Following a survey in 2000, 24 cities have been described as cities with a high level of ITS deployment by the USDOT’s ITS Deployment Tracking effort (www.itsdeployment.its.dot.gov).

Under the deployment tracking program, cities are defined as “high deployment” if they have achieved minimum threshold values of deployment in five component areas of ITS(Gordon, et al., 2001). These areas are Freeway Management/Incident Management,Transit Management/Electronic Fare Payment, Arterial Management, Regional Multimodal Traveler Information, and Emergency Management Services. Several of the cities with significant experience in deploying ITS are also developing a growing body of literature documenting the benefits that the systems can provide in the form of improved operation of the transportation network.

Mitretek Systems

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

This paper describes the innovative approach taken by the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) to provide their maintenance foremen and the general public access to information collected through an extensive, multi-agency Road-Weather Information System (RWIS). Baseline results of the Federal Highway Administration evaluation of the project are also presented, focusing on the multi-agency partnership component of the project, the winter maintenance decision-making process utilized by maintenance foremen, and how the project is expected to enhance that process and provide benefits.

Battelle Memorial Institute

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

As part of the AZTech ITS initiatives, the Maricopa County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) distributed WAP phones in the fall of 2000 to selected individuals working in transportation agencies in the Phoenix, AZ metropolitan area. These phones offered the recipients both local and long distance telephone service, along with use of the Internet and the ability to access real-time traffic information over the WAP phone, all free of charge. Traffic Station was the Independent Service Provider for the traffic information, and they offered this wireless service from the time the phones were distributed until they terminated their service in August 2001. In order to assess the benefits and future potential for this new technology and its utility as a tool for obtaining traffic information, MCDOT requested Battelle to conduct a survey of the WAP phone users. Battelle recommended telephone interviews with each user and developed an interview protocol to carry out the evaluation. This report documents the results of interviews with 13 out of 14 users, conducted between October 5 and 19, 2001. MCDOT commissioned this evaluation to document the various ways WAP technology could be used in the Phoenix metropolitan area and to understand how the users perceived the benefits and drawbacks of this technology. This information could be of interest outside of the Phoenix area, as well as for considering a possible expansion of this program in Phoenix in the future. While quantitative data were collected from the 13 users in these interviews, as presented in this report, the very small sample makes it difficult to generalize the findings. Nevertheless, the results, coupled with discussions with each of the users, provide a rich qualitative overview of this technology experiment.

Battelle Memorial Institute 

Maricopa County DOT

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

This paper presents an application of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) to road pricing. Two possible ITS technologies applying Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are examined. A case study of electronic road pricing for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) is described, showing the potential benefits to be achieved with its introduction. The paper also presents the estimated costs to implement the proposed ITS technologies. It concludes showing that ITS applications to road pricing can decrease possible equity distortions among HGVs operators.

DIW - German Institute for Economic Research

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

As history has shown, Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) deployments are extremely vulnerable to budget cuts, which can result in crippling effects on mission success. Unexpected reductions in budgets can cause an ITS deployment to delay planned expansion. This delay may impact downstream decisions, since technology and market shifts may occur which cause equipment to become end-of life, leaving the deployment in further financial distress. This paper describes several concepts that can mitigate the risk of technical obsolescence at not only the initial design phase but also throughout the lifecycle of the infrastructure. It also illustrates the financial and political leverage gained by applying these concepts regionally across agency boundaries. Published by the Southwest Research Institute.