Safety

Traffic congestion in many national parks in the United States causes lengthy traffic delays and safety problems that substantially detract from the visitors’ experience at these parks. Recognizing that construction of more roadways and parking lots is not the solution; applications of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are becoming increasingly popular at several of the National Parks. ITS applications at these parks could help alleviate congestion problems and enhance visitors’ safety while protecting park resources. In order to facilitate application of ITS technologies at National Parks across the nation, an unprecedented joint venture between the US Department of Transportation and the US Department of the Interior has recently been formed. One of the first initiatives under this joint venture is a field operational test (FOT) of ITS applications at one of the most heavily visited National Parks in the nation. Several National Parks were evaluated for selection as the site for this FOT. High volume of visitors and increasing congestion, among other criteria, led to selection of Acadia National Park in Maine as the site for the test.

Science Applications International Corporation

United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration

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

The purpose of this paper is two fold: (1) to present an overarching evaluation framework to assess the efficiency and the cost effectiveness of advanced traffic signal control systems that can provide emergency vehicle preemption and transit priority capabilities; (2) to present two parts of a four-part analytical approach within this framework that assess: (a) the impact of reduced emergency vehicle crashes on fire and rescue operation and maintenance costs; and (b) the impact of reduced transit travel time on transit operating and maintenance costs. This methodology is intended to assist traffic managers, fire and rescue providers, planners, engineers and other professionals in evaluating the impacts of integrated emergency vehicle preemption and transit priority systems. Initial results indicate: (1) that emergency vehicle preemption has the potential to reduce fire and rescue operational and maintenance costs; and, (2) that the values for both efficiency and cost effectiveness of the adopted transit priority strategies and preferential treatment solutions are a function of many variables, such as: the magnitude of transit travel time delay; the transit fleet size, the labor rules; the apportionment of preemption and priority system costs among transit operators, emergency service providers and the municipality; and the cost of money.

Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 26 - 28, 2004 San Antonio, Texas

With the planned 5-year reconstruction of I-235 through the Des Moines area, the Iowa
Department of Transportation (DOT) placed high priority on developing and maintaining an
effective program to manage traffic conditions and handle highway incidents within the Region
during reconstruction activities. The DOT received support for the development of a Traffic
Management System of cameras, dynamic message boards, sensors, and other traveler
information systems. Coordination/sharing of traveler information with local agencies and the
public was a priority. During 2004/2005, the field hardware (80 sensor devices, 44 cameras, 26
DMS- permanent and portable) was installed and tested. In addition, a Highway Advisory Radio
(HAR) system and TripGuide website was implemented. Simultaneously, the agencies in the
Region developed and coordinated a solid incident management program aimed at developing
common policies and procedures to be used during an incident. They included: activation/deactivation
of dynamic message signs, use of cameras, and use of pre-set messages. The end result
is an effective and efficient Team effort in responding and the handling of highway incidents,
particularly under the traffic constraints expected to occur during the reconstruction of I-235
within the Region.

Jacobs Civil Inc

Iowa DOT

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

The damages and social costs from the slipping accidents of pedestrians and cyclists are
significant. There are about 50,000 such accidents in Finland annually. In the future, the
number of slipping accidents requiring medical attention will probably increase due to the
aging of the population and the increase in bicycle and pedestrian traffic caused by
congestion and the climate change prevention. The current weather services can prevent
3,500–4,000 slipping accidents annually in Finland but the effect could be doubled or
tripled by developing more efficient and intelligent information services. The potential
socio-economic benefits of the services would thus be at least 370 M€/a. This, combined
with increased road traffic congestion and the challenges posed by health care, air quality
problems and climate change, offers a potential growth market for ITS services for
pedestrians and cyclists that suit the needs of different user groups.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

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

Motivated by the proliferation of Smartphone devices, we present a system architecture to
enable the delivery and exchange of ITS messages to Smartphones on the road. The purpose
is to provide an ITS situation awareness system architecture that would enable application
developers to build Smartphone applications for ITS mobility and safety. We present a “Slow
Traffic Ahead” application as a means to validate the architecture and perform a field
experiment in the San Francisco Bay Area comprised of 30 users to test the performance of
the system. We conclude our paper with the data analysis and recommendations for
improving the configurable parameters of the system architecture to provide better user
experience and more accurate timing of alerts.

University of California, Berkeley

California PATH, UC Berkeley

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, May 3-5, 2010, Houston, Texas