Personal Mobility

People with vision impairment generally have difficulty crossing intersections due to lack of traffic information. The most difficult intersection crossing tasks for this population are locating the crosswalk, determining when to cross, and maintaining alignment to the crosswalk while crossing. Through our ongoing effort to develop a prototype Mobile Accessible Pedestrian Signal (MAPS) application for the blind and visually impaired, we interviewed ten blind and low-vision people to better understand the type of information they use at intersection crossings and identified information types that could assist them. With these survey results, a prototype MAPS is developed that provides signal and intersection geometry information to Smartphone users at signalized intersections. User interaction is via simple tactile input (single/double-tap) and Text-To-Speech (TTS) interface are used for feedback. In the future, intersections equipped with Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) will advance the capabilities of MAPS to next level of mobility and safety applications for people with vision impairment. MAPS can take advantage of the low-latency capability of DSRC to coordinate cooperative communication among pedestrians (waiting at the crossing), traffic signal controllers, and approaching vehicles, thereby providing dynamic decision-making support to all travelers, not just the visually impaired.

Minnesota Traffic Observatory

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

The Mobility Services for All Americans (MSAA) initiative is a United States Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) research initiative that aims to enhance the efficiency and quality of human service transportation utilizing ITS. Travel Management Coordination Centers (TMCC) demonstration is a major outcome of the MSAA initiative. ITS forms the basis of the TMCC system by enabling two essential functional features: 1) enhanced real-time traveler information capability, and 2) improved or enhanced operational coordination through advanced ITS fleet management tools. In 2008, the USDOT selected Aiken (South Carolina), Camden County (New Jersey), and Paducah (Kentucky) to develop and demonstrate the technological and institutional feasibility of a deployed TMCC and to assess its impacts. In 2010, Aiken and Paducah TMCCs became operational and began a new era of coordinated community transportation services. The Paducah KY TMCC received the 2010 Community Transportation System of the Year Award by the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA). The process and approach that led to the ultimate success of these two TMCC demonstration projects suggests that while each TMCC design was significantly influenced by local unique operational needs and characteristics, certain foundational ITS capabilities, such as Computer-Aided Scheduling and Dispatching (CASD), are required by all. This paper documents real-world results from the Aiken deployment and confirms that human service transportation in general is an “under-challenged” area where ITS can make a major impact.

U.S. DOT

Noblis, Inc.

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

The Michigan Department of Transportation decided on a design-build delivery system to expedite the installation of intelligent transportation systems to serve rural traveler needs in northern Michigan.  The technologies installed were dynamic message signs and environmental sensor stations.  This delivery system provided the design-builder with several design issues to be address, and lessons learned from this process will help other government agencies to use this delivery system to expedite deployment of  intelligent transportation systems in rural areas.

Hubbell, Roth & Cark, Inc

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

This paper describes the deployment of the Smart-SIGNAL technology in the City of
Pasadena, CA – collecting and archiving event-based traffic signal data simultaneously at
several intersections along one major arterial corridor. Smart-SIGNAL generates timedependent
performance measures for both individual intersections and arterials including
intersection queue length and arterial travel time. The paper describes lessons learnt during
the deployment and focuses on the analysis of the resultant information, and its value for
traffic operations as well for the traveling public.

Author: Michael Wieck

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

One contribution of the USDOT Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) Program has been the definition of a set of key national corridor performance measures consistently applied across multiple ICM sites. These measures represent both the bottom-line for ICM strategy cost-benefit evaluation and have been instrumental in supporting a discussion of how ICM impacts can be best characterized among key corridor stakeholders. Initially, the discussion on performance-driven corridor management among the participating ICM Pioneer Sites has been focused on measures derived from observed data. In the Analysis, Modeling and Simulation (AMS) phase of the effort (2009-10), however, attention turned to producing comparable measures derived from the outputs of different traffic simulation tools. This paper documents the algorithmic process developed in the ICM program and used to calculate key national measures of corridor performance.

Fellow, Transportation Analysis, Noblis

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