Intelligent Transportation Systems

 

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Photo Credit:  Wisconsin DOT

 

 

●  What is ITS?

●  Existing Regional Efforts

●  Guide to Transportation System Management and Operations

●  GTC ITS Planning Initiative

●  ITS Links

 

 

A safe and efficient transportation system is a key component of this region’s quality of life. It has direct bearing on mobility and the accessibility of people and goods to employment, shopping, and other opportunities; economic development; and the patterns of growth in the region. In many respects, the Genesee-Finger Lakes region’s transportation system provides it with a comparative advantage over many other areas in the state and nation. We need to protect and enhance this advantage.

 

ITS represents the next step in the evolution of the overall transportation system. As information technologies and advances in electronics continue to revolutionize all aspects of the modern-day world (from homes and offices to schools and even recreation), they are also being applied to the transportation system. These technologies include the latest in computers, electronics, and communications and safety systems.

 

What is ITS?

 

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are information and communications technologies that are used to better manage and improve the performance of transportation facilities, services, and the overall system. Urban and rural ITS applications can be employed on this region’s transportation infrastructure of highways, streets, railways and bridges, as well as to a growing number of modes, including cars, buses, trucks, trains, ships, bicycles and pedestrians. The results are improved mobility, safety, air quality and productivity.

 

Key elements of ITS include:

  • Traffic signal control (e.g., coordinated signal timing, traffic/emergency signal preemption, etc.)

  • Freeway management (e.g., ramp metering, lane use control, variable message signs (VMS), etc.)

  • Transit management (e.g., advanced vehicle locator (AVL), computer-aided dispatching, etc.)

  • Incident management / emergency response (e.g., automated incident detection systems, computer-aided dispatching, E-911, etc.)

  • Electronic toll collection (E-ZPass)

  • Electronic fare payment (smart cards)

  • Railroad crossings (e.g., side-mounted radar, vehicle warning systems, gate controls, etc.)

  • Regional multi-modal traveler information (e.g., internet, cell phone, kiosks, etc.)

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) lists four key principals that form the basis of the national ITS program. They are: 

  1. To promote the implementation of a technically integrated and jurisdictionally coordinated transportation system across the country;

  2. To support ongoing applied research and technology transfer;

  3. To ensure that newly developed ITS technologies and services are safe and cost-effective; and

  4. To create a new industry by involving and emphasizing the private sector in all aspects of the program.

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Existing Regional Efforts

 

The Improved Mobility Areawide Guidance Evaluation (IMAGE) plan of March 1996 is the master plan for Intelligent Transportation Systems in the Genesee-Finger Lakes region. This effort involved Federal, State, and local officials, including GTC. IMAGE inventoried all existing and proposed ITS activities in the area and crafted a long-term vision for the future of ITS in the greater Rochester area. 

 

The ITS “architecture” (i.e., the full range of stakeholders and their associated data flows) for the Genesee-Finger Lakes region, whose framework was first developed under IMAGE, was updated with the completion of the Rochester Regional Architecture Workshop of May 2000. At this workshop, relevant local agencies constructed the Regional Tier II architecture to the data flow level, based on the standards of the National ITS Architecture. 

 

The Genesee-Finger Lakes region’s ITS capabilities were greatly enhanced by the opening of the Regional Traffic Operations Center (RTOC) at the Greater Rochester International Airport in Summer 2001. This multi-agency facility will be the hub of ITS operations in the greater Rochester area for years to come. 

 

The RTOC serves as the Traffic Control Center for Monroe County’s Computerized Traffic Signal System (CTSS), the central point for State signal maintenance and traffic management activities including dispatching, monitoring of the State's Regional Weather Information System (RWIS) and managing activities in NYSDOT's ITS program. The relocation of the State Police Henrietta Headquarters to this site will bring together the operators of the highway network and one of the key responders to traffic incidents on the expressways.  The GTC ITS Planning Initiative will build on these recent area-wide advances by examining ITS architecture at the project-level.

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Guide to Transportation System Management and Operations

 

According to a recent survey published by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University, respondents did not feel that expanding technologies to better manage and operate the transportation system was a high priority. Some of this may be attributable to a lack of understanding regarding the ability of Transportation System Management and Operations (TSMO) to improve safety, efficiency, and reliability in a more cost-effective manner than more traditional, capital projects.

 

To ensure that the role and benefits of TSMO are more fully understood by policymakers and the general public, the Genesee Transportation Council has developed the Guide to Transportation System Management and Operations in the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region. The Guide provides critical information about TSMO in a concise, easy-to-read format suitable for elected officials, citizens, and other non-transportation professionals. The Guide discusses what TSMO is and the opportunities it provides, presents specific examples of how it is being applied in our region, and includes links to resources for those who wish to learn more.

 

 

 

 

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GTC ITS Planning Initiative

 

The objective of this Initiative is to position the nine-county GTC region to take advantage of ITS technologies that maximize the safety and efficiency of the transportation system by working with member agencies to identify appropriate ITS applications and funding strategies.

 

Port of Rochester ITS Project Architecture Case Study

 

A primary result of the GTC ITS Planning Initiative was the development of a project-level ITS architecture case study of an important activity center in the Genesee-Finger Lakes region. The Port of Rochester was chosen as an ideal setting for the case study. The results of the case study are transferable to other project-level architectures to be developed in the future. The development of this project architecture served as a learning experience for many regional transportation professionals from numerous agencies. 

 

Expected investment at the Port of Rochester will lead to major traffic growth in the lakeside communities in coming years. In addition, the fast ferry service to Toronto will introduce even greater opportunities for ITS applications at the Port, including the provision of a safe and efficient international border crossing.

 

ITS components can be utilized to improve the flow of people, goods, and information between the Port of Rochester and the greater region. This case study determined the full range of stakeholders and associated data flows connected with the Port.  This exercise engaged transportation, public safety, and emergency service providers and others with a stake in the operation of the Port of Rochester. The project-level architecture gives an indication as to the physical infrastructure needed to convey the ITS components required to establish the Port of Rochester as a world-class multi-modal facility and international border crossing.

 

The "final report" for the Port of Rochester Case Study is now available, download the Port of Rochester Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Project Architecture Case Study and Concept Plan below in PDF.

 

 

 

 

Also visit GTC's Rural ITS page for more information on this emerging aspect of ITS technology.

 

 

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ITS Links

 

 

 

 

 

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