ITS America Details Projects That Improve Safety; Mobility at House Hearing

Developing Best Practice Report in advance of FAST Act Reauthorization

Congressional Testimony

Issues:

September 5, 2018

WASHINGTON – Transportation agencies across the country are using intelligent transportation technologies to save lives, improve mobility, extend the life of infrastructure, and increase sustainability, and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) highlighted a number of those technologies at a congressional hearing today.

ITS America President and CEO Shailen Bhatt outlined key benefits of projects in California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan and Nevada at the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit’s hearing on Innovation in Surface Transportation. ITS America is cataloging these and other projects in a best practices report, which will include information from cites, states, MPOs, research universities and private sector organizations across the country. It will provide a detailed body of data on intelligent transportation technology deployment, which ITS America will use to inform Congress and the Administration on the need to prioritize intelligent transportation technologies in the reauthorization of the FAST Act. Bhatt provided a preview of the report at today’s hearing.

“We are in the midst of a technology revolution, and this transformation can substantially improve the safety and operations of our nation’s transportation system,” Bhatt said.

Bhatt shared information on the following projects (more details available in his written testimony):

Bay Bridge Forward, which uses multiple projects to move more people in fewer vehicles through the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Corridor, the most congested travel corridor in the nine-county Bay Area region;
Smart 25 Pilot, a management system that addresses recurring peak-period congestion along the critical I-25 corridor,which connects Denver’s central business district and the Southeast Denver business corridor;
Truck Parking Availability System, which provides real-time parking availability information in Florida so truckers can make decisions that will save time and allows dispatchers to pre-plan the trips – saving an average of 30 minutes of driving time for most truck drivers;
US-23 Flex Route, which uses real‐time data to open the shoulder, harmonize speeds, warn drivers of conditions ahead and respond to incidents on the freeway between Brighton and Ann Arbor, Michigan – the most congested corridor in the state outside of metropolitan Detroit; and
Las Vegas self-driving shuttle that operates in mixed traffic on a half-mile loop. A public-private partnership, it is the country’s first autonomous bus to be fully integrated with smart city infrastructure.

“We are on the cusp of a technology revolution that will transform communities large and small,” Bhatt said. “Just as infrastructure was critical to the development of our economy in the 20th century, maintenance of existing infrastructure and deployment of smart infrastructure will be critical for our global competitiveness as this century moves forward,” Bhatt said.

Contact: Cathy St. Denis, cstdenis@itsa.org

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About ITS America: The Intelligent Transportation Society of America advances the research and deployment of intelligent transportation technologies to save lives, improve mobility, promote sustainability, and increase efficiency and productivity. Our vision is a better future transformed by intelligent mobility: safer, greener, smarter. For more information, please visit www.itsa.org

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Technology evolves faster than we can imagine the future. Rapidly evolving transportation innovations are being developed and deployed that promise to entirely reshape the way our transportation network operates, facilitating vast improvements to transportation safety and overall mobility. The promise of these innovations is apparent, but the deployment and application of these technologies is not without challenges. While technology disrupts the transportation ecosystem with new innovations and ideas, government, communities, private companies, and researchers must race to catch up to and contend with ideas never thought possible. How do we accelerate change and safely embrace new technology while promoting collaboration across industry to advance shared societal goals? Through nonprofits like the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America).

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As advocates for transportation innovation throughout the world’s largest transportation network, ITS America’s public, private and academic members are dedicated to championing smart mobility strategies to ensure safe and thriving communities.
Ramin Massoumi, Global Solutions Director – Mobility, arcadis
Private companies, public agencies and academic institutions committed to influencing the future of intelligent transportation come together at ITS America. Every day, our members advance technology solutions that save lives and improve mobility across the country – in cities, suburbs, and rural communities.
Malcolm Dougherty, National Practice Executive, Transportation, Michael Baker International
At ITS America, our public, private and academic sector members are committed to deploying intelligent transportation technologies to save lives and improve mobility on our nation’s roads. While transportation constantly evolves, we will do all we can to ensure it continues to be the engine that drives our nation’s economy and contributes to improving our quality of life.
Carlos Braceras, Director, Utah Department of Transportation