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highway monitoring
some info on highway monitoring/tracking programs starting up..
all with major privacy implications...
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 18:40:55 -0700
From: Phil Agre <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems (60K bytes)
[Frank Durand is a concerned citizen in Washington State who is
campaigning to require public discussion before the state adopts a
far-reaching "intelligent vehicle-highway systems" plan. Some of the
state's plans raise questions about privacy (among other things). He
recently sent me the enclosed document, which he got from Peter Marshall
<[email protected]> from KSER Public Affairs in Seattle. It is
a status report on the state Department of Transportation's advanced
technology projects, and it conveys a vivid sense of how the bureaucrats
and their industry partners are thinking. I would encourage everybody
to call up their local state (or provincial or national) Department of
Transportation or regional transportation authority, ask to speak to
the expert on IVHS (or, in most countries besides the US, "transport
informatics"), and politely ask for the current status report on that
jurisdiction's advanced transportation technology projects. (If they
tell you it doesn't exist, they're confused or playing bureaucratic games.
Perhaps you didn't ask for it by the right name. Persist.) See if you
can get the report in electronic form; otherwise get it in paper form and
get someone to scan it. The potential privacy problems with these systems
can all be solved without significant sacrifices in functionality or cost,
so far as I can tell, through suitable choices of technology -- provided
the people in charge have been sensitized to the issues and persuaded to
take the effort to do it in the right way rather than the convenient way.
This is an urgent issue -- these plans are getting set in stone throughout
most of the world RIGHT NOW. Let me know what you come up with. ITS
America, by the way, is the trade association of US IVHS suppliers; it is
also an advisory board to the US Department of Transportation. I'll be
leaving for a meeting on IVHS privacy issues at ITS America on July 22nd.
If you come up with any relevant information, it would be great if you
could send it to me by then. Or else post details on the Privacy Digest,
[email protected]. -- Phil Agre, [email protected]]
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 13:57:15 -0700
From: [email protected] (Franklin W. Durand)
To: [email protected]
Subject: Washington IVHS Status Report - June 1995
[...]
P.S. Here is a little interesting trivia (some you know) regarding
Washington State's links to ITS America:
* Jack Kay is Chair of ITS America's Executive Committe - JHK & Associates
wrote "Venture Washington" for WSDOT.
* Les Jacobson is Chair of ITS America's ATMS Technical Committee - Les
Jacobsen is in Seattle and work for WSDOT.
* Walter Zavoli of Etak is Chair ITS America's Personal Portable Advanced
Travelor Information Systems Technical Committee - Etak is in partnership
with WSDOT, Metro (Seattle), IBM and Delco on the SWIFT Project (Seattle Wide
Area Information Technology) in Seattle which received and $7 million USDOT
grant for the project.
* Lawrence Yermack of Parson Brinkerhoff International is Chair of ITS
America's ETTM (Electronic Toll and Traffic Management) Technical Committee
- - - Parsons Brinkerhoff is one of the partners in Washington Transportation
Partners (developers for the Evergreen Point Bridge Project in Seattle).
- - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advanced Technology Branch Status Report 1 June, 1995
Status Report
of Active Projects
June 1995
WSDOT
Advanced Technology Branch
Washington State Transportation Center
Mail Stop 354802
1107 NE 45th Street, Suite 535
Seattle, WA 98105-4631
(206) 543-3331
Fax (206) 685-0767
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY BRANCH
Status Report of Active Projects
Washington State Department of Transportation
JUNE 1995
Table of Contents
HOV, TDM, and Related Projects 1
Travel Time Video Test 1
I-90 Lane Conversion. 1
HOV Lane Evaluation and Monitoring. 2
HOV Lane Evaluation and Monitoring (Phase II). 2
I-5 South HOV Lane Accident Analysis 3
Intercounty Carpool Profile. 3
An Analysis of Factors Accounting for Successes and Failures in the
Acceptance and Utilization of Employer-Based TDM Programs. 3
Incident Management Projects 3
Incident Response Data Base. 3
Evaluation and Application of Washington State's Incident Response Guide. 4
Incident Management Training for WSDOT Personnel. 4
The Use of Total Station Surveying Equipment for Accident Investigation:
A National Perspective. 4
ITS Projects 4
North Seattle Advanced Traffic Management System 4
BusView 5
Traffic Data Acquisition and Distribution (TDAD) 5
Puget Sound Help Me (PuSHME) Operational Test 5
A Real Time Traveler Information System for Reducing Urban Freeway
Congestion, Expansion, Implementation, and Evaluation. 5
Improved Congestion Prediction Algorithm. 6
Improved Error Detection and Incident Detection Using Prediction
Techniques and Video Imaging. 6
Bellevue Smart Traveler Using Traveler Information to Reduce Downtown SOV
Commuting. 6
In-Vehicle Signing and Variable Speed Limit Demonstration. 7
Seattle to Portland Inter-city IVHS Corridor Study and Communication Plan 7
Portland to Boise ITS Corridor Study 7
Seattle to Vancouver, B.C., and Seattle to Spokane ITS Corridor Study 8
Assessment of ATIS in Washington State. 8
IVHS Data and Information Structure. 8
Investigation of Video Image Tracking. 8
IVHS Backbone Design and Demonstration. 9
Demonstration of ATIS/ATMS Data Fusion in a Regional IVHS. 9
IVHS - Network and Data Fusion. 9
Investigation of Automatic Vehicle Location Systems for Traveler
Information. 9
Ramp Control via Neural Network Control. 9
Fuzzy Logic Ramp metering. 10
SWIFT - Seattle Wide-area Information For Travelers. 10
SWIFT Smart Traveler. 10
NEXRAD NEXt Generation Weather RADar. 10
Increasing Awareness of Transportation Options Through Riderlink. 10
Community Transit Arterial System Area-Wide Priority (CT ASAP) 11
Additional ITS Projects 11
Regional Automated Trip Planning. 11
Regional Ridematch. 11
Regional Ridematch Hotline. 11
Regional Fare Integration Project. 11
Smart Bus. 12
Other Projects 12
Traffic Congestion Monitoring-Urban Areas. 12
ENTERPRISE. 12
Accident Risks Using Roadway Geometrics. 13
Advanced Transportation Technology Application Policy Plan. 13
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY BRANCH
Status Report of Active Projects
Washington State Department of Transportation
June 1995
At the beginning of each project description, one or two names are listed
to call for further information. The first name is the WSDOT TRAC person
or the Metro person. When a second name is listed, it is usually the
principal investigator (P.I.). The phone numbers for each person follow:
PHONE NUMBERS phone number
WSDOT TRAC
Pete Briglia (206) 543-3331
Morgan Balogh (206) 543-0078
Eldon L. Jacobson (206) 685-3187
Bill Legg (206) 543-3332
Larry Senn (206) 543-6741
U.W./W.S.U. P.I.
Earl Butterfield (206) 685-2123
Dan Dailey (206) 543-2493
Mark Hallenbeck (206) 543-6261
Mark Haselkorn (206) 543-2577
Fred Mannering (206) 543-8935
Nancy L. Nihan (206) 543-9639
G. Scott Rutherford (206) 685-2481
Jan Spyridakis (206) 685-1557
Cy Ulberg (206) 543-0365
Deirdre Meldrum (206) 685-7639
Tom Seliga (206) 685-7092
King County Metro
Catherine Bradshaw(206) 684-1770
Wayne Watanabe (206) 684-1633
Roland Bradley (206) 689-3490
Candace Carlson (206) 684-1562
David Cantey (206) 684-6794
Each of the following project descriptions includes recent changes in
bold face type, usually at the end of each report, while previously
reported information has been changed to unbold.
.c.HOV, TDM, and Related Projects
% .c.Travel Time Video Test.; (Eldon L. Jacobson) This project is
studying the use of high resolution video cameras and computer software
that subsequently analyzes the video tapes to compute vehicle travel
times using the matching license plate method. WSDOT has arranged for
Transformation Systems, Inc., of Houston, Texas to perform the work. The
field work will be done during June 19-22, 1995, with the analysis and
the report received about a month later. We will be looking at travel
times between HOV lanes and GP lanes.
% .c.I-90 Lane Conversion.; (Eldon L. Jacobson or Fred Mannering)
This project studied the impacts of converting a general purpose lane to
an HOV lane on I-90 between Issaquah and Eastgate (sometimes called
take-a-lane). The westbound conversion (and added lane) was fully
operational on December 6, 1993. During January, 1994, the lane
configuration was revised in the Mercer Slough area, creating a
bottleneck section on westbound I-90 that has two general purpose lanes
plus the HOV lane. After a couple of months the complaints quieted, and
people appear to have become used to the situation. On June 27, 1994,
westbound I-90 ramp metering was implemented. Some video tape for the
RafterS data survey was collected the week before the ramp meter
turn-on. The draft report was circulated for review late November,
1994. Comments have been incorporated into the final report by the P.I.
The final report is complete and has been published. Project complete.
% .c.HOV Lane Evaluation and Monitoring.; (Eldon L. Jacobson or Cy
Ulberg) This project will produce the first annual (July, 1992 thru June,
1993) HOV system evaluation, on the basis of the methodology developed in
the above project. It is important to periodically monitor and evaluate
existing HOV lanes in order to make decisions about the operation of
existing HOV lanes and about the best location to construct future HOV
lanes. The evaluation will consider HOV lane usage, violations, safety,
time savings, capacity improvements, modal shifts, route shifts,
enforcement issues, cost effectiveness, and public opinion.
The project will build on existing information to construct a database
for evaluation of HOV lanes. Quarterly, annual, and biennial reports
will be published. At the end of the research, recommendations will be
made about the type of data necessary to do an HOV lane evaluation, the
data collection methodology, what agencies should be involved in HOV lane
evaluations, and the timing and format of HOV evaluation reports.
Surveys for I-5 South of Seattle (the Southcenter hill area to Midway)
were mailed out to motorists the week of February 10, 1992. Opinion
surveys for Metro bus drivers in the I-5 South corridor were handed out
in late, February, 1992, and returned in early March, 1992. All surveys
have been tabulated and summarized.
Data collection is now proceeding throughout the Seattle area. In
addition to obtaining travel time and vehicle occupancy in the freeway
mainline, vehicle occupancy is also being obtained at some ramps. Ramps
are usually easier to monitor, and should reflect occupancy changes
sooner than the higher volumes on the mainline.
This project was supplemented to evaluate the change from a 3 person
carpool definition to a 2 person carpool definition on I-5 north of the
Seattle CBD. The draft report for the 2+ demo (prepared by TRAC and TTI)
was received on January 27, 1992. The final report for the 2+ demo is
now available. Contact Eldon if you want a copy. The results indicate
that vehicle occupancy decreased, reliability decreased and travel time
increased in the northbound direction, much of the driving public
approves of 2+, and there was no evidence that the project affected
accident rates. The steering committee made three recommendations.
First, the results of the demonstration project do not support existing
policies. Second, the 2+ should revert to 3+ after a minimum 60 day
period. Third, future occupancy requirement decisions should be based on
a performance standard that measures speed and reliability.
A second supplemental project to the original project was funded. This
second project developed a performance standard that measures speed and
reliability. The intention was to have an easily measured reliability
standard for HOV lanes, which could be used when considering revising the
carpool definition for a particular HOV corridor. During April and May,
1992, data collection was done on the I-5 North corridor that was used in
developing the standard. A performance standard was adopted by the WSDOT
HOV Policy Board on August 13, 1992. It reads: "HOV lane vehicles
should maintain or exceed an average of 45 miles per hour or greater at
least 90 percent of the times they use that lane during the peak hour
(measured for a consecutive six-month period)."
Collection of data continues throughout the area during each Monday to
Friday peak period at about 20 different sites. The draft report was
distributed before the end of March, 1994. Review comments have been
received and the report has been revised. The final report was shipped
to the Research Office for printing in December, 1994. Eldon got the
final report back to fix some page numbering problems and returned it to
the Research Office on February 8, 1995. Final report complete. Project
complete.
% .c.HOV Lane Evaluation and Monitoring (Phase II).; (Eldon L.
Jacobson or CyJUlberg) This is the ongoing data collection and reporting
project. Auto occupancy data are being collected every morning and
evening peak period Monday through Friday. A 486 computer with a high
capacity hard drive has been acquired to aid in the data analysis and
storage. A two page legislative briefing report has been prepared. It
will be distributed (probably in the Ex*Press) with changes and updates 2
or 3 times a year. Quarterly data updates are being prepared, which will
update one of the appendices in the final report described in the
previous project. The initial quarterly report is complete (this will
actually add the 6 quarters that follow the 4 quarters in Appendix B of
the report in the previous project).
% .c.I-5 South HOV Lane Accident Analysis; (Eldon L. Jacobson)
This is an in-house project to analyze the before and after accident
information for the HOV lane termination area at the top of the
Southcenter hill. The accident data was provided by the Northwest
Region. A draft report was circulated on June 1, 1994, and review
comments are being received.
% .c.Intercounty Carpool Profile.; (Eldon L. Jacobson or Cy
Ulberg) This project will provide knowledge of why people choose to ride
share. The primary method to acquire information about a broad range of
carpools in the two-county region (Snohomish and King counties) will rely
on surveys of a random sample of people observed in carpools on selected
freeways, arterials, and streets. A large number of surveys (on the
order of 1000) will be conducted by mail, and they may include small
incentives to encourage a high return rate. A follow-up survey will be
conducted after one year. A smaller sample will be contacted for more
intensive personal interviewing (focus groups). This project will be
used to enhance the HOV 2+ evaluation. The project match will come from
that project in order to direct questions toward the carpool definition
change. WeUre waiting for the funds to be released by Metro to start the
project. The funds have been released and a U.W. budget number assigned
to the project. An initial literature review has been done. Carpool
license plates have been collected and the public opinion survey is being
finalized for printing. The survey was printed and mailed out in June,
1994. Surveys have been returned and have been coded for analysis. The
project has been put on hold until early 1995, as the graduate student
who is working on the project, Matt Benuska, is studying for three months
in South Korea.
% .c.An Analysis of Factors Accounting for Successes and Failures
in the Acceptance and Utilization of Employer-Based TDM Programs.; (Bill
Legg or Cy Ulberg) This project will carefully investigate the processes
that companies employ to implement TDM programs. It will develop a model
of the factors that influence employee's attitudes and lead to actual
changes in commuting behavior and will be useful to employers throughout
the state in designing and implementing successful TDM programs. The
project will be coordinated with the State Energy Office and to bolster
the work currently being undertaken because of the commute trip reduction
legislation. The scope of work was developed in cooperation with Metro
and the Energy Office. A new element of the project will be the
addition of a consultant to look at a proactive program for multi- site
employers to shift personnel around so employees are working at the site
nearest their home.
The draft final report has been completed and has been distributed for
review and comment. This project has be given a $95,000 supplement for a
proximate commuting study. This study has been initiated and a detailed
evaluation plan is now being developed. Proximate commuting is the
concept of decentralizing work so that employees can work closer to their
residence thereby reducing commuting time and distance.
.c.Incident Management Projects
% .c.Incident Response Data Base.; (Bill Legg or Fred Mannering)
This project will develop and establish an incident response database.
The database will be used to evaluate incident response measures
developed and implemented in the Seattle area. This project was approved
in February. The first project meeting with the researchers and the Data
Annex in Olympia took place the middle of March. The Data Annex
installed the CARS database at TRAC on May 27th. The project team is
working with WSDOT's 3 western regions and the East Central region to
establish a database format Incident report that could be used as a
standard for the entire state. This format will be compatible with the
States' MicroCars database. Work in also being done on a geographical
representation of the MicroCars database by combining it with a GIS
system. This project's completion date was extended to 6/31/94 from
12/31/93 to permit more testing of the database.
The draft database (the final level of effort for this project) is
complete and now being used. We are looking at any additional needs for
this project beyond the current completed work.
% .c.Evaluation and Application of Washington State's Incident
Response Guide.; (Bill Legg or Fred Mannering) This project will
evaluate the effectiveness, appropriateness, and format of the incident
response guide currently used by WSDOT's North West Region's incident
response teams. Based on this evaluation it will produce an updated
electronic version of the guide for WSDOT's 3 western regions and the
East Central region. Each region will able to customize and update the
documents as needed in the future.
The project is now complete.
.c.Incident Management Training for WSDOT Personnel.; (Bill
Legg) This project, through training sessions, will
introduce the basic language and protocol for the Incident
Command System to the WSDOT IRT members,
summarize new and existing state and federal regulations that
impact current incident management practices,
identify WSDOT IRT training material suitable for periodic
"refresher" training, &
provide information to Maintenance Area Supervisors on the
importance of effective incident management.
This project began the first of the year (1995) and training will begin
this summer.
.c.The Use of Total Station Surveying Equipment for Accident
Investigation: A National Perspective.; (Bill Legg) WSDOT took the
national leadership role in the implementation of the use of total
station surveying equipment by the State Patrol as a way to more quickly
clear major accident scenes. This project will determine
how the use of total station surveying equipment for accident
investigation has expanded to other parts of the nation,
what factors encourage the use of the technology,
what factors discourage the use of the technology, and
how the quantified and perceived benefits change depending on
local conditions.
The survey of national law enforcement agencies has been completed.
.c.ITS Projects
% .c.North Seattle Advanced Traffic Management System; (Morgan
Balogh) The primary objective of this project is to provide
communications to the different traffic control system in the I-5
corridor from Seattle to Marysville. This will enable coordinated
operations among the different jurisdictions traffic signal systems and
the freeway ramp meter system, provide a regional monitoring and data
sharing system, and receive real-time information on traffic and transit
conditions. This project will be expandable to the east and south to
include the entire Seattle Metropolitan area.
Many times political and jurisdictional issues prevent coordinating
adjacent systems. These issues will be worked out over the course of the
project.
This project will endeavor to obtain data from several signal systems in
the I-5/SR 99 corridor in north King County and south Snohomish County.
The data will be collected by a separate micro-computer through
communications links with central traffic control systems (and master
controllers if necessary) belonging to the various jurisdictions
involved. The micro-computer will compile the volume, occupancy, and
operations data and transmit it back out to the participating control
systems. Each signal system will independently use the data to improve
its traffic management capabilities. TIB funding for this project has
been obtained. The City of Seattle was the lead agency for obtaining TIB
funds. Oil rebate money is also being used on this project. The FHWA is
contributing 3.5 million in state appropriated IVHS money.
Dave Berg of the WSDOT, NW Region is managing this project. Farradyne
System Inc., is the lead consultant on the project. FSI started work on
Nov. 29, 1994. This was the same date that a kickoff meeting was held.
FSI has just completed the Control Strategy Report for the project (June
16, 1995). It is currently under review. There have been several user
group meetings with the next scheduled for June 17, 1995. FSI is
currently working on the system design.
% .c.Graphical Display of Real-Time Transit Coach Locations: Toward
an APTS for the Puget Sound Region (BusView); (Morgan Balogh, Dan
Dailey) The project will design and demonstrate a system that
graphically displays real-time transit coach locations to the University
of Washington campus community. The system will use Seattle Metro's
existing automatic vehicle location system as its information source.
This is a $170,000 project sponsored by WSDOT ($100,000) and TRANSNOW
$70,000. The completion date is February 1996.
The design of the APTS architecture and interfaces is well underway and
the evaluation of the accuracy of the AVL data is beginning. The system
will be demonstrated at a Transit Conference in Spokane in late August.
% .c.Traffic Data Acquisition and Distribution (TDAD); (Morgan
Balogh, Dan Dailey) The TDAD project will provide a system that will
access available traffic databases and store it in a separate database
for historical, research, and planning purposes. Agencies will then be
able to request from the system specific records, and obtain these in
formats meaningful and useful to them. The initial system will be
demonstrated in the Puget Sound area, together with linkages to state
level databases and applications. This project is coordinated with the
North Seattle ATMS. This project supports regional Congestion Management
Plans. The total project cost is $210,000 and is fully funded by the FHWA.
UW staff has interviewed the parties that will benefit by this project.
They include planning representatives from PSRC, TRIP, FHWA, and the
WSDOT N.W. Region. A working paper outlining the system desired by these
representative has been prepared and reviewed. The project team is
currently working with FSI and the North Seattle ATMS project on system
integration requirements.
% .c.Puget Sound Help Me (PuSHMe) Operational Test; (Morgan
Balogh) The WSDOT has received USDOT operational test funding for a Puget
Sound regional mayday system. This is a public-private partnership whose
participants include the FHWA, WSDOT, WSP, David Evans and Associates,
Inc. (DEA), Sentinel Communications (SenCom), Motorola, IBI Group Inc.,
and the University of Washington. Other firms involved in this project
but not actually on contract are McCaw Cellular and Intergraph. This
system will allow a traveler to send a signal indicating their location
when they need assistance directly to a traffic operations center who
will then dispatch the appropriate units (i.e. tow truck, assistance van,
WSP, etc.)
The cooperative agreement between WSDOT and the FHWA signed on August 1,
1994. The project started February 3, 1995. A equipment purchase
contract was signed between WSDOT and SenCom as of March 3, 1995. A
equipment lease between WSDOT and Motorola was signed 4/4/95 . The
project Kick-Off meeting is scheduled for March 28, 1995. The evaluation
plan is almost complete and should sent to the PuSHMe partners for review
in late June. Motorola has installed their GPS Reference station at the
TSMC on June 15, 1995 and plan to have their Dispatch running in Mid
July. SenCom will begin producing their mayday devices in late June.
Mayday testing should begin in late July or early August.
% .c.A Real Time Traveler Information System for Reducing Urban
Freeway Congestion: Expansion, Implementation, and Evaluation.; (Larry
Senn or Mark Haselkorn) This is a continuation of the earlier Real-Time
Motorist information project. Several enhancements will be made to the
"Traffic Reporter" information system including expanding coverage of the
display to include all freeways in the Seattle area and to include
separate information on the HOV lanes. Efforts will also be made to
improve the quality of travel time data and the quality of electronic
data coming from the WSDOT system. This project will provide delivery of
the system for use by the public and will evaluate the system under
actual use.
Traffic Reporter has been expanded to cover the Puget Sound area.
Testing is being done to compare "lap top" travel time data to those
calculated by Traffic Reporter. Also, usability testing has been
conducted on the expanded interface, and will continue once the system is
on display. Traffic Reporter can now find multiple freeway routes from a
given origin ramp to a given destination ramp. Added features include
the ability to compare speed and trip time between these routes,
including a comparison of general purpose versus HOV lanes.
A rough draft of the final report has been turned into TRAC for
preliminary review and should be ready to go to the Research Office
soon.
% .c.Improved Congestion Prediction Algorithm.; (Improved Ramp
Control Algorithm) (Larry Senn or Nancy L. Nihan) This project
continues the search for an improved ramp control algorithm based on
predictive techniques. The project objectives are to: (1) evaluate the
existing data and the performance of the predictive ramp control
algorithm used to operate the WSDOT traffic systems computer in Seattle,
develop improvements to the existing predictive ramp control algorithm by
looking at upstream volumes and lane occupancies and ways to improve
pattern recognition, testing the new algorithms on more than one section
of freeway.
Data collection computer modeling runs have been made and contrary to the
proposal will likely need to be conducted periodically throughout the
project. Preliminary analyses have been performed and strategies are
being discussed to select the algorithm most likely to be productive.
TSMC data is now available by modem for UW analysis. Researchers have
found that the flow divided by the lane occupancy (F/O) provides a better
indicator of congestion than indicators that are currently in use. A F/O
of 90 indicates the onset of congestion and an F/O of 70 provides an
excellent indicator of congestion. Storage, which is currently used by
the freeway system as an indicator of congestion, does not appear to a
very good indicator (a result also found in the neural network project).
The final report is in review.
% .c.Improved Error Detection and Incident Detection Using
Prediction Techniques and Video Imaging.; (Larry Senn or Nancy L. Nihan)
This project seeks to improve knowledge of the relationship of volume and
lane occupancy to the speed of traffic as a means of (1) determining
invalid detector data and (2) detecting incidents. In addition the
project will attempt to improve the ability to identify bad detector
data. Video imaging will be used as an independent check of the
volume/occupancy and speed relationships. The video imaging system will
itself be evaluated as an incident detection tool and as a tool to obtain
vehicle speeds.
Morgan Wong is the primary R.A. on this project. He has written a
program to get 20 second data from Autoscope and is modeling the data to
improve on the existing error and incident detection algorithms.
TSMC data is now available by modem for UW analysis. The project team
has been collecting additional video data for testing Autoscope. The
overall opinion of the researchers is that Autoscope works well enough to
be considered in future installations.
The draft final report and draft technical report have been submitted for
review.
% .c.Bellevue Smart Traveler: Using Traveler Information to Reduce
Downtown SOV Commuting.; (Eldon L. Jacobson or Mark Haselkorn) This
project produced and tested a prototype Traveler Information Center
designed to increase the use of transit and paratransit (carpools and
vanpools) by downtown Bellevue office workers. The goal was to locate in
a downtown Bellevue office complex a prototype computer-based interactive
Traveler Information Center that provided office workers with greater
access to flexible, reliable, safe, and time efficient alternatives to
single occupancy vehicle commuting. The prototype allowed us to gauge
the impact of applying ATIS technology to enhancing transit and
paratransit. It also allowed us to judge the viability of Traveler
Information Centers as a way for downtown centers to meet trip reduction
requirements set by the State of Washington.
The project was funded by WSDOT and FTA. Work was conducted as a
partnership between the Bellevue TMA and the University of Washington.
The project was originally scheduled to begin 7/1/92 and end 10/31/93.
The FTA funding period ended up being for 15 months, starting 9/30/92, so
no-cost time extensions were requested of both the FTA and WSDOT in order
that both funding periods ended at the same time.
Most of the employee's in the office building (Bellevue Place) were
surveyed. Since Microsoft doesn't do surveys, focus groups with
Microsoft employees were done the last week in April, 1993. The project
was expanded to cover more buildings in downtown Bellevue. Will also use
a public-private partnership utilizing pagers donated by PacTel (now
Air-Touch). The telephone equipment was purchased, the initial
programming of it completed, and it was tested. A media event showcasing
the project was done by the U.W. on September 28, 1993. 83 applications
were received by the TMA as of November 2, 1993. The kiosk was opened
for use in Bellevue Place on November 15, 1993.
Three ride groups were formed. Some of the interesting statistics as of
the close of the project on April 15, 1994 are: 496 rides offered, 145
rides sought, 6 confirmed ride matches. Preliminary conclusions are that
people were much more willing to offer rides than to accept a ride. The
draft technical report has been written and was submitted to TRAC the end
of August, 1994, for editing and processing. The initial editing
generated substantial suggested improvements, so the report was sent back
to the P.I. for modification in September, 1994. The draft report has
been circulated and review comments received. The P.I. plans on
incorporating review comments for the final report during the first week
of July, 1995.
% .c.In-Vehicle Signing and Variable Speed Limit Demonstration.;
(Larry Senn) The project is unique in that its objective is the
enhancement of motorists safety on freeway facilities through the display
of variable speed limits and other safety messages based on traffic and
roadway conditions. These displays are presented using variable message
signs and in-vehicle equipment. The proposed project includes the
implementation of a variable speed limit and motorist alerting system
featuring the use of low cost in-vehicle radio receivers with
alphanumeric displays. The system is to be installed on a forty mile
section of I-90 approximately 40 miles east of Seattle in the vicinity of
the Snoqualmie Pass. The University of Washington will be responsible
for the evaluation of the system and the experimental design.
The installation of data stations for collection of "before" data is
complete and data collection is underway. Farradyne has continued the
systems development, and has found solutions to several issues concerning
the radio communications system and integration of the weather stations.
FCC licenses for all sites have been obtained. The construction contract
with Totem Electric is underway and at least three sign bases have been
installed. The production of the Daktronics VMS is underway and the
inspection of the first sign occurred on June first. We hope to test the
in-vehicle devices in '94-'95 using a portable transmitter, however the
fixed sites will not have communications until '95-'96 when the entire
project will be operational. The UW team has conducted an in-depth
accident analysis based on 5 years of accident data and has continued the
development of the driving simulator that will be used to evaluate the
in-vehicle signing equipment. A detailed evaluation plan has been
submitted to NHTSA and has been tentatively approved pending some minor
corrections.
% .c.Seattle to Portland Inter-city ITS Corridor Study and
Communication Plan; (Morgan Balogh) We are in the initial stage of this
project. There are three main objectives of the project. The first
objective is to develop a plan to reduce congestion and improve safety
along the Seattle to Portland I-5 corridor utilizing Intelligent
Vehicle-Highway Systems (IVHS) technologies. The second objective is to
identify the communications network needed to support the IVHS for the
corridor. Additionally, evaluate alternatives and provide
recommendations for this network to support WSDOTUs other, non-IVHS,
intra-departmental communications requirements along this corridor. The
third objective is to develop general recommendations for a statewide
WSDOT communication network utilizing the corridor communications
analysis.
State matching funds have been identified and approved. An Agreement
between the FHWA and the WSDOT for the Seattle to Portland Inter-city ITS
portion of this project has been made.
A request for a service contract to select/hire a consultant was
developed and published September 13, 1993. The consultant proposals
went through the first stage of the evaluation process. This stage chose
the top 3 proposals. The representative of each team was asked to give
an oral presentation on December 7, 1993. From these presentations David
Evans and Associates was chosen to be the prime consultant. The
consultant began work May 2, 1994. The consultant has completed
Technical Memorandum #4, Draft ITS Corridor Plan in May and is developing
a draft communications plan.
% .c.Portland to Boise ITS Corridor Study; (Eldon L. Jacobson)
This project is to develop a plan to identify Intelligent Transportation
System technologies that should improve some of the known transportation
problems in the Portland to Boise corridor. One of the known problems is
the poor weather conditions that can rapidly appear in the Columbia
Gorge and the Blue Mountains. The corridor includes roads on both sides
of the Columbia River, two railroads, and barge shipping.
The planned $400,000 consultant study is anticipated to be funded by
FHWA, ITD, ODOT, and WSDOT. A draft agreement between the FHWA and the
three state DOTs has been drafted by the FHWA Region office. The revised
draft proposal was circulated for final comments and support letters.
The proposal was submitted to the FHWA the day before the due date of
August 1, 1994. Approval from D.C. was received the middle of January,
1995, provided the scope-of-work is approved by the FHWA region office.
The draft scope-of-work was circulated for comments the end of February,
1995. The FHWA approval is expected mid-March, 1995, with the RFP
planned late in March or April, 1995.
Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., is the consultant that was selected to
do the study. The scope-of-work and cost estimate are being worked on
prior to signing the contract.
% .c.Seattle to Vancouver, B.C., and Seattle to Spokane ITS
Corridor Study; (BillJLegg) This project is to develop a plan to
identify Intelligent Transportation System (formally IVHS) technologies
that should improve some of the known transportation problems in the two
corridors. The two corridors may be studied separately, or together,
depending on whether one or both are approved for funding by the FHWA.
The planned consultant study is anticipated to be funded by FHWA and
WSDOT.
Interviews for final consultant selection will be held on June 22nd.
Work on this project will begin in the 3rd quarter of 1995.
% .c.Assessment of ATIS in Washington State.; (Morgan Balogh) This
project is primarily funded by FHWA discretionary moneys. It will
provide an early evaluation of 4 ATIS in Washington state (FLOW, Traffic
Reporter, Bellevue Smart Traveler, and the proposed Canadian border
crossing information system). The project will develop a matrix of ATIS
so that appropriate criteria for judging success can be developed and
applied. The project will also recommend direction for future ATIS
development in the state. Start date for project was 10/01/92 and the
completion date for the project is 4/30/94.
Tasks completed to date include: (1) Identified classifying system and
definitions of success for this project. (2) Designed metrics and
instruments for assessing Flow.
Delays in the installation of the Vax at TSMC have delayed the
implementation of Traffic Reporter and consequently the evaluation of
Traffic Reporter. That problem has been corrected and the evaluation
continued. The final report was submitted to the Research Office in
March, 1995.
% .c.IVHS Data and Information Structure.; (Morgan Balogh or
Daniel Dailey) The overall objective of this project is to develop a
framework in which to understand, select, and apply wireless data
communications technology to IVHS development in Washington State. It
will (1) review the state of the art of wireless data communications, (2)
examine promising wireless communication alternatives, (3) perform a
limited field test of selected wireless data communications, and (4)
provide the basis for an overall plan to integrate wireless data
communications into a regional IVHS network. The final report for this
project is due December 31, 1994.
The final report was submitted to the Research Office in March, 1995.
% .c.Investigation of Video Image Tracking.; (Morgan Balogh or
Nancy Nihan) First generation video imaging systems provide Rtrip-wireS
type detection, that is they mimic the performance of inductance loops.
The newer video imaging tracking system not only gathers loop type data
but RfingerprintsS vehicles to provide tracking capabilities. Vehicle
tracking provides travel time and origin destination information which
has been historically difficult to obtain.
The proposed video imaging system for this project is the MOBILIZER,
which is provided by Condition Monitoring Systems (CMS) and is in the
prototype stages of development.
This project will test collected data for reliability and range of
usefulness, compare cost effectiveness and total life-cycle cost of the
CMS system to that of traditional loop detector systems, and if cost
effective, incorporate the system in the WSDOT Traffic Systems Management
Center. The final report for this project is due August 31, 1995.
Most of the technical problems with the MOBILIZER have been worked out
and testing is continuing.
% .c.IVHS Backbone Design and Demonstration.; (Larry Senn or Dan
Dailey) This project will (1) design a demonstration architecture for a
regional IVHS backbone for the Puget Sound area and (2) construct this
backbone in order to demonstrate how different types of data gathered
from distinct agencies can be integrated in a single application. The
backbone will be designed to (a) improve interagency and
multi-jurisdictional sharing of data without disrupting existing
operations, (b) support existing investment in IVHS technology and system
development, (c) encourage expansion and innovation, and (d) be
compatible with federal efforts to develop a national IVHS architecture.
"The backbone will support traffic data from a multitude of sources while
making data accessible in a clearly defined manner on a geographically
distributed network. This all will be done in an open systems model that
supports a distributed computing environment, is extensible to larger
areas, and easily allows new agencies to participate.
The T1 link to the TSMC and all hardware elements to set up the
communication have been installed. Software to extract the data is
operational. Loop data has been interfaced to the GIS application.
Software is being developed to make use of the loop data for future
research. The final report is being wreitten.
% .c.Demonstration of ATIS/ATMS Data Fusion in a Regional IVHS.;
(Larry Senn or Dan Dailey) This project proposes to design, construct,
and demonstrate a data fusion system for use in a regional IVHS system.
The fusion system will combine data for multi-agency and
multi-jurisdictional sources to provide a more accurate, real-time
picture of the transportation system. This fusion system will operate in
a distributed computing environment that encourages interagency
cooperation.
The computer has been ordered and WSDOT and Metro have been contacted.
An IVHS application has been written which displays both congestion data
from loops and real time position of transit vehicles on a GIS based
map. King County Metro is being contacted for an improved map database.
A report is being written in conjunction with an IEEE Intelligent
Vehicles Conference "95.
% .c.IVHS - Network and Data Fusion.; (Larry Senn or Dan Dailey)
This Federally funded project will progress from specific regional issues
investigated in other related projects and generalize by creating key
network and fusion components that are transferable to other regions and
countries. The project will (1) investigate , design, and document an
encoding scheme, including ways to include temporal information with
spatial information, for standardization of traffic and traveler
information, (2) use this encoding scheme to demonstrate a layer between
application and transport layers, and (3) work with another related IVHS
research center to use the encoding scheme in a demonstration of its use
in inter-regional IVHS communication.
The investigator has started investigation of FIPS spatial data standard
in detail and determined that the full standard is unwieldy for the
design of our data encoding system. Adopting an object oriented paradigm
to construct self defining data streams. The methodology for
constructing the self defined data streams is the encoding stream
promised for this project.
% .c.Investigation of Automatic Vehicle Location Systems for
Traveler Information.; (Larry Senn or Mark Haselkorn) This project will
use Metro AVL information to improve information available to travelers
and transportation managers.
Metro AVL data can now be displayed on any X-terminal connected to the
Internet and has been demonstrated many times. This concludes the
research portion of the project and a draft final is being formatted foin
prepatration for review.
% .c.Ramp Control via Neural Network Control.; (Larry Senn or
Deirdre Meldrum) This project will develop and test a new ramp metering
algorithm by using an artificial neural network congestion predictor and
a multi-variable control system.
Artificial neural networks have been constructed and tested. Promising
results have been obtained with 1 minute data being used to predict
volumes and occupancies 1 minute ahead, and somewhat less promising
results have been obtained with 5 minute data. The draft technical
report has been sent to the Research Office for review.
% .c.Fuzzy Logic Ramp metering.; This project will move toward
developing the neural network forecasting and fuzzy logic control system
including in depth testing using models and on the existing SC&DI
system. If budget and time allows the system will be implemented within
this project. This project is just starting.
% .c.SWIFT - Seattle Wide-area Information For Travelers.; (Larry
Senn, Mark Haselkorn, Dan Dailey) This project is a $7.4 million IVHS
Operational test of an FM sideband data system which will be used to
deliver traffic and transit information. Data will be extracted from
WSDOT's freeway ramp control computer, Metro Transit's vehicle location
system, and augmented with information from Metro Traffic Control. The
information will be formatted and sent to Seiko Telecommunication System
for transmission to devices. The devices include a watch (or pager)
based on Seiko's Message Watch, Delco Electronics' Telepath car radio
that includes a GPS to give distance and bearing to a destination, and a
palm top computer that will be supplied by IBM which will provide bus
locations and graphic displays of traffic conditions. Etak will supply
geo-coding, mapping, and data entry interfaces. The test will occur in
1996 after the devices are programmed and developed.
The contract With the SWIFT project team was signed on January 10, 1995
and work has commenced. An evaluation plan from SAIC was submitted at
the March 14 Steering Committee meeting and was accepted by the team with
minor changes. The UW team is working extensively on the network
required to deliver SWIFT information. This project is proceeding on
schedule.
% .c.SWIFT Smart Traveler: (Larry Senn, Dan Dailey) This project
is a companion to the SWIFT project and will allow ad hoc ridesharing
amongst UW employees. The large employer base combined with the
availability of desktop computers and the campus network should allow for
greater number of ride matches than found in previous projects. Web
pages have been created, the server is being set up, and geocoding has
started to establish rideshare locations.
% .c.NEXRAD: NEXt Generation Weather RADar.; (Larry Senn, Tom
Seliga) This project is investigating potential applications for the new
doppler weather radar in transportation. The potential uses of accurate
short term weather predictions include better maintenance scheduling and
transit operation improvements from early snow warnings, wind warnings
for ferries, and for research into the traffic impacts of inclement
weather.
The investigators have obtained a disdrometer to assess the distribution
of drop sizes in the region, are developing an algorithm for tracking
storms, have arranged for data access from the weather radar, and have
obtained a SUN workstation for use in the project. Phase 2 of this
project has been funded and will continue the work. There will be no
report for Phase 1 as it was a preliminary investigation.
% .c.Increasing Awareness of Transportation Options Through
Riderlink.; (EldonJL.JJacobson) This FHWA/FTA Operation Action Program
project intends to develop a Metro database infrastructure that can be
used to make transit information (and other information) available at
selected work sites. Originally the intent was to team up with US. West
Community Link's planned videotext service (The original project was
titled: Increasing Public Awareness of Transportation Options Through
Videotext). Since the videotext service has been delayed or abandoned,
the use of videotext was replaced by planning on using existing computer
networks of some of the employers in the Overlake area between Redmond
and Bellevue.
Metro assigned Catherine Bradshaw to coordinate the project. Initial
planning and coordination work began in March, 1994. A detailed
evaluation plan dated June 21, 1994, has been submitted. Quarterly
reports are being submitted. The following three documents are
available: Concept Document, Requirements Document, and Evaluation Plan.
I have been able to access the Riderlink initial data pages from my
office over the Internet. During January, 1995, Metro publicized the
project and made Riderlink available on a World Wide Web site on the
Internet to disseminate the information to existing networks at employer
sites. All the Overlake TMA sites have connections to Riderlink. As of
the end of February, 1995, nearly 4,000 people from all over the world
have accessed Riderlink. Metro has continued to include more bus
schedules and route maps in the Riderlink system.
% .c.Community Transit Arterial System Area-Wide Priority (CT
ASAP); (EldonJL.JJacobson) This is the IVHS operational test project
that was earmarked by congress for Snohomish County (Community Transit).
A proposal was submitted in February, 1994, to DC. requesting $1,500,000
in Federal funds (75%) which will be matched with $375,000 in Community
Transit funds (25%). This project plans to implement the most cost
effective portion of the Community Transit Arterial HOV study, which was
completed in March, 1993. That means installing a bus priority system at
about 100 traffic signals in Snohomish County. The North Seattle ATMS
project will utilize the data and METRO will install the same signal
priority system on SR 99. This will be the first large scale area-wide
test of a signal priority system (Pierce Transit has jumped into the
forefront of testing signal priority, and may have a different signal
priority system operational in Tacoma around March, 1995).
The proposal was approved and an agreement between FHWA and WSDOT has
been drafted by FHWA. At a coordination meeting on May 10, 1994, it was
decided to combine this project with part of the SR 99 signal project, so
as to only have one signal priority project within Snohomish County
(Metro does not have authority to do any work outside King County). The
WSDOT-FHWA Cooperative Agreement was approved on June 17, 1994. WSDOT
Northwest Region is preparing the Local Agency Agreement between WSDOT
and Community Transit. The Local Agency Agreement has been sent to
Community Transit. The project may be revised in how it is coordinated
with two other related projects in the area (the SR 99 project and the
Metro AVI purchase project).
As of March, 1995, the Local Agency Agreement is close to being
finalized. Larry Ingalls of CT is developing a work plan for the
project. Installation of hardware on the buses is dependent on the Metro
region wide AVI purchase project.
.c.Additional ITS Projects
% .c.Regional Automated Trip Planning.; (Wayne Watanabe) King
County Metro is participating with Community Transit and Pierce Transit
in the development of a regional transit trip planning system. The
system will allow any information operator at any of the three agencies
to enter origins and destinations within the region. The system will
automatically produce a trip itinerary including travel times, fares, and
transfers. Current effort is focused on developing geographic
information system (GIS) hardware and software capability in Pierce and
Snohomish counties. King County is nearly done with its GIS component.
This project is scheduled to be complete in 1997.
% .c.Regional Ridematch.; (Roland Bradley) King County Metro is
participating with Community Transit and Pierce Transit in the
development of regional ridematching software. The system will allow
ridematch staff at any of the three agencies to enter ridematch requests
into a regional database. This system will replace an existing regional
ridematch system that limits the ability of agencies to offer geographic
information system based matches, match maps for customers, and on-line
ridematching. The project is scheduled to be complete in 1997.
% .c.Regional Ridematch Hotline.; (Roland Bradley) This project
will provide one 1-800 telephone number for anyone in King, Snohomish,
and Pierce counties to use for ridematch assistance. This project is
scheduled to be complete in 1996.
% .c.Regional Fare Integration Project.; (Candace Carlson) King
County Metro is participating with Community Transit, Pierce Transit,
Everett Transit, Kitsap Transit, Washington State Ferries, the RTA, PSRC,
and the Cascadia Project to provide seamless regional fare media that
makes it easier to make inter-county trips within the Puget Sound
region. The project team is currently evaluating several technologies
including smart cards and magnetically encoded cards. The analysis phase
will conclude in 1995 and a demonstration of the selected technology will
be in place by the end of 1996.
% .c.Smart Bus.; (David Cantey) King County Metro is beginning the
implementation of a smart bus strategy that will integrate electronic
information systems on-board buses. The current order for 360 buses
includes J-1708 wiring which will provide the backbone of the "vehicle
area network." J-1708 is an SAE standard developed and adopted by ITS
America. A contractor has been hired to integrate the automatic
passenger counting systems and automatic vehicle location systems on
board the 10% of the current fleet that have APC systems installed.
.c.other Projects
% .c.Traffic Congestion Monitoring-Urban Areas.; (Bill Legg or
Mark Hallenbeck) There are three basic objectives for this study. (1)
Develop a comprehensive understanding of the congestion monitoring needs
and expectations of local, state, and federal governments and agencies.
(2) Define the alternative methods for performing that monitoring
function. (3) Develop cost and staffing estimates that can be provided
to state officials in decision package form, so that a monitoring system
based on one of these alternatives can be implemented.
This project will provide a resource document that lists the potential
methods for monitoring congestion in the state's urban areas. It will
describe the types of data that need to be collected, the strengths and
limitations of each of the methods or combinations of methods that can be
used for collecting those data, and preliminary costs for implementation
of those data collection procedures. The project will provide
descriptions of both systems that can be implemented using currently
available technologies, and those systems that rely on technologies that
are currently experimental but may provide greater levels of information
gathering at a lower cost than traditional methods, if the new methods
are implemented on an urban scale.
The Phase 2 draft report is being revised to reflect comments received
from review.
% .c.ENTERPRISE.; (Bill Legg ) The ENTERPRISE Program represents
an international forum for collaborative research, development, and
deployment ventures. This forum will facilitate the sharing of
technological and institutional experiences gained from the IVHS programs
conceived and initiated by each participating entity. The cooperative
and collaborative objectives of the ENTERPRISE Program provide for a more
efficient use of resources than a series of independent initiatives. The
synergistic effect of this forum is an accelerated implementation of IVHS
programs. Current members of ENTERPRISE aside from WSDOT include; CDOT,
AzDOT, MinnDOT, IDOT, MichDOT, NCDOT, Maricopa County DOT in AZ. FHWA,
Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, Transport Canada, and
Rijkswaterstaat (Netherlands DOT). Others considering joining are NYDOT,
and the Federal DOT of Mexico. ENTERPRISE holds quarterly meetings, in
1994 that will be changed to 3 times a year. The last meeting of
ENTERPRISE was held in April 1994. The next meeting will be in
September, 1994 followed by a December 1994 meeting to be held in
Seattle. I have notes as well as minutes of previous meetings. In
conjunction with the September meeting ENTERPRISE will cosponsor the 2nd
annual Rural IVHS conference with IVHS America. The first Rural IVHS
conference was held in February, 1993, it was sponsored by ENTERPRISE.
ENTERPRISE is the major backer of ITIS, which is the development of an
international standard for communications between the roadside and
vehicles. ENTERPRISE is also working on joint funding of several project
proposals submitted by member organizations. One project that is
currently underway is HERALD, which is investigating using an AM
sub-carrier to deliver road and construction information to motorists in
rural areas. ENTERPRISE submitted two proposals to FHWA as demonstration
projects; the first is a second phase of the HERALD project, the second
is a wide scale MAYDAY project. FHWA accepted both of these projects for
funding, they are now just getting underway; the interagency agreements
and contracts are being developed and signed by the involved parties.
Since WSDOT is a partner in a second funded MAYDAY operational test we
will be working closely with ENTERPRISE to avoid duplication in effort
and to share information. I will use this report to provide updates on
the ENTERPRISE operational tests.
The latest meeting for this group was held in Phoenix in April. The next
meeting will be in Minnesota in September in conjunction with the 1995
Rural ITS conference. The 1996 rural ITS conference will be held in
Spokane, WSDOT will be the host agency.
% .c.Accident Risks Using Roadway Geometrics.; (Eldon L. Jacobson,
Fred L. Mannering) The work is being done by John Milton, a WSDOT
graduate student. The primary objective of this project is to test the
statistical validity of the accident prediction method WSDOT is
developing and utilizing. The findings of this research will be used to
develop a weighted equation for use in the Department's safety program.
The data has been collected and most of the literature review has been
completed. Development and testing of accident frequency models began at
the end of December, 1994.
% .c.Advanced Transportation Technology Application Policy Plan.;
(Bill Legg) This effort is looking at establishing ITS, or in this case
Advanced Transportation Technology, as a new policy area in the
Transportation Policy Plan for Washington State. The first subcommittee
meeting on this effort will be held on July 11th. A second meeting will
be held in August.
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