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Intelligent Transportation Systems

ITS National Associations Working Group
Meeting Summary

Thursday, May 8, 2003
Transportation Research Board
500 Fifth Street, N.W., Room 204
Washington, D.C. 20001

Agenda
List of Attendees

Opening Remarks and Introductions
Dave Ekern, American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials
Mr. Ekern welcomed the National Association Working Group for ITS, and called for self-introductions. Mr. Ekern expressed his eagerness to participate in this group and then introduced Wayne Berman from FHWA.

Regional Transportation Operations Collaboration and Coordination
Wayne Berman, Federal Highway Administration
Mr. Berman gave an update on the regional operations collaboration and coordination (ROCC) working group. During the January Working Group meeting, the Regional Transportation Operations Collaboration and Coordination (RTOCC) primer was introduced and discussed. During the January meeting the group discussed how the Working Group members could support this effort and motivate action on RTOCC.

Mr. Berman's presentation was a design discussion for the special session in June. The objective of the June special session meeting will be to introduce a FHWA campaign to motivate action on regional transportation operations collaboration and coordination. Mr. Berman covered activities and strategic thinking taking place within the area of this campaign. Mr. Berman indicated that his presentation is intended to formulate action on a RTOCC outreach campaign to raise awareness. Feedback was requested from the presentation to gather the following information:

• Due to another FHWA Office of Operations meeting, the initially proposed date (June 5) of the special session will have to be rescheduled
• Who should be invited to the special session
• Where will the special session be held
• What is the agenda for the special session?

• It was agreed that the special session be moved to June 10^th;

• It was proposed that the special session be held at the International City/County Management Association's (ICMA) office [Note: Subsequent coordination resulted in meeting to be held at the National Academy of Science's (Transportation Research Board) Keck Center.]

• The possibility of holding another special session, possibly in September; is very likely.

• The Working Group organizations will send examples and information about successful campaigns to Mr. Berman before the special session on June 10^th. This received information will be synthesized and addressed at the special session;

• Time will be added to the agenda for Mr. Berman to discuss FHWA's vision and road map for this awareness campaign; and

• The goals and purpose slide in Mr. Berman's slide will become the agenda for the June 10^th special session meeting.

Discussion:
The group agreed there is a need of a picture that depicts how the Working Group associations fit together (e.g., a multi-association roadmap). There is a direct correlation between RTOCC and other issues such as legislation. This is a defining moment for RTOCC, and Congress needs to act to support this initiative. Sufficient resources are needed to enable this campaign and RTOCC to be successful. Understanding the roles, structures, and dynamics of the target audience will be key in scoping a successful campaign. Following the special session there may be an opportunity to speak to the Working Group again about the progress of this campaign.

ITS Public Safety Program
Craig Allred, Federal Highway Administration
ITS Public Safety Program Presentation

Mr. Allred gave an overview of various projects and initiatives that the ITS Joint Program Office is working on. The current scope of the ITS Joint Public Safety Program is mitigation of congestion and crashes. The ITS Joint office has begun focusing on prevention in addition to mitigation. The ITS Public Safety Program is partnering with law enforcement to prevent crashes and using traffic management tools to prevent congestion.

Currently, the Public Safety Program is focusing on two areas: R&D/field operational tests and technical assistance and outreach. Below is a list of projects that the office is engaging in under these two areas.

• 40-60% of calls received by 9-1-1 emergency centers are wireless.

• More difficult to specify the exact location of accident/incident.

• FHWA is working with the FCC on this project.

• Wireless e9-1-1 is a priority for the Secretary of Transportation.

• CAAP, CAAS, CARE, NC CAN, JEANNA, Krystal, TRACI, Lisk-Silva, AMBER à These are all types of AMBER alerts used by states.

• A universal standard alert must be established.

• ITS Joint Office is working to build electronic bridges between transportation fields and public safety fields.

• ITS Joint Office is working closely with the DOJ and is anticipating that AMBER alerts be integrated in the 5-1-1.

• ITS Joint Office is examining methods to improve trauma care by communicating patient status data among the medical dispatch, EMS field units, and trauma center à objective is to improve the diagnoses and treatment.

• Understand injuries quicker à saves time & resources

Edward Stollof, ITE

• Working on a congestion video (try to sell operations with the message of congestion to operators)

• Upcoming railroad conference in Boston will discuss ITS concerns with rail crossings.

• May 11-17, 2003 marks the observance of National Transportation Week.

Russell Houston, TRB

• Working on rural passenger transportation information.

Robert Hicks, PTI

• Working with FHWA to develop a video on operations and management.

• Working on numerous publications on topics such as: arterial management, public-private partnerships.

• Developing guidebooks on homeland security and e9-1-1.

• Working with FHWA and ITE on an operations website.

Michael Montag, AMPO

• Distributed the recently published AMPO Newsletter.

• Requested to conduct a survey of MPOs on archived ITS data.

• Annual conference in October.

Kelly Novak, NADO

• Concluded its Washington policy conference in April.

• Put out latest connector which features a story on ITS and toll roads, and rural planning process in North Carolina.

• Training conference will be in Minneapolis

Jim Reed. NCSL

• Legislative sessions looked at ITS's impact on security.

• NCSL is having a meeting on December 9^th and 10^th in Washington D.C. of transportation state chairs to review transportation safety

• NCSL has a legislative, ITS, and commercial tracking database.

• The legislative tracking database on NCSL's website has the following bills:

  • California: a bill in which variable signs would receive funding that used to go to motorist call boxes.

  • Colorado: a bill was sent to the Governor for highway crossing protection fund

  • Georgia: a bill was sent to the Governor for the state road and highway toll-way authority to take unsolicited proposals to building possible ITS systems

Robin Mayhew, FHWA Office of Planning

• The concept of two definitions of planning is new, and needs to move from concept into application.

• Currently developing a scope of work on linking planning and operations.

Zia Burleigh, ICMA

• Conducted a successful meeting in Tacoma Washington on ITS and public safety issues such as, EMS, law enforcement, and transportation operations.

• Working to promote the outreach on e9-1-1 and implementation models that can be used.

• Annual ICMA conference will be in Charlotte N.C. on September 21^st and 22^nd.

Dave Ekern, AASHTO

• Completed 2^nd gathering of transportation CEOs in the country. Twenty CEOs participated.

ICDN now has 8,700 subscribers. Interesting articles on the ICDN newsletter include:

• ITS/Operation Resource Guide 2003 - This is a comprehensive listing of over 400 documents, videos, websites, training courses, software tools and points-of-contact related to ITS and transportation operations.

• Real-Time EMS Helicopter Video Feasibility Study - The purpose of this project was to determine whether the use of ground-based video imaging by local rescue squad personnel and Pegasus emergency evacuation helicopter medical staff is technically and organizationally feasible as a tool to improve pre-hospital care provided to crash victims.

• Northern Shenandoah Valley ITS-Public Safety Initiative - This report summarizes the efforts of The Pennsylvania State University's Applied Research Laboratory (PSU/ARL) to conduct field tests using a handheld data collection system to enable emergency medical personnel (EMS) to collect and transfer patient information to the hospital emergency department (ED).

• New Version (V2.0) of the "Best Practices for Road Weather Management CD-ROM" - Version 2.0 of the "Best Practices for Road Weather Management CD-ROM," released in May 2003, contains resources to help traffic, emergency, and maintenance managers improve roadway operations under inclement weather conditions. The CD contains 30 case studies of systems utilized in response to various weather threats including fog, high winds, rain, snow, ice, flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, and avalanches.

• Review of Federal Highway Administration's Intelligent Vehicle Initiative  - TRB's Committee for the Review of the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI), Phase 2, has released its first letter report to the Federal Highway Administration with recommendations for modifying IVI's focus and activities and creating measures to judge IVI progress. This letter report is the first of the committee's two annual written reviews of the IVI program.

• Transportation Security Research: Coordination Needed in Selecting and Implementing Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessments - The House Committee on Appropriations asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to determine: (1) the status and anticipated results of the Transportation Infrastructure Assurance (TIA) program, and (2) the extent to which the U.S. DOT's Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) and Office of Intelligence and Security have coordinated their activities in selecting the vulnerabilities to be assessed and implementing the vulnerability assessments for the program.

Please ensure that news, articles, and reports continue to be submitted to Jerry Werner for inclusion in the ICDN.

Ms. Radow discussed and passed out the following publications:

• A New Resource for Operations, Planning, and Research, Federal Highway Administration
• Technology in Rural Transit: Linking People with their Community, Federal Highway Administration
• Protecting our Transportation Systems: An Information Security Awareness Overview, Federal Highway Administration
• MUTCD Pavement Markings Brochure
• MUTCD Road Symbol Signs
• ITS/Operations Resource Guide 2003, Federal Highway Administration
  
  Ms. Radow thanked all those in attendance, and thanked the AAR for the use of its facilities.

"ITS Data" Presentation by Ralph Gillman, Federal Highway Administration.

Opening Remarks and Introductions
Dave Ekern, American Assoc. of State and Highway Transportation Officials (10 minutes)

ITS and Public Safety
Craig Allred, ITS Joint Program Office (25-minute presentation, 15 minute discussion)
ITS Public Safety Program Presentation

Preparing for the June 5 "ROCC Working Group Session"
Wayne Berman, FHWA (10 minute presentation, 10 minute discussion)

Roundtable discussion: ITS Update
All Working Group members (20 minute discussion)

MUTCD
Distribution of MUTCD Pavement Markings Brochure and CD

ICDN - Update
Jerry Werner, ICDN and Ed Stollof, ITE (5 minutes)

Business Meeting
Laurie Radow, FHWA (5 minutes)

"ITS Data"Presentation by Ralph Gillman, Federal Highway Administration.

Dave Ekern, American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials
Zia Burleigh, International City/County Management Association
Jim Reed, National Conference of State Legislatures
Alex Taft, Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations
Michael Montag, Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations
Kelly Novak, National Association of Development Organizations
Edward Stollof, Institute of Transportation Engineers
Russell Houston, Transportation Research Board
Robert Hicks, Public Technology Inc.

Wayne Berman Federal Highway Administration
Craig Allred, Federal Highway Administration
Robin Mayhew, Federal Highway Administration
Lester Finkle, Federal Highway Administration
Laurie Radow, Federal Highway Administration

John Mason, Science Applications International Corporation
Mike Smith, Science Applications International Corporation
Kayvon Meehan, Science Applications International Corporation

NAWG page

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