Thinking Highways - North America Edition - June/July 2014

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thinkinghighways.com

Volume 9 Number 2 June/July 2014


NORTH AMERICA EDITION

A SHIFT IN EMPHASISSix experts discuss the changing role of the traffic control center

UPPING THE PACEGuy Fraker on how and why Europe has taken the lead in the mobility race



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North America Vol 9 No 2 thinkinghighways.com 1

THE VIEW Foreword Thinking

Kevin Borras

Listen now to the Thinking

Aloud podcasts at thinkinghighways.com/podcasts

Join the Thinking

Highways LinkedIn group

at linkedin.com

Kevin Borras is editor of Thinking Highways and editorial director and co-founder of H3B Media. [email protected]; www.thinkinghighways.com

Editor in Chief Kevin Borras ([email protected]) +44 (0)20 3463 9482Art Editor Barbara Stanley ([email protected]) Associate Editor, Thinking Highways/Editor, THxJason Barnes ([email protected]) +44 (0)20 3463 9481Contributing Editors Richard Bishop, Paul Hutton, Andrew Pickford, Randy SalzmanContributors to this issue Bruce Abernethy, Jim Barbaresso, Jason Barnes, César Bartolomé, Richard Bishop, Davide Brizzolara, Guy Fraker, Tip Franklin, Laura Hartley, Paul Hutton, Mark Johnson, Robert Kelly, Bob McQueen, Paul Minett, José Papí, David Pickeral, Shelley Row, Randy Salzman, Mike Shea, Alan Stevens, Bob WolfeNews and Web Editor Gareth Hayward ([email protected]) +44 (0)20 3463 9484Sales and MarketingLuis Hill ([email protected]) +44 (0)20 3463 9485Duncan Ingram ([email protected]) +44 (0)1258 268561Subscriptions and CirculationKerry Hill ([email protected])Accounts/Office ManagerKerry Hill +44 (0)20 3463 9486 Group Publishing Director Kevin Borras Group CEO Luis Hillthinkinghighways.com

Thinking Highways (ISSN 1753-43ZI) is published quarterly in March, June, September and December in two editions (Europe/RoW and North America) for £30/€40 (Europe/RoW) and US$60 (North America) per year by H3B Media, 15 Onslow Gardens, Wallington SM6 9QL, UK. This edition is distributed in the USA by Asendia USA, 17B South Middlesex Avenue, Monroe NJ 08831 and additional mailing offices. USPS 023-899 Periodicals postage paid at New Brunswick, NJ. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Thinking Highways, 17B South Middlesex Avenue, Monroe NJ 08831.

Although due care has been taken to ensure that the content of this publication is accurate and up-to-date, the publisher can accept no liability for errors and omissions. Unless otherwise stated, this publication has not tested products or services that are described herein, and their inclusion does not imply any form of endorsement. By accepting advertisements in this publication, the publisher does not warrant their accuracy, nor accept responsibility for their contents. The publisher welcomes unsolicited manuscripts and illustrations but can accept no liability for their safe return. © 2014 H3B Media Ltd. All rights reserved.

The views and opinions of the authors are not necessarily those of H3B Media Ltd. Reproduction (in whole or in part) of any text, photograph or illustration contained in this publication without the written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. Printed in the UK by The Manson Group

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Welcome to a welcome addition to the Thinking Highways editorial team

It’s 1989 (don’t worry, it isn’t 1989 but I am asking you to imagine that it is). I am at my desk on the first floor of Jane’s

Information Group’s editorial offices just south of London and I am proofreading a section of Jane’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare Yearbook 1990. My colleague Joan wanders over with a smartly dressed young chap in tow. He is about 19 or 20. I am slightly older, 21.

“Kevin,” she said, “this is Jason Barnes, he’s joining us in a couple of weeks to work on my Defence Appointments & Procurement Handbook. Jason, this is Kevin.”

“Hi,” says new Jason, sheepishly holding out his hand for me to shake. I duly shake it. “Pleased to meet you,” he says “...but don’t slouch.”

“Pardon?” I enquire. “Don’t slouch.” “Do I slouch?” “Aye, you do a bit.” “Oh, I hadn’t noticed.” “Well, you know now,” says Jason, a

veritable coiled spring of youthful brio and faintly alarming self-confidence who was wearing the shiniest shoes I had ever seen. “See you.”

And off he strode, purposefully down the corridor, leaving most of the editorial department somewhat taken aback.

“That’s nice for you, Kevin,” said one colleague, laughing. “You’ll have someone of your own age to play with.”

“Did you notice his shoes?” asked another. “And you could cut yourself on the crease of his trousers. Smart boy.”

Little did we know that a quarter of a century later we would be announcing our reunification to an equally unsuspecting world (although anyone who read my last foreword might have been inclined to hazard a reasonably accurate guess as to who the mysterious Mr X was).

Those intervening 25 years have seen

❝Anyone who read my last foreword might have been inclined to hazard a reasonably accurate guess as to who the mysterious Mr X might have been❞

our pairing at Jane’s last for another three before a very doleful-looking Jason emerged from a meeting to announce that he’d been made redundant and then seven years later when I took over the editorship of another title within the ITS sector and was granted the luxury of a deputy editor, he was the first person I called. We made a good team, largely because we were very different characters, approached everything (work, life in general) from different angles and yet appreciated those differences.

And then on returning from the 2001 ITS World Congress in Sydney I discovered that he had been offered the editor’s hot seat of another title within the company in my absence and that was, seemingly, that.

Four years later I take a phone call from him in which he asks what I would think if he accepted an offer to become the editor of another magazine with the ITS sector. I can tell he really wants to take it and I wish him all the best, putting us pretty much in direct competition with each other, a competition that only intensifies upon the formation and launch of H3B Media – a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire and a really fierce one at that.

REJOINING FORCESNine years later and it’s unquestionable that Jason is one of the, if not the, most respected journalists in the ITS and advanced traffic management sphere. When we knew that he had become “available” at exactly the time that we were going public with our plans for THx, a new magazine for PCs, Macs, smartphones and tablets it was almost inevitable that our career paths would dovetail for a third time

“I see the dream team is back together,” said a delegate at a conference I attended recently. “Butch and Sundance reunited!”

I am not sure which one of them is meant to be me but one thing’s for sure, I’ve just purchased some heavy duty shoe polish and I am paying a lot more attention to my posture.

01_TH0214_NA_Foreword.indd 1 29/06/2014 20:15

thinkinghighways.com2 Vol 9 No 2 North America

CONTENTS Volume 9 Number 2

TECHNOLOGY STATE CHAPTERS, SAFETY & ITSWC14

COLUMNS & SERVICES

4SMART SAFETYPaul Hutton talks to six experts in the field of traffic control centers and hears how both the face and the role of TCCs are changing

12MASS TRANSITThe birthplace of mass transportation is finally getting the onboard security systems it deserves

24AUTOMOTIVE RADARHave you been tasked with reducing North America’s road death statistics? We have some good news for you…

50ITS WORLD CONGRESSJim Barbaresso waxes lyrical as the future of transportation goes back to the city where it all began

1 FOREWORDKevin Borras welcomes former colleague (and old foe) Jason Barnes into the Thinking Highways family

56SHELLEY ROW

57 BOB KELLY & MARK JOHNSON

14TRAFFIC CABINETSThe humble roadside box is is preparing us for a world of connected vehicles and driverless cars

ONLINE BONUS CONTENT• Smart Bridges • ITS for Recreational Facilities

Go to thinkinghighways.com

46GRITSLaura Hartley charts the formation and progress of the Gulf Region ITS chapter ahead of September’s ITS3C Summit in Mobile, Alabama

54TUNNEL SAFETYCésar Bartolomé discusses the role of the concrete pavement in improving fire safety in road tunnels

59JASON BARNES

60RICHARD BISHOP

61IBEC: DR ALAN STEVENS

62IR2B: JOSÉ PAPÍ

63BOB MCQUEEN

53THINKING ALOUDPaul Hutton has the latest from the Thinking Highways podcast team

64INDEX TO ADVERTISERS IN THIS ISSUE

FEATURES & OPINION

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30INSURANCEGuy Fraker on how and why Europe, and not North America, is taking the lead in a new era of mobility

36BIG DATAData limitations have hampered the progress of ITS over the last few years. But, says Tip Franklin, that’s all changed

40TRAFFIC MANAGEMENTPaul Minett urges some innovative new approaches to get travelers to help manage metro corridors congestion

18PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPSRandy Salzman investigates the inner workings of a PPP scheme close to his Virginia home – and doesn’t particular like what he sees

28KNOWLEDGE SHARINGThe dangers of closing your mind to new ITS ideas, by David E Pickeral

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TECHNOLOGY Traffic control rooms

Since Thinking Highways launched in 2006, the role of the traffic control centre has changed. No more do operatives simply observe the traffic conditions on a video wall and act rapidly when incidences on the network occur. The TCC has undergone something of a metamorphosis, as Paul Hutton discovers

Changing rooms

If you’re managing a transport net-work, the chances are you’ll have a control room where at least some

of that management takes place. But for many in the industry, the control room is some sort of mythical place that they rarely see and don’t understand.

So we at Thinking Highways thought we’d investigate what actually happens in a control room in 2014, how responsi-bilities have changed and what the future might look like. I spoke to representa-tives from four leading manufacturers of control room equipment, plus the heads of two control rooms, one in Europe and one in the US.

So let’s meet that European control room manager, first, Esmon George from the London Streets Traffic Control Centre, who explains that, despite it being one of the biggest and busiest cit-ies in the world, London’s control room is actually relatively new:

“The key thing to recognize is that 10 or so years ago London didn’t have a 24/7 control room for the road network. So we started taking over roles and responsibili-ties from the police and other agencies to get involved in both coordinating the impact of planed events and roadworks but also to get a much better handle on traffic management issues, intelligence gathering, situational awareness and so on. I think that collective increase in capability from a standing start has been something of a gestational development over the last decade.”

Jason Sims runs the Kansas City SCOUT traveller information system

in the US, which is unique in that it’s the only municipal traffic management organisation that spans two states, Kansas and Missouri (not very much of Kansas City actually lies in the State of Kansas). I asked him what his controllers do, and what they are tasked with achieving:

“They are responsible for taking calls from all Kansas and Missouri part-ners, which can include the media, law enforcement, fire service, citizens…we do have a complete customer service operation inside the traffic management

centre and we disseminate information out so anything that has to do with traf-fic, anything that blocks a lane, anyone that would need roadside assistance, any maintenance activity for both States, they are populating our traveler information system and they are putting out traveler information on various platforms.

“To run a control room, you need equipment to allow you to monitor the traffic situation through CCTV and sen-sors, plus computers to allow controllers to do their jobs. Jupiter Systems is one of


PLUS: Listen to our TD 2014 podcasts


04-11_TH0214_NA_Hutton_TCC.indd 4 29/06/2014 20:19

thinkinghighways.com 5North America Vol 9 No 2

Traffic control rooms

the companies that has been providing solutions for control rooms that allows organisations to gather visual informa-tion and display them on video walls and now mobile phones, tablets and laptops as well.”

Brady Bruce is Vice President for mar-keting and strategic alliances at Jupiter, and he says that when it comes to control rooms, it’s all about the bigger picture:

“Those systems allow traffic managers to see camera views of the roadways, to get volumetric data from in-road sen-sors and other types of telemetry that are describing the flow of traffic through a metropolitan area, a state, a province or even across the country. What we are seeing now is the increasing importance of those centres as multiple agencies are looking to coordinate their activities. We are now seeing those very same traffic control rooms being used to coordinate the activities of police, fire and emer-gency management services.”

Activu is a software and service com-pany that makes software enabling network-based visualisation, allowing

people to interact with equipment and each other, to make quick time-critical decisions. Vice President of Product Management, John Stark, says traffic con-trol centres have unique requirements:

“The role of the control room within the traffic industry has been more and more control over changing message signs, understanding what traffic flows are like, making sure they can respond to differing traffic situations and be able to actually manage those traffic flows and more importantly inform the public about what is going on on the roadways. In an emergency situations they need to have contingency plans for things like natural disasters, evacuation plans. If something happens the city can actu-ally move large parts of the populace from one place to another because of an impending natural activity.”

Esmon George explains that some-thing not altogether dissimilar also hap-pens in London:

“We can control half of London’s traffic signals from the control room and that is a lot of capability, coupled with the ability to see a lot of the road network through CCTV and having sharing agreements with local authorities so we can see their CCTV, we can see the national Highways Agency CCTV and although that’s a lot of visibility at any one time, with the right intelligence it does give us the ability to pinpoint issues very quickly.”

Rob Moodey is UK sales account man-ager for Matrox, a company providing equipment for control room walls, opera-tors and the connectivity between them, including introducing dual-head work-stations where operators have more than one screen in front of them. Although he aggress that the role of a control room is often misunderstood, he thinks it’s actu-ally fairly simple:

“I think the clue is in the name! The people there want to influence what’s going on outside of where they are, in other words, to be in control. In some

scenarios you can’t entirely control the events that are happening but you can respond to them and you can try to channel them, so in that sense the room is for situational awareness followed by the control of those resources that you can control. The traffic control room was, and in fact still is, the place where all these information sources are brought together and where the decisions are facilitated and I don’t think that partic-ular aspect has changed since the very beginning.”

STARK REMINDERWhat has changed, according to John Stark, is the requirement for controllers not only to manage the traffic, but also to inform:

“Traditionally there wasn’t so much of a public-facing side to the organization. The reality was that they were bringing a lot of information in but not disseminat-ing it in any way that was actionable to the outside world. I think today there is a very public face to all these traffic man-agement centres – half of their purpose is to provide data to news agencies to allow people to see what their commutes are going to be like and what the traffic situ-ation is going to be like on any given day.”

And in Kansas City Jason Sims is working hard to let the travellers know as much as they can. It certainly offers its citizens a wide range of critical traveler information of a number of platforms.

“We are populating several apps and Statewide maps, we have over 100 mes-sage signs and within two minutes of taking a call we try and get information out to the travelers. That information is automatically going to websites for both States, it’s populating the Kansas City Scout mobile app, it’s populating the City Scout website and we have what we call Traveler Information Alerts where we have 7,000 to 10,000 subscribers and they get real-time information sent directly their phones or computers.”

SHARING THE BURDENBut it’s not only control rooms that now keep drivers informed of traffic

The Great Wall of China: Beijing’s cavernous traffic control centre




conditions. Sat Navs, smart phone apps and private traffic information compa-nies are gathering and distributing infor-mation, and social media allows people to share information with each other. So could we get to a point where we don’t actually need control rooms to manage traffic? Es George isn’t so sure:

“The move towards self-sufficiency is something we are working on, in chang-ing the ethos from road users finding out what the traffic issues are when they get into their car to doing a bit of research before they start their journey but what wouldn’t happen without a traffic con-trol centre is the ability to respond to the unexpected, so whilst you can have a cer-tain amount of self-regulation in terms of decision-making and what journeys they take and where they make them, what they wouldn’t have is the layer on top of that which firstly coordinates the activity and secondly ensure a timely response to ensure services are back to normal.”

And John Stark and Rob Moodey agree we’re nowhere near the point where people can be self-sufficient:

“That does not eliminate the emer-gency situation, says Activu’s Stark, with fires or natural disasters, or actions of one sort or another that require planned activities to occur or plans to be set in stone by the agencies that are oversee-ing those roadways and need to execute

them in coordination with the fire or police departments who are tasked with trying to keep the populace safe or move them in the right direction or not move if necessary. The control room’s function on a day to day basis might have slightly subsided because people now self-serve, however the role is still critical in places where the public simply can’t do that.”

Adds Moody: “Decisions that the indi-vidual travelers make only really relate to their own behaviour – the control room is trying to get a group response rather than an individual one. Individuals are influenced by the suggestions of others, whether that’s traffic announcements over the radio, satnav rerouting or even intelligent road signs that are changing as they are driving. The better this gets, the more effective those individual decisions are going to be. What happens behind those satnav reroutings or dynamic signs may well be algorithmic but it’s still going to emanate from a central traffic man-agement function.”

Brady Bruce confirms that control rooms come into their own in emergency situations:

“What really become important in the decision-making process is having access to the best and most recent infor-mation and that’s the purview of the technology. It’s getting that information to the people that are going to have to

make those critical decisions about how to reroute traffic.”

And he adds that information gathered from sat navs and apps such as Waze just becomes another source to help us man-age the roads better:

“So here we have drivers running an application on their smartphone that’s providing information to them from other drivers on the road but remember that as a use of Waze I am allowing myself to be tracked. Here’s where I am. This is how fast I’m moving. This is how my speed on this particular stretch of road-way compares to others. This generates a tremendous amount of really useful information that could in fact serve the people that aren’t using that application. There’s an increasing interdependency on these crowdsourcing systems and the municipal systems that make both of them more important – not less.”

EFFICIENCY DRIVEBarco delivers video walls, controllers and video wall management software. Strategic Marketing Director Guy van Wijmeersch agrees that people can’t really travel around efficiently without control rooms:

“When we look at real intermodal transportation where we want to go from point A to point B, using for example the bus and then renting a bike and really using all the possibilities, I think there’s still a long way to go. This is a service that a traffic control centre could look at, espe-cially one located in a city where they can go outside of their own traffic medium.”

Bruce maintains that control rooms are now about much more than just

OUR PANELBrady Bruce is Vice President of Marketing & Strategic Alliances at Jupiter Systems; Esmon George, MBE, is Operations Manager at Transport for London; Rob Moodey is Sales Account Manager at Matrox; Jason Sims is Traffic Center Manager at Kansas City Scout; John Stark is Vice President of Product Management at Activu; Guy van Wijmeersch is Director of Strategic Marketing at Barco

“There’s an increasing interdependency on these crowdsourcing systems and the municipal systems that make both of them more important – not less”

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managing traffic and that they come into their own when there’s a major incident:

“As traffic becomes more and more complex and as the requirements for gov-ernments to deliver more and more rapid service response, the traffic control room really becomes a centre for the coordina-tion of an entire city’s services or that an entire province might administer so you can imagine a case where a large fire has broken up in a part of town, you have to get a lot of emergency vehicles on site, there are inured people so you have to get ambulances in, you need the police there to control the crowds…and this can be happening during the worst possible moment of the day, which is peak traffic right at the end of a workday. Being able to understand where the traffic is, how to get around it, to reroute the traffic around affected areas and to get the emergency vehicles and required personnel in place as quickly as possible means that there is more than just a requirement to man-age the traffic. Coordination and service delivery is a crucial part of the process.”

Incident detection and management is something that Es George is already working with in London:

“London Streets Traffic Control Centre is part of a wider surface trans-port and traffic operations centre which we call the STTOC and that has three main elements to it. There’s the police control room for traffic and transport policing which works in very close part-nership with Transport for London, called Metrocom; there’s TfL’s control rooms for London buses which oversees the operation of the 8000 or so buses on our road network, Centrecom, and there’s the LSTCC. The three of those operate the three main arms of what is actually an eight-sided structure which is the best way to describe it. On top of that we have what we call the Strategic Coordination Team whose role is to make sure that all the information is going out to the senior leadership team within the organization, together with some external stakeholders. ”

But he says there’s more that could be done, because for example refuse

collection teams can have an effect on traf-fic that could be much better managed:

“They all have set routes and rather large trucks so we know there’s going to be a refuse vehicle on a certain part of the road network at certain times of the day but I have no visibility of that. That would be quite a powerful tool to have an equally I would argue that we don’t know what visibility the refuse collec-tor’s have of network conditions. It may not be economically viable or practical to have vehicles sitting by the side of the road waiting for significant traffic issues to subside, if they are able to do that then they are not adding to the congestion.”

Jason Sims says collaboration has helped in Kansas City:

“Scout is a firm believer that you are only as strong as your relationships so we do have Kansas Highway Patrol located in our centre as well as Kansas City Police Department. Also we have CAD Integration where their computer-aided dispatch is coming directly into our traveler information system and we have that established for six other law enforce-ment agencies. We also have a police and media hotline that comes directly into the traffic management centre so the police departments and media can call in – that number is used very frequently in the rush hours. The last option we have is that we have an interface where we disseminate all of our video to all of our partners. We have approximately 70 part-ners and as part of the application they can type in and communicate directly

with our operators without having to pick up the phone.”

John Stark says that further integration of different agencies is possible, but do the various stakeholders have the will to do it?

“There are non-populated but ready-to-be-enabled emergency operations centres right here in New Jersey, for example, that regularly go through coor-dinated multi-disciplinary activities to make sure that when something occurs information and control and the right chain of commands is in place so every-one knows who to listen to and who to look for for information so they can bet-ter go about their business and serve the community that they are in. The ques-tion is more of a legislative one where in the US, and probably elsewhere, there’s a certain level of distrust in having too much surveillance being provided to the governing body.”

And Guy van Wijmeersch also believes that while conceptually it’s possible, he isn’t quite so sure that it’s desirable:

“Theoretically and technically it’s possible, yes. Does it make sense? I am not so sure. Mainly because keeping an infrastructure up and running, like an electricity grid or a highway, is still going to be an operational task. Will it improve the efficiency of the highway? Yes, but there would have to be a different con-trol room that is focusing on the full cus-tomer experience.”

THE IMPRACTICABILITY OF DECISION-MAKINGWhat’s becoming apparent here is that there are many stakeholders involved in decisions. Jupiter Systems don’t think it’s practical to expect to have all the stake-holders in place at one time when they’re needed, so have used technology to come up with an innovative, remote solution:

“Over the years I found out that whenever I would walk into these fan-tastic control centres and ask a simple question “Is there anyone else who is not in the room today that needs to see this information?” and almost uni-versally the answer was “yes”. It might

Often there is no substitute for people working together in the same place

Reliable Networks Sincere ServiceMoxa Inc. www.moxa.comTel: 1-888-MOXA-USA [email protected]

Integrated Networking and Communications for Intelligent Transportation

IP-Based Communication over Wireless, Fiber, Copper, DSL, and More In intelligent transportation projects all over the world, Moxa

hardware is connecting traffic devices and cameras to

control centers over wireless, fiber, DSL, copper, and more.

Thanks to our experience with hardened fanless design,

wide temperature outdoor operation, and high-performance

redundant topologies, city and state governments count

on Moxa for highly reliable networks and maximum uptime.

Contact a Moxa rep or distributor to learn more.

EDS-61916+3G-port ModularManaged Switch

Traffic Controller

Speed Radar

Camera


Turbo Ring (Recovery time < 20 ms)

LED Controller

VPort 4611-ch H.264/MJPEGVideo Encoder

Traffic Controller Box

V2422x86-based Embedded Computer

NPort IA5250AIndustrial Serial Device Server

AWK-3121Industrial IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless AP/Bridge/Client

ioLogik W5340GPRS Micro RTU Controller

Gigabit FiberEthernet I/O SignalSerial CCTV

Ethernet Switches

Wireless Access Points

Embedded Computers

Serial Device Servers

Remote I/O

IP CamerasWireless Access IP Cameras

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Reliable Networks Sincere ServiceMoxa Inc. www.moxa.comTel: 1-888-MOXA-USA [email protected]

Integrated Networking and Communications for Intelligent Transportation

IP-Based Communication over Wireless, Fiber, Copper, DSL, and More In intelligent transportation projects all over the world, Moxa

hardware is connecting traffic devices and cameras to

control centers over wireless, fiber, DSL, copper, and more.

Thanks to our experience with hardened fanless design,

wide temperature outdoor operation, and high-performance

redundant topologies, city and state governments count

on Moxa for highly reliable networks and maximum uptime.

Contact a Moxa rep or distributor to learn more.


Traffic Controller

Speed Radar

Camera


Turbo Ring (Recovery time < 20 ms)

LED Controller

VPort 4611-ch H.264/MJPEGVideo Encoder

Traffic Controller Box

V2422x86-based Embedded Computer

NPort IA5250AIndustrial Serial Device Server

AWK-3121Industrial IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless AP/Bridge/Client

ioLogik W5340GPRS Micro RTU Controller

Gigabit FiberEthernet I/O SignalSerial CCTV

Ethernet Switches

Wireless Access Points

Embedded Computers

Serial Device Servers

Remote I/O

IP CamerasWireless Access IP Cameras

2-3_TH413_EU_Contents.indd 2 14/03/2014 14:3904-11_TH0214_NA_Hutton_TCC.indd 9 29/06/2014 20:20



be an important consultant that needs to see what we are seeing today or the centre’s manager is out at a conference across the other side of the country and I’d like him to be able to see the emerg-ing situation we are seeing and get their input. At Jupiter we took all our exper-tise in gathering information and bring-ing it back to the control room in high resolution and allow it to be accessed through other systems anywhere – we wanted to provide ubiquity. We took all that information and now allow users on their smartphones and tablets (both IoS and Android), as well as their lap-tops, to see the same thing, to access the same information that managers back in the control room are able to access and be able to interact with each other. In a control room I can see an emerging situ-ation and I have a manager who should be seeing this but he’s across the country somewhere and now I can send him an invitation to say “Paul, I need you take a look at this – I don’t know where you are or what device you have but our Canvas system does.” He will get an invitation saying “Brady wants to share canvas with you – you accept it and you will see a screen that I have shared with you of one or more visual images. Now we are seeing the same thing we can go one step further and interact. I can circle something with my mouse and you will be able to see that same annotation happening in real time on the screen of your smartphone. I can say that this is the area we are con-cerned about, that we have troubles in this are before and what do you think we should do? You can say “Brady the real issue is over here in the South East and you can circle a different area and we can resolve the problems in real time using live video.”

So if we have the ability to manage things remotely could we, I ask Guy from Barco, would it actually reduce the neces-sity for a control room and let decision-makers work remotely to carry out the functions they currently do within the one location?

“Again, technically you can have these kind of distributed control rooms

but from a social point of view, from a human point of view, I still think there’s a long way to go before people will really want to work in that way. A theory like that needs another 10-15 years before it’s going to happen that we have a virtual control room.”

And while Rob Moodey understands how one or two people can have valuable input remotely, he doesn’t think it’s prac-tical for all decisions to be made that way:

“You have to agree that telepresence is getting better all the time but critical scenarios are not when you want to hear people asking if anyone else can hear a buzzing on the audio or if it’s just them that can’t see the video feed. Those are things that just don’t fit into the crisis way of thinking.”

Similarly, Activu’s John Stark doesn’t think the managers would want it either:

“Although the capability is there and the tools are certainly there, I think the management of the infrastructure still acts in a way that needs people to be con-centrated in one place so that they can work together.”

And Es George says that although he is more than able to have his team working outside of the control room, he wouldn’t like it as the norm:

“We have contingency built into what we do and how we operate so if we had a significant incident and we need to decamp somewhere else we can do that not just through alternative fixed sites but through the connectivity of our key sys-tems. There are issues to deal with – the 3G or 4G network will be under consid-erable strain in a situation like that and

you can’t necessarily rely on data quality to give you a real, workable image. More importantly, while operating remotely is a viable proposition what you do miss is the situational awareness and joined-up activity that your partner area is working on. It’s all solveable, whether it’s through video conferencing or real-time touch pads and so on, but there’s no real sub-stitute for the close proximity of work-ing. When we moved the three control rooms into this one building in 2009 we saw some immediate benefits in co-location, certainly in terms of situational awareness.”

THE STAFF OF LEGENDWithin the control room itself, techno-logical advances are clearly helping the staff do their work more efficiently, as Brady Bruce explains:

“One of those is the increased amount of bandwidth that’s available that allows us to pull more camera feeds and more data feeds throughout geographically dispersed areas back to a control room and to do that in high quality and pro-vide that information in real time…bandwidth has been a profound influ-ence on this. The other is the emergence of IP cameras that allows us to get higher resolution and higher frame rate visual images back to the control room AND do it with less bandwidth than was previ-ously required.”

Guy van Wijmeersch is of the opinion that technology is just making every-thing easier:

“We have put more sensors out there so the monitoring of traffic is just done in a

“Critical scenarios are not when you want to hear people asking if anyone else can hear a buzzing on the audio or if it’s just them that can’t see the video feed”



Traffic control rooms

better way. Streams of data can now come in using video and it’s much much easier than it used to be. A lot of the cameras are IP cameras and are being monitored in the control room. Secondly there are also better solutions out there that can help us to look at the right picture at the right moment. A lot of decisions are taken through the IP camera – they monitor themselves so they only show the excep-tions. It’s not about showing image from a lot of cameras, it’s about the right ones at the right time.”

Jason Sims says his controllers have an inordinate amount of information to sift through, so having technology to alert them of where to look is vital:

“We have over 350 cameras in Kansas City as well as over 2000 vehicle detec-tion stations (VDS) and we have smart VDS that detect drops in speeds and will alert the operator to look at that loca-tion. We also have two different types of technology on our cameras that take snapshots of anomalies and directly alert our operators. When the operator has the traveler information system up they have the best situational awareness pos-sible. We have had situations prior to this where we did not have this. It’s harder, as the system grows, you only have a certain amount of operators and you must use technology to give the best situational awareness possible and get the best infor-mation in so the operator can get the best information out.”

A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURESo where do we go next? What does the future look like? John Stark and Brady Bruce both think that the first key thing is to better integrate legacy systems:

“Most places have a bunch of disparate systems that aren’t integrated in any way and there’s no plan to integrate them in any way as they are either competitors’ products or just aren’t interoperable and there’s incentive to bring those systems together to provide a unified view of the information, explains John. This is where companies like Activu come into play as we can bring this information together and allow our customers to effectively

integrate and assimilate it in an attrac-tive way and then share that assimilated view with others in their organization. This layer that sits on top of all these systems plays a very important role in control rooms across a variety of vertical industries and as the network becomes more and more important companies like us, and some of our big competitors, are going to be very well placed to take advantage of that.

“We have more cameras that are posi-tioned around metropolitan areas, says Brady, and there are more sensors built into roadways and other parts of the city, all of which provides information. Transparency becomes the watchword. The goal is to coordinate all the infor-mation coming in from these disparate systems, making sense of it and apply-ing some of the big data technology that can look at what is basically unstructured data and connect meaning to it – the meaning is what leads to planning, both on the part of the transportation manag-ers and on behalf of the traveler. I think we get better as cities, states, provinces and countries by making more informa-tion available, extracting more meaning from the information and then simply as citizens, having access to that informa-tion so we can plan the services we need to consume in terms of transportation.”

As a controller actually using the sys-tem, Jason Sims has a wishlist:

“I’d say tweaking the algorithm, tweak-ing the technology in order to have

customizable areas so that there are less false positives. We would love the vendors to try and continue develop-ing cameras to increase the ability to do accurate counts. If you have accurate counts coming from cameras they can minimize the need for deploying detec-tion…I just think that it’s very important when you are looking at urban areas to also consider technology for the rural areas as well. Kansas City Scout manages over 400 miles of rural Interstate span-ning two states – some of the technology is applicable for urban areas but not so applicable for rural…if we could keep a good focus on the rural areas and proce-dures for incident management that are so important, that would really push the TMC operations all across the country to another level.”

Rob Moodey concludes this article and accompanying documentary pod-cast with a cautionary word of warn-ing regarding the difference between peak and average performance require-ments. His concern is that as budgets are squeezed and technology is more relied upon, the human influence will be diminished which will be fine most of the time, but on rare occasions will cause enormous problems:

“The challenge is the cost of “Just In Case” capacity. Do you really need to invest in something that will only be used one year out of seven? You might make that analysis if you are choosing to buy an extra snow plough but if it’s capacity in the control room dealing with all the information that’s going to flow in during a crisis it’s too late to not have the capacity by that point. The only people who won’t feel the pain then are the accountants.”

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Paul Hutton is Head of H3B Media’s

Broadcast Services Division

[email protected]

For the audio version please visit http://thinkinghighways.com/category/podcasts/

Thanks to all the contributors who took part in this article.

Control centre operatives have an inordinate amount of information to process, so having technology to alert them where to look is vital



TECHNOLOGY Mass transportation

Critical Mass.

Fenwood Road MBTA station, Boston, Massachusetts

Pho

to: J

ohn

Phe

lan

Each day, hundreds of buses traverse the streets of Boston, carrying hun-dreds of thousands of commuters.

These buses are under the control of Bos-ton’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) which maintains the nation’s fifth largest mass transit system with a total of 183 bus routes and a roster of 1005 diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, 32 dual mode buses and 28 electric trolley buses (ETBs).

Although lower than in other major transit systems, crime unfortunately does occur on the MBTA. Dozens of crimes are reported on MBTA buses each year,

including 29 assaults to MBTA employ-ees last year, along with passenger rob-beries, sexual offenses, assaults and acts of vandalism.

This crime occurs despite the dedicated work of the Transit Police Officers work-ing in partnership with fellow MBTA employees, passengers and community partners to ensure a safe environment for the riding public. The Transit Police has increased high visibility patrols and con-tinues to employ a point of entry policing strategy that aims to prevent offenders from entering the MBTA, and yet prob-lems still exist.

To deter crime, the MBTA recently elected to install high-definition IP cam-eras and video screens – which allow rid-ers to watch what’s being captured by the cameras on a screen behind the driver’s cab – on 225 buses throughout the tran-sit system as a first step in a long-term process to bring video surveillance to the entire bus and subway fleet. Another 210 buses will be outfitted with the cameras without video screens, bringing high-definition (HD) surveillance video to a total of about 40 per cent of the MBTA bus fleet. The IP cameras are equipped with Verizon’s 4G LTE network to allow

Many people cherish Boston’s rich history with its ideas of liberty, freedom and democracy. Few, however, are aware that it is also the birthplace of American mass transportation, as Bob Wolfe explains

12-13_TH_0214_NA_Moxa.indd 12 29/06/2014 20:21


Mass transportation

the digital video feed inside the bus to be streamed in real time to the MBTA control center, where staff will be able to monitor incidents in real time. The video feed, which provides a 360° view of the inside of buses, will also be available to MBTA Transit Police from inside their cruisers. In the event of an altercation on a bus, for example, police will have a bird’s-eye view of how many people are involved and whether any are armed.

According to Randy Clarke, senior director of security and emergency man-agement for the MBTA, this is the most extensive surveillance program on a major USA transit system. “What we’re trying to do is make everyone on the bus work as an extra set of eyes to help report suspicious behavior or criminal activity,” Clarke said. The high-tech security cam-eras and video monitors are being paid for by a US$6.9m grant from the Depart-ment of Homeland Security to help police respond to emergencies in real-time and aid in criminal prosecution.

ONE OF THE MOST ADVANCED SYSTEMS EVER INSTALLEDOnce the decision was made, the MBTA had project specifications developed by the engineering firm Jacobs Engineer-ing and a bid was sent out to interested parties in June 2013. Several integrators responded with Moxa equipment includ-ing the company’s network video recorder (NVR), switch, and Wi-Fi components. In the end, Minuteman Security Technolo-gies, Inc. in Andover, MA, was awarded the bid, and selected Moxa’s TN-5516-8PoE-T as the switch for this project.

Minuteman CEO Joseph Lynch called the system his company designed and installed as being: “one of the most advanced multiband wireless IP video systems ever installed in mass transit.”

The main surveillance system com-prises an Intel i7 powered rackmount

big difference in making the overall sur-veillance system a success. For example, when cabling issues popped up, Moxa provided the pin-outs and schematics that allowed Minuteman to create their own custom cables.

Minuteman’s President George Yanna-kotoulos had such a positive experience with the Moxa switch and its support personnel that he is hopeful to be able to purchase more components from Moxa, such as an NVR and wireless technolo-gies, the next time around. Eventually, transit officials hope to receive funding to place the cameras on all the system’s buses, and on any new train cars incor-porated into the system.

MULTIMODAL SPECIFICATIONSThe retrofitting of the MBTA’s buses mir-rors trends that are occurring in munici-palities around the country, according to Todd Desso, Strategic Business Man-ager at Moxa Americas, Inc: “We are increasingly seeing our equipment spec’d into projects requiring reliable com-munications onboard moving vehicles, including buses and trains,” says Desso. “Onboard security is an extremely hot topic in transportation, and municipali-ties around the world have a similar need to incorporate this capability into their existing fleet of vehicles. We are seeing it happen in Boston, one of the oldest transit systems in the world. We expect that it’s only a matter of time before all transit vehicles will require high-end surveillance and communications to be designed in.”

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Bob Wolfe is District Manager at

Moxa Americas, Inc

[email protected]

www.moxa.com

NVR with two recording hard drives running Genetec video recording and display software, along with the Moxa TN-5516-8PoE-T ToughNet managed Ethernet switch, six IP cameras installed inside and outside the bus, Wi-Fi video offload, cellular bus-to-police car com-munication, and GPS positioning. Video from each camera is recorded and stored on the bus’s NVR.

Each bus can offload the daily video when they park in the bus yard and law enforcement can stream live video from the buses to police cruisers when they are within a certain geographic range of the bus. Two large HD monitors display live video to the bus passengers, letting them see what the six cameras are cap-turing. Panic buttons allow the driver to tag video incidents for police and other supervisory personnel.

An important capability of the system is that MBTA can remotely manage it from a central location. “We have remote management tools to troubleshoot and repair it in real time, without having to roll a truck,” Lynch said.

At the center of the system is the Moxa TN-5516-8PoE-T switch. Moxa recommended this model because it is able to withstand the shock and vibra-tions of Boston streets, while also reli-ably powering the cameras, Wi-Fi, and other on-board IEEE 802.3af powered devices through its EN 50155-compliant Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) technology with M12 connectors. In addition, the switch works extremely well in the cold Boston winters and hot summers with its extended operating temperature range of -40°C to 75°C. Importantly, it also was available with the lead-time required in a COTS product.

Since Minuteman Security Technolo-gies required local support to help inte-grate all of their components together, having a local Moxa rep to help made a

“What we’re trying to do is make everyone on the bus work as an extra set of eyes to help report suspicious behavior or criminal activity”

12-13_TH_0214_NA_Moxa.indd 13 29/06/2014 20:21


TECHNOLOGY Traffic Cabinets

How traffic cabinets are preparing us for a world of connected vehicles and driverless cars, by Mike Shea

Boxing clever

Communities around the world are experiencing the benefits of more efficient roadways, lower

vehicle emissions and increased safety through the deployment and implemen-tation of Intelligent Transportation Sys-tem (ITS) programs. While the industry marvels at the sophistication of the soft-ware systems and leading-edge hardware that power ITS, one critical component is often taken for granted – the traffic con-trol cabinet. As with most large systems, the components at the granular level can sometimes make or break the operability of the system, and traffic cabinets cer-tainly fall into that category.

You’ve seen them. The sturdy box with a locking door mounted near a signal-

ized intersection. While they don’t draw attention to themselves (they’re designed that way), the traffic control cabinet is arguably the most important ITS com-ponent at the signalized intersection, and will be increasingly important in the near future as more multi-modal ITS – adap-tive signal, transit priority, connected vehicle, driverless cars, etc. systems – are adopted and deployed.

Often referred to as the heart and brain of the signalized intersection, today’s traf-fic signal cabinet is called upon more and more to function as a small independent computer server room and communi-cations hub. In fact, without the traffic control cabinet, coordinated signals and ITS would likely not be a possibility, and

intersections would merely be four-way stops. As you shutter from the thought of that scenario on your next commute, let’s take a closer look at how strategically important a traffic cabinet is to an inter-section and ITS.

THE TRAFFIC CONTROL CABINET AND ITSAs more and more ITS and related com-ponents are leveraged on the roadways as part of a networked system, for each piece of field equipment installed on the roadway, corresponding components are installed in the traffic cabinet. So, in addition to the typical power sup-plies, load switches and relays for signal and street lighting, cabling and street/intersection-level communications, the traffic cabinet also houses the control-ler and all of the decoders, encoders and amplifiers for various detectors and sen-sors (vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians). The cabinet also houses the conflict or malfunction management unit (depend-ing on the type of cabinet), CCTV, and an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that an agency may specify for use.

In Figure 1, the hybrid ITS cabinet houses the components via a standard-ized computer rackmount system, taking advantage of electronic component hard-ware standardization, while efficiently using as much available space as possi-ble. This modular configuration neatly and securely mounts the equipment and provides a modular platform for future upgrades and equipment. In addition, components such as the bus interface unit (BIU), not only provide centralized high speed interface capabilities for the cabinet and the components, it can also provide an efficient means to incorporate additional types of detection (advance

Figure 1: A Maryland Hybrid S ITS cabinet that incorporates standard EIA 19-inch computer server racks – exactly what is found in most server rooms

14-17_TH_0214_NA_Econolite.indd 14 29/06/2014 20:22


“Often referred to as the heart and brain of the signalized intersection, today’s traffic signal cabinet is called upon more and more to function as a small independent computer server room and communications hub”

and midblock video and radar detection) and vehicle tracking necessary for adap-tive signal control and connected vehicle programs – Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I).

As an example, the State of Maryland began installing a newly designed traf-fic control cabinet in 2011. This new cabinet has helped the State save money and support new ITS capabilities that were being deployed throughout the State. One such ITS program that would impact the size and functionality of the cabinet was the integration of a UPS is to ensure traffic signal operation during periods of power outage. This requires a UPS installed at certain critical or regionally important traffic signal loca-tions to maintain power to the intersec-tion and signal system operability.

As a result, additional costs were being incurred from purchasing a sec-ondary cabinet and constructing an additional cabinet foundation just to install the UPS system.

Another program goal with safety in mind, Maryland continues to increase the percentage of intersections equipped with audible accessible pedestrian sig-nals (APS), while ensuring sidewalks are American Disabilities Act (ADA) com-pliant. With many of the intersections representing the junctions of historic roadways, real estate and configuration of the traffic control cabinets are criti-cal to a new cabinet solution. Equally important in the roadway safety upgrade program is the safety of the State’s field technicians, which is impacted by how accessible the components inside the cabinet are to the technician – as you can imagine, doors only opening toward traf-fic on narrow sidewalks is quite hazard-ous for the technician.

A NEED FOR SOMETHING BESPOKESo, a traffic control cabinet that supports traditional intersection control as well as ITS, while accommodating the needs of historic locations was needed. How does a transportation agency get a custom cabinet designed and built? Maryland is a current and long-time user of National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) TS2 Type 2, size 6 traffic con-trol cabinets, but facing the need to add an audible pedestrian system, as well as a UPS system at each intersection as part of its ongoing transportation upgrade pro-

gram, the State turned to a long-time traf-fic control solutions provider – Econolite. Through a collaborative effort between Econolite and Maryland, a new traffic cabinet design was developed. Based on an existing cabinet offering – a Hybrid Rackmount cabinet design currently offered by Safetran, an Econolite Group company – the new Hybrid “S” cabinet was developed to fit Maryland’s needs and requirements to house all components into a single modular unit while provid-ing flexibility for future ITS upgrades.

Addressing the limited sidewalk space and accessibility of the equipment, the

The standard EIA 19-inch computer server rack makes for a modular and flexible component installation, and enables this California Hybrid ITS cabinet to accept future ITS components. Note doors open in front and back to provide new levels of access

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Traffic Cabinets

“The City sought a solution that would avoid having to purchase and install separate cabinets. The City wanted a single traffic cabinet that housed the UPS while providing flexibility for future ITS capabilities”

cabinet was designed with dual front and dual rear doors for easy and flexible access to all components in a myriad of locations and sidewalk configurations – even historical sites. With the ability to mount equipment on cabinet racks on the front and back, the cabinet pro-vides total flexibility for virtually all intersection and ITS applications. The Hybrid “S” cabinet provides the best of both NEMA TS2 and 33X Series cabinet worlds by using the full functionality of a TS2 Type 1 controller in a rack mount cabinet assembly.

Additionally, the Hybrid “S” cabinet provides Maryland the ability to main-tain or enhance the current level of inter-section control while also being able to

incorporate the UPS assembly eliminat-ing the need for additional cabinets and cabinet foundations, keeping the foot-print the same as the NEMA cabinet the agency was using prior.

Just a couple of years later, on the oppo-site side of the country, a Californian city was facing a similar situation with its traffic system upgrade and traffic control cabinets. Part of this City’s ongoing traf-fic system and safety upgrade included ensuring signal operation during power outages (due to earthquakes, wild fires, or black outs), it incorporated a UPS at each intersection, as well as upgraded its network communications to fiber optic. However, the City sought a solution that would avoid having to purchase and

install separate cabinets. The City wanted a single traffic cabinet that housed the UPS while providing flexibility for future ITS capabilities.

With the success in Maryland, the City and its transportation department turned to Econolite to collaborate on a traffic cabinet solution. As a result, the City is now receiving a Hybrid Rack Mount cabinet that incorporates two standard Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) 19” racks. It houses the entire UPS, accom-modates the fiber optic communications, and provides additional space and flex-ibility for future ITS components.

THE NEAR FUTUREAs automakers, ITS companies, and net-work/communications providers con-tinue to work ever more closely to bring the driving populous crash avoidance through vehicle tracking, autonomous vehicle, adaptive signal control technolo-gies, just to name a few, the equipment powering all of these technologies will likely be housed in the traffic control cabinets. In addition to the components and equipment, a large portion of the technologies will be driven by wireless communications (eg, Bluetooth, micro-wave, etc), increasing the use of routers, antennas, and other wireless communi-cations devices. All of this will need to be packaged into the traffic control cabinet. As the traffic control cabinet is called upon to be more of a computer server room and communications hub, it will become even more critical in the world of connected vehicles, robotaxis, and driverless cars.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Mike Shea is Econolite Group, Inc’s

Senior Product Manager

[email protected]

www.econolite.com

With front and back double doors and standard computer server racks, the Hybrid ITS cabinet provides flexibility in mounting ITS components, such as this video detection interface system

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thinkinghighways.comONLINE BONUS CONTENT Vol 9 No 2 North America

SAFETY & SECURITY Smart Bridges

So what exactly constitutes a smart bridge? What is connected bridge technology? Bruce Abernethy has the answers

A bridge too far?

This article addresses SMART Bridge technology and the associated benefits of a connected bridge. SMART connected bridges can solve the “bridge too far” issue

where a bridge gets inspected every two years for deteriora-tion and structural integrity with departments of transporta-tion having only this information and the resulting analysis until the next two-year inspection time. Manual inspection is not only manpower-intensive but can miss critical informa-tion related to structural deterioration. “Connection” enables analysis of bridge sensor data that supports ongoing confi-dence in the safety integrity of the connected bridge and this can apply to urban bridges in city centers or rural bridges in the remotest of regions.

REQUIREMENTS FOR A SMART BRIDGE:

A SMART bridge includes:• Variety of sensors properly placed and installed on the

bridge structure;• Communications network supporting collection of sensor

data;• Local SMART applications processor interconnecting to a

wide area communications network (WAN);• WAN interconnecting the bridge to Bridge Safety Integrity

Analysis and Monitoring Center;• Center with Bridge Structural Model with sensor data

interpretation and safety integrity prediction;• Transportation Safety Management HMI.

A structural model provides the intelligence needed to understand structural changes that impact safety integrity of the bridge. The model translates “a bunch of sensor data” into meaningful safety management information facilitating responsive action if required.

Some of the key requirements for SMART bridges are:• Low cost, low power consumption, networkable sensors;• Placement of sensors to provide required force change/

movement measurements;• Threshold analysis of sensor data which establishes a prior-

ity for sensor data transfer and analysis;• Event detection that identifies possible damage to the bridge

structure (such as a truck impacting the bridge structure);• Affordable WAN with adequate bandwidth for bridge

sensor data collection; • Networks security to protect the integrity of the sen-

sor data and to prevent infusion of corrupted data and malware into the SMART bridge sensor processing and modeling function;

A structural model provides the intelligence needed to understand structural changes that can impact safety integrity of the bridge

thinkinghighways.com ONLINE BONUS CONTENTNorth America Vol 9 No 2

Smart Bridges

• Model – Constructed Bridge validation (i.e. model properly represents constructed bridge).

Cost is an important factor; however the cost of losing lives and replacement of a total new bridge structure must be con-sidered. With the advent of MEMS and fiber optic sensors, cost of sensor deployment has been significantly reduces in the past few years. MEMS accelerometers, inclinometers, and pressure/strain sensors are available from a number of manufacturers. Measurement accuracy of MEMS sensors in roadway environment is suitable to support SMART bridge applications. MEMS sensors with embedded Wi-Fi wireless links are available 0on the market. The most “productized” optical sensor uses fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) technology. FBG sensors support measurement of temperature, strain, pressure and vibration. Multi-point sensing along a fiber can be accomplished with a FBG sensor. Other fiber sensors use

Raman, Brillion and Raleigh scattering. Only Raleigh and Brillion scatter support temperature and strain distribution monitoring and perhaps Brillion Scattering sensors are more advanced from a sensor product standpoint.

CROSSING THAT BRIDGEFiber sensors have been used in road structures to detect “wash outs” under the concrete and have also been deployed along high speed rail tracks to detect rail safety issues. They are further used in dam structures to determine water leakage, earth movement and erosion which can result in dam failure.

For new bridges, sensors can be embedded in the concrete structural members during fabrication to measure stress forces. Sensors can be added at connecting joints that meas-ure movement and compressive forces. Sensors are available for installation on older bridges.

“Cost is an important factor; however the cost of losing lives and replacement of a total new bridge structure must be considered”

thinkinghighways.comONLINE BONUS CONTENT Vol 9 No 2 North America

SAFETY & SECURITY Smart Bridges

“The primary objective of deploying a SMART Bridge System is to correct structural degradation issues before the structure collapses”

LTE communications technology has emerged facilitating low cost M2M WAN interfaces with Picocells. ITS sensors that support Wi-Fi links from an imbedded sensor in the road to traffic signal controllers or directly to traffic manage-ment centers are on the market today. This same technology is utilized for bridge sensors. Electronics that support fiber optics sensors manage communications within the fiber and support interface to a local applications processor. The appli-cations processor installed at the bridge supports:• Data Collection from sensor strings;• Logs sensor identity and date/time of collection;• Can determine critical threshold of a sensor signal being

exceeded, causing an alarm to the central system and can cue full sensor data collection and monitoring;

• Stores collected sensor data until uploaded to the SMART Bridge modeling processor;

• Monitors sensors and reports sensor failures.

The structural modeling system stores bridge sensor data, selects the correct bridge model, accesses sensor data (based on source/date/time), executes the model, analyzes results and predicts failures of the structure. It provides information to bridge engineers related to safety risk. If the bridge rep-resents an immediate safety hazard to vehicles, Emergency Management and the Traffic Management Center (TMC) associated with the corridor would be notified. Emergency Management and Roadway Maintenance would place barri-ers closing the bridge access. The TMC would post on DMS notifying travelers of the bridge closure and detour route and would notify the 511 Traveler Information System of the bridge closure and detour route. Should connected vehi-cle-highway technology be deployed, RSEs would be sent messages of the bridge closing and detour route details for transmission to vehicles OBEs. Lives and property would be saved by this responsive action.

BENEFITS OF A SMART BRIDGE SYSTEMThe primary objective of deploying a SMART Bridge Sys-tem is to correct structural degradation issues before the structure collapses and cause loss of life, public infrastruc-ture and personal property. After a major natural disaster, such an earthquake or major hurricane, structural dam-age can be measured and assessed with rapid closure of the bridge if structural integrity is compromised. SMART

bridges allow near continual electronic “inspection” to be accomplished, thus identifying structural deteriora-tion issues within a time period that they can be corrected before safety is compromised.

SUMMARYAs a famous British general said during the Second World War, “It’s all about bridges.” Bridges are critical to our trans-portation infrastructure. The “intelligence” provided by sen-sors, as related to the bridge, is correct and action should be successful. Loss of lives and property should be minimized, maintenance cost should be less because corrective action can be taken before major structural damage occurs. Tech-nology is available today to deploy SMART Bridges.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Bruce Abernethy is principal of VASI, based in Allen,

Texas

[email protected]

Structural degradation could become a thing of the past with the advent of the truly SMART bridge

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PUBLIC–PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS Virginia focus

With about two-thirds of America’s new transportation construction “public-private-partnerships,” design-build P3s have been highly praised over the last decade. Contractors, politicians and financiers have been claiming that tiny slivers of private money bring efficiency to the formerly public process of highway building, spurring innovation and freeing taxpayer dollars for other key needs. But as Randy Salzman discovers, P3’s benefit to taxpayers is questionable

A “model” scheme? In the media, congress and across the political world,

promoters pushing design-build public-private partner-ships (P3s) are claiming that private innovation is saving

taxpayer money, creating good jobs and easing congestion. In wanting to institute an “Infrastructure Bank” to address

America’s “crumbling highway infrastructure,” even Presi-dent Obama, using New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge as a back-drop, recently encouraged P3 construction with a US$302 billion plan. The president had apparently not read Congres-sional Budget Office research into P3s, nor heard the Tappan Zee contractor speak at a congressional hearing.

In March, Fluor’s senior vice president Richard Fierce bragged that his company was saving taxpayers US$1.7 bil-lion on the new bridge across the Hudson until one con-gressman offhandedly remarked that he’d heard the Tappan Zee project would cost US$5 billion, not US$3.1 billion as the contractor claimed.

“That may include work outside our present contract,” Fluor’s VP replied.

Design-build is in effect “cost plus,” tailor-made for expen-sive change orders once construction is underway when no politician can dare pull the plug on runaway spending. P3s

The Congressional Budget Office reports P3s cost the public as much as traditional highway construction. And then citizens have to pay tolls

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Virginia focus

are even more geared for lining the pockets of financiers; hence foreign money is flooding into US highway projects today. The costs and risks, P3 promoters consistently claim, are dumped on the privates but the reality is much more complex and, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), at best delays taxpayer pain. There is little, if any, long-term savings for citizens, the CBO notes, and the tiny amounts of private equity serve primarily to get construction underway quicker.

“There’s a set of financial interests who have really learned how to mine the tax code,” P3 supporter Doug Koelemay, Virginia’s new director of Public-Private Partnerships, frowns.

THE VERY MODEL OF A MODERN MAJOR PPP?Virginia’s 1995 Public-Private Transportation Act is held up as the “model” by contractors and financiers, especially as it was implemented at break-neck speed during Governor Bob McDonnell’s administration. In four years, the number of Virginia P3s skyrocketed to 22 and with the Commonwealth signing over US$6 billion in P3s during 2012 alone, Infra-structure Investor magazine named McDonnell “man of the year” and called the state’s legal consultant, Allen and Overy, the world’s best law firm twice. Does any magazine for inves-tors venerate hard bargainers for taxpayers?

“A great deal of the media praising public private part-nerships in transportation projects comes from sources that have a self-interest in promoting them,” says Jack Trammell, a candidate for Virginia’s 7th Congressional Dis-trict. “A major factor motivating me to run for office is what

I think should be a national concern about this trend away from transparency and toward greater taxpayer risk in such projects.”

In the past, even Virginia’s Commonwealth Transporta-tion Board (CTB) never saw P3 contracts, only being allowed up-down votes on the total taxpayer bill, which consistently put 95+ per cent of all costs on state and federal taxpayers. The privates put up tiny bits of equity, though they imply more because they borrow dollars from Uncle Sam that they likely will not pay back and they sell bonds that Uncle Sam guarantees and which will cost taxpayers when the P3 goes bankrupt – as they almost inevitably do – about 15 years down the road.

It is a “win-win-win” for private money and contractors but for unaware taxpayers it could be the biggest scheme ever in Virginia – and potentially US – history. Is getting a highway or other transportation infrastructure, which may or may not be needed, returned to we taxpayers just when it’s beginning to need maintenance worth the fact that we’ve left virtually all construction costs, all risk, all financing costs and 10-15 years of tolls to the next generation of taxpayers?

A CLEAN SLATE?Secretary Layne has been shaken by what he’s found in a hard look at a couple of former transportation secretary Sean Connaughton’s P3 contracts. For example, although neither the Virginia Department of Transportation nor the Corp of Engineers ever indicated they could mitigate 480 acres of wetlands – and hence issue a construction permit – Virginia has paid 460 Mobility Partners almost US$300m and is on the hook for another US$900m for a highway that will likely never be built.

With that sort of issue possible in 21 other projects, Layne has ordered a “scrub” of all past P3s to find, for example, non-competitive clauses which prevent Virginia from improving nearby roads without having to pay toll operators for poten-tial lost income. Whether the Commonwealth can get out of some of these disturbing contract stipulations is still up in the air.

We asked Secretary Layne if there was “anything criminal” in what he’s learned. His hesitant reply, “I don’t think so,” was echoed by Koelemay but, still, the new administration has asked two CTB members to lead an inquiry and highlight better contracting methods. Regardless, ”even if some of these ‘improvements’ (P3 projects) are desperately needed,” as Trammell puts it, “we shouldn’t get them at the cost of transparency and accountability to taxpayers.”

“A great deal of the media praising public private partnerships in transportation projects comes from sources that have a self-interest in promoting them”

Used as a backdrop for President Obama’s support for P3s, New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge would cost US$5 billion, not US$3.1 billion as the contractor claimed




Trammell believes financiers can hide in plain sight because the terms of these contracts – often over 700 pages – are so complicated that even after studying the issue for more than a year, he can’t put all of the pieces together. How, he asks, could the general public, reporters without finance degrees or part-time bureaucrats like the Commonwealth Transportation Board understand this complexity? Espe-cially when they don’t hear it.

“You did get a ‘high level briefing’ on the benefits of the [460] project,” Layne explained to CTB members in March, “but you were not privy to the [460] contract, the contract terms, the payments schedule, the risk being taken or any terms.”

CTB members were subdued with one thanking Layne for promising greater openness: “I have been very uncomfort-able on a couple of projects we had (under Connaughton). I didn’t have the data I needed to make a decision at the same time I was asked to vote. Don’t ask me to do something without giving me the information I needed.” Another was shocked that “we allocated money yet we had no authority in approving the project?”

Only Jim Rich, later fired by McDonnell and Connaughton over his staunch opposition to fis-cal irrationality, stood up and questioned financing and risk management when Connaughton brought rapid-fire P3s before the CTB over the past four years.

Layne, who served as head bond salesman for the 460 ”Commonwealth Connector” and still sup-ports the project, assures there will be “competi-tion and transparency” in future P3 contracts. As secretary of transportation today, he said his prime “fiduciary responsibility” is to taxpayers, not bond holders, as it was when he ran the bond operation for the now-suspended 55-mile “Connector.”

Layne and Koelemay indicate the Common-wealth’s representatives in past P3, Connaughton and Tony Kinn, the original Virginia public-pri-vate-partnership office director, were outclassed and, due to ideological considerations and trapped by promises to do “something” about congestion, couldn’t just walk away from the table. They may not have realized their legal consultants were conflicted by work for private infrastructure bond sellers.

Media coverage of P3s over the past decade, furthermore, has been overwhelmingly positive, consistently following the contractor line that private innovation is offsetting sig-nificant amounts of expense, improving projects and freeing public dollars for other activities. However, the Congres-sional Budget Office indicates P3s provide little, if any, finan-cial benefit to taxpayers.

“The cost of financing a highway project privately is roughly equal to the cost of financing it publicly after fac-toring in the costs associated with the risk of losses from

the project, which taxpayers ultimately bear, and the finan-cial transfers made by the federal government to states and localities,” the CBO’s Microeconomic Studies director told congress in March. “Any remaining difference between the costs of public versus private financing for a project will stem from the effects of incentives and conditions established in the contracts that govern public-private partnerships.”

In that congressional hearing, Boston’s Michael Capuano

Top: Elizabeth River Tunnels Project under construction at Sparrows Point Shipyard

Above: The Pocahontas Parkway (Route 895), seen here crossing I-95, is facing its third bankruptcy in a decade

Right: I-95 Express Lane Construction between Garrisonville and Dumfries

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Virginia focus

“The cost of financing a highway project privately is roughly equal to the cost of financing it publicly after factoring in the costs associated with the risk of losses from the project, which taxpayers ultimately bear”

reminded congressmen that “people stole money” in prior equivalents of design-build P3s, and that’s why the highway construction paradigm became “inefficiency intended to avoid malfeasance.”

“We need to remember the potential downfalls before we go too far down the road too quickly and want to be con-scious of not opening up the barn door,” he cautioned.

Washington, DC shadow congresswoman Eleanor Norton was more specific: “I wonder if it’s (P3) an equitable or fair deal for the public? There’s a very high level of public funding and a low level of private risk. The rundown of figures amaze me and I’m trying to find out what the real advantage here is of the public-private-partnership.”

WORST CASE SCENARIO?So, is this an ethical issue? In Virginia, at least, it should be. Having researched P3s deeply, we laid out this long-range

scenario to Secretary Layne, culled heavily from the work of former Penn State law pro-fessor Ellen Dannin:

A private creates a shell company with a major finance – usually foreign – arm and an international construction contractor to bid on the P3. It sells private bonds, bonds generally backed by federal guarantee, and includes those funds as the major part of its “private” contribution. Any state’s representatives at nego-tiations are outclassed because they have little background in finance or contract law and its legal consultants, like Allen and Overy, are conflicted. The privates’ upfront financ-ing allows the project to get underway quicker and it is implied that private efficiency is overcoming bloated pub-lic bureaucracy while heav-ily inflated traffic projections indicate the privates will be compensated through tolls. The construction bid comes in

low with “design-build” tailor made for forcing the state to accept expensive change orders after construction is under-way and the public is no longer paying financial attention. True construction costs climb as the change orders needed for functionality are accepted but no politician can dare pull the plug once dirt is turned. There are too many “good” jobs at stake and too much explaining for a public that thinks Jon Stewart provides “news.”

Because P3s are exceptionally long contracts, longer than the projected lifespan of the project itself, – Elizabeth River Crossings in Norfolk, for example, is 58 years and the Capital Beltway Express in Northern Virginia is 80 years – the shell company is allowed to treat its lease as ownership for tax pur-poses. Hence, it enjoys a hefty depreciation allowance, like homeowners take on houses.

Once the highway is built, the shell company – and we used that word consistently with Secretary Layne – acceler-ates the depreciation and about 15 years later, just when the highway is actually needing much repair, often goes bank-rupt. The bond holders, however, are protected because of federal financing guarantees and taxpayers find themselves facing the costs of a highway re-build when all of the toll income has gone to the shell company backers, now pro-tected by bankruptcy laws from having to pay back loans, bonds or depreciation. When the shell goes under, further-more, the state becomes responsible for design flaws and safety issues, regardless of how much oversight it applied during construction. Since today that oversight is also con-tracted by “incestuous” – Layne’s word – private firms, the public has little idea of how well constructed a project was when it is returned to taxpayers.

Meanwhile, under many contracts, the state is prevented by “non-competition” clauses from improving nearby roads, bridges or adding bus-rapid transit unless it compensates the privates for potential lost tolls.

Every bankruptcy, finally, increases the return rate for the next P3 bonds. Investors, therefore, get junk bond rates due to a “risk” that is primarily accruing to taxpayers. Bondhold-ers, again, will be compensated by taxpayers due to Uncle Sam’s guarantee when the toll income fails to meet projec-tions.

“It has happened,” Secretary Layne agreed without point-ing to any specific Virginia, or indeed national, project.

SOMETHING DOESN’T QUITE ADD UPWhile we can’t predict the future – and can’t see the con-tract itself – Capital Beltway Express in Northern Virginia




provides a possible example. According to PW Finance, CBE bond-buyers were told to expect a “conservative” US$335,000 per day income from tolls by 2015 but, as of April 2014, there were 28,600 daily vehicles averaging US$62,357 in tolls.

Of the original US$350m in private equity from Capital Beltway Express, only US$88m was paid upfront by CBE partners, Transurban and Fluor, according to the public works journal. Virginia ponied up US$409m with Uncle Sam loaning CBE US$587m and backing bondholders to the tune of another US$587m. Capital Beltway Express indi-cated bond purchasers could expect a 13 per cent return on investment – or over five times the return on Treasury Bills – because PW Finance reports the contract allows CBE to pay zero interest for 10 years on the loan and not begin paying a penny on the principal for 25 years.

Long before the federal re-payment schedule kicks in, however, Capital Beltway Express will likely go bankrupt, as the experience of other American P3s illustrates. Generating today only one-fifth of its projected toll income, Transur-ban’s shell company indeed announced a “restructuring” of some US$280m in remaining private equity in February just months after Transurban’s other Virginia P3, the Pocahontas Parkway, went belly up again.

In the midst of the Beltway and Parkway debacles, unless Transurban totally misunderstood its own financial situation and couldn’t read its own CBE traffic and income counts – or understood something taxpayers don’t – it would never have sought and won the 95 Express Lanes project. If Transurban was losing that many real dollars, why would the Australian multi-national throw good money after bad on another P3, the I-95 toll lanes?

Like the Pocahontas Parkway, Virginia’s first P3, the stage is set for Capital Beltway Express bankruptcy once the accel-erated depreciation schedule is over. CBE and Transurban can easily walk away – and Fluor already has – because the money they actually did provide has been reimbursed by actual tolls and design-build change orders, leaving the next generation of taxpayers not only compensating bond holders but also now responsible for maintaining a highway which is beginning to show wear and tear. Uncle Sam will likely not collect Capital Beltway Express’ US$587m loan and, instead, will pay off bond-holders at a rate multiple times what they’d have received through T-Bills or state securities.

Yet the consistent media story is that privates paid three-quarters of the US$2 billion Capital Beltway project, never pointing out that the actual upfront cash that privates pro-vided is covered in only four years of actual tolls. This lack of

insightful mainstream media coverage – even around Wash-ington, DC, the center of American news media – leaves ill-informed citizens and policy makers.

Unconnected coverage of each individual P3 makes it difficult for citizens and policy makers to comprehend the hoopla and recognize that private money dots every ‘i’ and crosses every ‘t’ to ensure profitability. To the reporter who is assured private industry is more efficient than public bureaucracies, and is rarely versed in finance or tax law, each project sounds reasonable when inflated traffic projections implying tolls will cover all debt are handed out in press releases. However, we cannot find an operating American P3 project that is making the toll income it projected prior to construction.

There are well-reported positives in individual P3 projects, but this guaranteed bonds-depreciation-bankruptcy-pay off scenario; this “mining of the tax code” is happening behind the scenes and over decades in a bumper-sticker culture obsessed with fashion, sports and trivia.

Mainstream media, meanwhile, forget that private indus-try rarely leaves a dollar on the table. It does not participate unless it has strong assurances it will profit in the long haul.

Virginia’s program, remember, is called “the model” by financiers and contractors. Not by taxpayers.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Randy Salzman is Associate Editor of Thinking

Highways North America

[email protected]

“Once the highway is built, the shell company accelerates the depreciation and about 15 years later, just when the highway is actually needing much repair, often goes bankrupt”

Express Lane Construction on the Capital Beltway I-495

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ACCIDENT PREVENTION Automotive radar

Davide Brizzolara looks at how automotive radar’s evolution is good news for those tasked with reducing North America’s vehicle accident statistics

Summer of 79

Automotive radars play a key role in making the long-term goal of zero accidents a reality. Applications are currently evolving from comfort to safety and they

require Short Range Radars (SRR) that meet demanding requirements such as higher range resolution, better object discrimination, high spatial resolution and reduced mutual interference. The use of the 79 GHz band is the enabling technology to support this evolution.

Automotive radars support a wide range of applications that are currently evolving from comfort functions giv-ing indications to the driver (such as sound alert or visual warning) to safety functions that will automatically control the vehicle (for example brakes or steering). This evolution will enable us to reach the long-term goal of zero accidents which requires a 360° surround vision or semi-autonomous/fully autonomous driving.

79 GHz radar technology (in the frequency range 77–81 GHz) is seen as the next generation in the automotive radar development roadmap to meet this need for high-level requirements as it enables better performances to be achieved.

A better target discrimination capability will be available at 79 GHz, thanks to the bandwidth of 4 GHz. This fre-quency will also benefit spatial resolution, directly linked to the available bandwidth, allowing an exact location determi-nation: the higher the used bandwidth, the better the spa-tial resolution will be. Radar devices are also much smaller at 79 GHz compared to 24 GHz: HF-circuit structures and

antenna sizes directly depend on the wavelength used. The higher the operational frequency, the smaller the total size of the radar device will be.

Another interesting benefit is the common usage of one technology concept for all applications: currently automo-tive radar applications use different frequency ranges for the different applications. By using a common 76GHz to 81GHz technology platform a holistic and flexible system concept can be established. This results in advantages regarding system development and multi-functional use of individual sensors.

A wide range of applications can be improved by using the 79 GHz band (see Table 1): the Collision Warning System (CWS) and Collision Mitigation System (CMS), that pro-vide an acoustic and/or optical warning to the driver and may prepare the braking system if the driver doesn‘t gener-ate the necessary deceleration to avoid the collision, or the Vulnerable road User Detection (VUD) which supports the

detection of vulnerable road users (cyclists or pedestrians) in front (potentially also on the side of the host vehicle) in order to enable warning or assist brake functions.

THE 79 GHZ PROJECTConsidering the all the above-mentioned benefits, the Euro-pean Commission defined the 79 GHz band as the frequency allo-cation for automotive SRR and supports the 79 GHz project, an international automotive 79 GHz

In Europe, automotive radars support a wide range of currently evolving applications

Table 1: Short-Range Radar automotive applications

Applications Sensor location: Front/rear or side? Comfort or safety?Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) Front Comfort/SafetyCollision Warning System (CWS) Front/Side ComfortCollision Mitigation System (CMS) Front/Side SafetyVulnerable Road User Detection (VUD) Front SafetyBlind Spot Monitoring (BSD) Rear ComfortLane Change Assistance (LCA) Rear ComfortRear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA) Front/Rear Comfort

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ACCIDENT PREVENTION Automotive radar

“79GHz radar technology (in the frequency range 77–81 GHz) is seen as the next generation in the automotive radar development roadmap to meet this need for high-level requirements as it enables better performances to be achieved”

frequency harmonisation initiative: European car manufac-turers operate in world markets and therefore the 79 GHz frequency must be regulated on a global scale. Due to the intense continuous work of the 79 GHz project partners, the awareness of the significant contribution of high-resolution automotive radar to passenger and pedestrian safety is con-stantly increasing and administrations and other regional and international organizations are including 79GHz high-resolution automotive radar in their considerations.

Significant progress on the International Telecommu-nications Union (ITU) level was made in November 2013, when the relevant ITU groups finalized a recommendation, approved by relevant bodies, containing the technical char-acteristics of high-resolution automotive radar systems. This milestone will help boost the ongoing the country specific activities.

At the beginning of the project in 2011, the 79 GHz radar equipment was only authorised in the 27 EC member states, in most of the further 21 CEPT countries, in Singapore and Australia. In all other countries, the operation of 79 GHz radar devices was not possible due to the lack of any regula-tory framework for this frequency band.

HOPE OF THE STATESVarious actions have been taken by the 79 GHz project part-ners to booster the allocation process and the current status of allocation is illustrated in Figure 1. Focusing on the situa-tion in North America, the following points should be noted.

In the United States there have been extensive discussions and meetings with the US Federal Communications Com-mission (FCC) and we are now waiting for it to adopt and release a Notice of Proposed Rule Making, proposing to adopt rules permitting the use of the 77–81 GHz band for automotive radar applications in the United States on an unlicensed basis.

Canada tends to follow the US regulation regarding spec-trum. A proposal for the update of RSS-210 was developed and was sent along with an explanatory document to Indus-try Canada for review.

In Brazil, the 79 GHz project developed a proposal for the revision of Resolution 506. This proposal was sent to ANA-TEL for review. As the revision process of RES 505 is ongo-ing, there has been no decision on the allocation of the 77-81 GHz band for automotive high resolution radar yet.

In Argentina, 79 GHz project is in contact with both the

Figure 1:Current status

of allocation

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27North America Vol 9 No 2

Automotive radar

National Communications Commission (CNC, Comisión Nacional de Comunicaciones) and the Secretariat of Com-munications (SECOM, Secretaría de Comunicaciones) and an official and formal request to start the rulemaking in Argentina was sent to these two administrations.

In Chile, SUBTEL has regulated the 79GHz frequency band and this is affected through an extension of Resolution No. 755 DE 2005 in June 2013 with Resolution 2094.

ITU WORLD RADIO CONFERENCE 2015: RELEVANCE FOR THE 79 GHZ PROJECTIn parallel to the national activities focusing on countries that are important for the car manufacturers and suppli-ers, the worldwide frequency harmonization process as a whole takes place on the ITU-R level tasked by the World Radio Conference (WRC). This is the place where Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of the radio-frequency spectrum, is discussed and, if neces-sary, revised.

Therefore, one of the 79 GHz project partners, Robert Bosch GmbH, supported an initiative together with the Federal Network Agency of Germany (BNetzA) to include the 79 GHz initiative as an Agenda Item (AI) for the next possible WRC in 2015.

From the perspective of the 79 GHz project the following points can be noted:• On a worldwide perspective, there are countries that

have a supportive position for high resolution automo-tive radar in the band and contribute to the preparation process of WRC-2015

• Other countries, that have not yet allocated the 77–81 GHz band to automotive radar, are waiting for the deci-sion of WRC-2015 on automotive radar, before taking any steps on a national basis.

• In the work on ITU level, industry is actively contribut-ing on technical level. The decisions in the conference are made by the administrations. So it is important to have as many administrations as possible in support for WRC-2015.

The support for a worldwide allocation of the 79 GHz will continue now at ITU level, enabling a higher level of safety in our cars in the future – not just in North America, but globally.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Davide Brizzolara is project support manager for the

79 GHz project

[email protected]

www.79ghz.eu

www.linkedin.com/groups/79-GHz-Project-4656640vision-traffic.ptvgroup.com

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24-27_TH_0214_NA_79Ghz.indd 27 29/06/2014 20:34


OPINION PIECE Knowledge sharing

Whether viewed as intellectual curiosity or simply a matter of common courtesy, acceptance of a broad view of ITS development goes a long way towards fostering collaboration, says David E Pickeral

Open to suggestion

Not long ago I was attending a major international transportation conference, with all modes well rep-resented. As I always do at such events, between

some of the specialized ITS sessions and client and part-ner meetings, I wandered about on my own to canvass the exhibit floor, looking for both familiar faces as well as a sense of what – and who – was new in the industry.

In so doing, I stopped by a booth belong-ing to one of the major transportation research organizations in the host county. There I found a young engineer – a newly minted civil engineering PhD, in fact – who was covering the exhibit booth alone while his senior col-leagues were off the floor in an executive session. A group of people was listening to him expound upon, what turned out to have been the topic of his doc-toral dissertation, method-ologies for the collection and monitoring of data regarding the condition of bridges, highways, tunnels and other infrastructure within the transportation industry. He asserted that the ability to collect and analyze such data was a matter of national priority for his government, as well as the trans-portation industry worldwide. His chief complaint was that there thus far a complete lack of any data in this area, nor any current ability to go about obtaining it.

After several minutes, at what I deemed an appropriate pause for commentary, I politely suggested that it might be helpful to see the problem not so much as the lack of data per se, as it was the lack of structured data, noting that his predecessors had been doing careful inspections of critical infrastructure assets for decades, even generations, with the results captured often in great detail in the form of spread-sheets, standalone databases, handwritten notes, logs and journals, or even just in their own personal recollections of what might have been many years of observations. If such

data it could be properly extracted and analyzed, I hypothe-sized, perhaps this would be an excellent baseline for further development, even as more advanced means of collection became available through the deployment of sensors and the use of open standards now ongoing around the world.

His reaction was unexpected, and could best be described as openly hostile. Rather than assess the merits of

what I had proposed, he responded defen-sively, almost explosively, that this

line of thinking was absolutely and unequivocally wrong –

again asserting the data sim-ply did not exist. Rather

than offer evidence to support this however, he then launched into a discussion of the academic study he had done on multiple continents to support the idea that only a

whole new set of data gathered with appropri-

ate new techniques would even begin to address the

issue. Clearly anyone who per-ceived otherwise – including and

at the moment especially me – was guilty of ignorance bordering on sacrilege.

GRACE UNDER PRESSUREDuring this diatribe, the others who had been gathered around the booth wisely took the opportunity to drift off elsewhere. For me, a graceful resolution was far less practi-cable. Although, those who know me will attest I am hardly one to shrink from conflict, there are two instances where I will never engage in an open argument under any circum-stances; the first is when dealing with airport security, law enforcement and border guard personnel in any country, and the second is at industry conferences, which I consider by definition to be neutral ground for candid debate. At this point, I therefore saw only one option – rapid retreat! Seeing no signs that my new adversary was planning to pause any time soon, I simply tuned on my heels and walked briskly

28-29_TH_0214_NA_Pickeral ideas.indd 28 29/06/2014 20:34


Knowledge sharing

away without a backward glance. For several seconds before I purposefully rounded the corner, I could still hear him talking – apparently at this point to no one but himself.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE As I had joined the conversation in progress I had not had the opportunity to do any introductions or exchange busi-ness cards beforehand, and as I discovered a few minutes later I had put my conference badge with its speaker and sponsor ribbons into my jacket pocket while outside earlier and had forgotten to put it back on. The recent grad, therefore, had no idea whom he was passionately excoriating. As far as he knew, he could well have been dressing down the head of a university department, a transport minister, a politician or an industry leader that might well have been in a position to both support his cause and advance his career. Far worse I think, he could have blasted someone entirely new to the ITS industry who was still trying to understand it and merely wishing to toss a few ideas around in aid of furthering that understanding.

My point in relating this is if course not to denigrate, even anonymously, this studious, passionate and otherwise highly intelligent professional. Rather, it is to offer up a cautionary tale of sorts.

ITS is, as we all know, an extremely arcane and esoteric industry, where interstate meets Internet meets intermodal. It continues to evolve as a patchwork of other disciplines combining elements of physical infrastructure, ICT and complex political and strategic overlays. We might be engi-neers, architects, lawyers, academics, executives or others with highly advanced educational backgrounds. Likewise, we are also practitioners with years of hands-on implementa-tion and operational experience. Almost invariably, those of us who have been in the industry for some time bring some unique combination of academia and experience to the table – as headhunters will tell you, it is very difficult to anonymize the CVs of veterans in the ITS community such that their peers won’t recognize them. Regardless of our individual backgrounds, ours is a field where it is virtually impossible for anyone to be an expert in everything.

It is thereby essential in this industry, as in no other, to allow adequate consideration for not just the views of others, but to acknowledge both the potential for something entirely new to appear on the scene and for something that has been around for quite some time to be used in entirely new ways.

Unstructured data will indeed become an ever more use-ful resource with the advent of artificial intelligence, that will eventually allow absorption, consolidation and inter-pretation of vast amounts of seemingly disconnected archi-val material. The infrastructure inspection data mentioned earlier can be infused with materials analysis, climatalogical records, and other sources within the Big Data ecosystem. Analytics can be applied at any point of the process -includ-ing when real time sensor data does eventually become avail-able regarding the structural integrity of individual assets. Cloud capabilities, facilitated by open standards to allow sharing between networks, will let that data to be aggregated and shared securely with appropriate users in the next office, next building or worldwide.

In summary, while I would be the last one to blur the ‘art of the possible’ against hard practical reality, in terms of dis-cussions with our colleagues in ITS, and even more with the broad stakeholder community that will be necessary to ensure the political, financial and institutional viability of future ITS enhancements, I would respectfully submit it never hurts to be open to suggestions!

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| David Pickeral is Transportation Sector Lead for the

IBM Industry Smarter Solutions Team

[email protected]

www.linkedin.com/in/pickeral

Taking on board a broad scope of ideas is key to successful collaborative thinking

“Regardless of our individual backgrounds, ours is a field where it is virtually impossible for anyone to be an expert in everything”

28-29_TH_0214_NA_Pickeral ideas.indd 29 29/06/2014 20:34


MOBILITY EU insurance

Europe is perfectly poised to lead a new era of mobility. Guy Fraker explains how…and why

Moving continents

30-35_TH_0214_NA_Fraker.indd 30 29/06/2014 20:35


EU insurance

“As capabilities emerged, and stakeholders responded, the dollars invested by government have also grown and become more focused”

For nearly a decade, the United States, EU and Japan have been collaborating to accelerate the development and deployment of advanced vehicle technologies. In

very general terms, this effort took on the classic structure of an innovation funnel, with the early years seeing investments being spread across a very broad horizon of capabilities.

For example, this list would include intersection sensors, intersection enforcement cameras, vehicle-based sensors, connected vehicle technologies, autonomous driving capa-bilities, hydrogen fuel cells, electric drive trains, new mate-rials and telematics technologies. Figure 1, as an illustrative example, charts the US government spending since 2008 dedicated to advances in vehicle tech, and shifts in consumer use of mobility models such as car sharing and bike sharing.

Along the way, the myriad of issues created a tremen-dous fog from which regulatory bodies would have to first create, then define clarity. Among the most difficult of tasks would be just prioritizing the issues. As capabilities emerged, consumers, regulators, auto manufacturers, Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers have engaged in a global dialogue about accept-ance, privacy, liability, reliability, security, cost, timelines, etc. This somewhat chaotic conversation is now practical, given the ubiquitous nature of our connectivity, albeit taking place largely out in the “ether” of the worldwide web.

Since 2008, certain issues have risen to the top, particu-larly in the United States and across the EU. Goals have been clarified and priorities for legislation and regulatory research seem to be taking form. All the while the simultaneous growth in technological capabilities matched by collapsing cost per unit of capability continues to create pace in this societal shift known as personal mobility.

As capabilities emerged, and stakeholders responded, the dollars invested by government have also grown, and become

more focused. Specific capabilities emerged as “funded” pri-orities such as electric vehicle battery science and manufac-turing, active (autonomous) driving safety, pedestrian safety and connected vehicles. A 2010 report to the President from The President’s Technology Investment Council labeled robotic control systems in vehicles as one the top national security priorities given the potential impact of eliminating accidents on dependencies of foreign oil. This background information can be found via countless white papers, budg-ets, trend analysis and demographic research documents. Again, in general terms, this information represents a syn-opsis from six years of direct involvement. As priorities have emerged, and evolved, in the various jurisdictions for new models of mobility, each must face an inevitable philosophi-cal and economic “fork” in the road over the question of efficacy. Specifically, with respect to connected vehicle tech-nologies, and even more so with autonomous vehicles, very fundamental questions rise to the top requiring answers.• How great is the liability risk exposure from relying on

technology, to operate a machine that has been opera-tional exclusively at the hands of a human driver since the invention of the machine?

• How will that risk, and liability, be allocated?• How much risk is reasonable, sustainable?

MARKET FORCESHistorically, first in Europe, later in the United States, answers to these questions in the past have resulted in solutions pri-marily comprised of both of private sector enterprises (the insurance industry) and regulatory bodies. As the second largest insurance market in the world, the United States insurance industry has grown to a US$7.3trillion industry when measured by total assets, combining Property and

Figure 1: U.S. DOT, DOE, NSF budgets for vehicle tech Figure 2: Global distribution of insurance premiums

30-35_TH_0214_NA_Fraker.indd 31 29/06/2014 20:35



Casualty with Life and Health. The largest insurance market globally is of course the EU, holding approximately 33 per cent of the total premium revenue stream. See Figure 2.

This enormous economic sector is regulated in the United States by the 50 individual state jurisdictions, each with an Insurance Commissioner. Some of these are elected, while others are appointed, again based on the procedures estab-lished by each state. Each Department of Insurance partici-pates in a national coordinating body known as the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

In a 2013 report produced by KPMG, the EU insur-ance regulatory system is overseen by Solvency II and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA). Another entity exists, that both US and EU regula-tors support, namely the International Association of Insur-ance Supervisors (IAIS). In short, the US system is quite mature and as KPMG described, “robust”. While the EU bodies are still described as “works in progress”, the goal is a more holistic approach designed to harmonize regulation across boarders. How does any of this relate to autonomous vehicles? The implications are actually quite significant. The relationship of insurance regulation to the overall transpor-tation goals set forth by each jurisdiction, with respect to autonomous control systems and connected vehicle capabili-ties, is setting the pace for slower deployment in the US.

For an auto insurer to consider making a change in their core revenue stream because a new vehicle technology is coming to market, a multitude of factors has to be consid-ered. In grossly oversimplified terms, among these consid-erations, the companies must assess the cost of being wrong

against the cost of “owning” the liability. First, consider this phrase, “the cost of being wrong”.

When Volvo first unveiled the XC60 and XC90 vehicle models, with the groundbreaking CitySafeTM active safety systems, global insurance leader Zurich announced a 20 per cent discount on their motor insurance premiums for those vehicles. This announcement was the first of its kind, given the largely unknown real world efficacy of the technology and was applicable only in Europe, and not in the US. Why?

KPMG describes the relatively greater degree of discretion among each of the 50 Commissioners in the US contrasted to the EU’s “more rules-based prescriptive approach, with quantitative and qualitative checkpoints.” In other words, the EU approach is to rely on clearly defined rules with a very specific focus on maintaining solvency – ie, more consistent rules of operation, which translates into significantly greater degree of flexibility when setting rates. If the technology doesn’t perform as advertised, the ability to correct the pre-miums for the actual experience is far greater in the EU than in the US where the industry faces approval by 50 individual regulatory bodies. Consumers tend to pay more attention to rate increases than decreases, which can translate into a re-election problem for several of the US Commissioners.

The cost of “owning” the liability only magnifies the risk aversion in the US auto insurance industry. See Figure 3 from a 2013 report prepared for the US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform on the relative cost of liability and litiga-tion, by NERA Economic Consulting. Note in particular the quote called out in the box below. These figures clearly show how “being wrong” can become a genuine drain on capital

“The relationship of insurance regulation to the overall transportation goals set forth by each jurisdiction is setting the pace for slower deployment in the US”

Figure 3: Liability Costs Per Country as a Percent of GDP

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fairly quickly for a US auto insurer, who may not be able to realize corrective steps for years following the initiation of the filing process.

US insurance executives routinely articulate both the need for innovation in the core product suite, and the sound logic behind the lack of innovation given a regulatory system that can require years of effort and millions in legal fees both to put a new product in market, then fix that product if needed.

A DEGREE OF TRANSPARENCYThe European model actually seems to encourage innova-tion in motor insurance. Finally, the EU Transportation Commission is remarkably clear when articulating both goals and progress compared to the US. Figure 4 is a col-lection of data points pulled from an infographic published by the European Transportation Commission. For any trans-portation-related stakeholder in the EU, the messages and goals are concise, bold, and clear.

In the practice of disruptive technological adoption, these are the key elements needed to create a shared sense of own-ership among the stakeholders, including the insurance industry. The goals, and the progress, may appear aspira-tional. In the context of vehicle technologies as we have expe-rienced these past 100+ years, such goals would seem fairly

lofty. However, in the context of those technologies already being deployed by auto manufacturers, and supported by pioneering insurers such as Zurich, these may turn out to be rather conservative.

When a more innovative ecosystem is also supported by the key regulatory entities as well, then exponential results can be, and certainly have been, achieved. The results speak for themselves. Consider for example the safety goals and statistics declared by both the US and the EU Transporta-tion Commission. The USDOT has not formally put forth a goal for accident decline. In recent mission statements and technology forecasting, figures have been articulated as “pos-sible”, “probable” but not as goals.

The US roadway fatalities have declined from by nearly 30 per cent, or 15,000 from the peak of 1980, or over a period of 34 years. The EU has experienced a decline in fatal crashes totaling approximately 28,000, exceeding 50 per cent, since

Figure 5: Roadway Fatalities in the U.S. and EU

Figure 4: Infographic From the EU Transportation Commission Update

30-35_TH_0214_NA_Fraker.indd 34 29/06/2014 20:36


EU insurance

“The USDOT has not formally put forth a goal for accident decline. In recent mission statements and technology forecasting, figures have been articulated as “possible”, “probable” but not as goals”

a peak in 2001. See the comparative graphs in Figure 5. This remarkable result, along with the annual goal of 8 per cent cannot be attributed exclusively to a more adaptive, proactive insurance regulatory environment. However, this is a shining example of what can be accomplished when both private and public stakeholders can embrace aspirational goals, and cre-ate the environment for success.

Connected Vehicle technologies and Autonomous Vehicle technologies are expected to prevent 80 per cent to 90 per cent of all accidents by some point in the future. The liability and Tort system in the US has thus far indicated a focus more on the 10 per cent to 20 per cent that cannot be prevented due to a risk aversion that has evolved over time, and is rein-forced by an inflexible and expensive regulatory ecosystem.

The EU appears to be more focused on the 80 per cent to 90 per cent of preventable crash incidents and has articu-lated clearly defined and credible goals, leveraging a risk

management (liability management) ecosystem to reinforce achieving those goals. The new era of mobility will bring unprecedented opportunities in the form of jobs, STEM educational priorities, artificial intelligence, robotics, net-working, data, providing the necessary leadership to resolve specific global grand challenges. In the context of relying upon the rule of law to rationally manage liability exposures, the EU appears to be in that leadership position, welcoming the future of transportation innovation.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Guy Fraker is CEO, get2kno, Inc; CLO of

AutonomouStuff, LLC; and President – AUVSI: Heartland Chapter

[email protected]@gmail.com

30-35_TH_0214_NA_Fraker.indd 35 29/06/2014 20:36


OPINION PIECE Big Data

Until now the development and evolvement of Intelligent Transportation Systems has been thwarted by the limitations of the data currently available. But, says Tip Franklin, this is no longer the case…

The Big Data transition

All too often ITS has been more about simply collect-ing all available data without really understanding how best to process and use the data that is available,

and therefore how to transition raw data to information and then onto actionable intelligence. Instead, we are thwarted by our own inability to understand the data that is available and simply do not understand systems and processes well enough to be able to process the raw data and the quantity of raw data that is actually available. As a result our focus has been on the mantra of “We just don’t have all of the data required to effectively operate and manage the surface trans-portation networks”. But in the world of “Big Data” this is no longer true.

DISCUSSIONAs an underpinning to the following I would postulate that there is a continuum which establishes the utilization of data in any decision process. Data, once collected, becomes Information; Information, once processed, becomes Intel-ligence; Intelligence, once distributed, becomes Actionable. This is the Data Processing Stream (DPS). NOTE: for clarity throughout the rest of this paper the term “data” may be used regardless of the stage along the continuum under discussion

Each of these general descriptors – data, informa-tion, intelligence, actionable – has a set of characteristics, attributes and parameters that must be applied. For example, the parameters for data require that it be accurate, timely and above all, complete. If a bit of data does not meet these crite-ria singularly and in composite, the entire ensuing flow along the continuum becomes suspect.

As can be imagined the attribute of “accurate” is “not” con-stant throughout the process, but is an attribute of “timely”, or of “how” the data is to be used, and as we transition into this big data world, this data may acutely alter.

It is the steps at each of these transition points that we have to solidify. At each point along this DPS process we have to identify potential sources, the appropriate filters, the necessary processing (which could include transmission to another DPS) and storage requirements. Plus we are going to have to establish a set of priorities for collection, transmis-sion, processing, analysis, distribution and storage.

To date there has been a little, but slowly increasing, flow of data between the major players in this space – the traffic managers, the transit properties and the tolling authorities.

That is now changing with the advent of integrated corridor management deployments that have brought freeway and arterial traffic managers together and joined them to the transit authorities within the corridor. Similarly, managed lanes have caused the tolling authorities and the traffic man-agement community to work together.

The data we have had in the past could best be categorized as historic or real-time (which for a long time was consid-ered to be the Holy Grail), yet the emergence of new data sources must force us to reassess how best to use the data that is becoming increasing available in ever-increasing amounts. The emergence of the Connected Vehicle as an example, will

36-39_TH_0214_NA_Franklin.indd 36 29/06/2014 20:36


Big Data

revolutionize the amount of raw data that is available, the data, as with all data sources will need careful analysis, need to be run through algorithms tuned to a specific location, and ultimately could provide a level of accuracy until now only dreamt of. The latest estimate is that the full deploy-ment of the Connected Vehicle will generate 11.1 Petabytes (equivalent to 1m GB) of data points by 2020.

Given the current state of the industry in which all of the data we currently have is neither fully understood nor partic-ularly well utilized, how will DOTs respond to data sources which will ultimately provide 100s of times more raw data than ever previously received?

In order to understand and address this increase in data availability and successfully make transition from data to information we must:1. Better understand the data sources.2. Understand data limitations.3. Understand data gaps.4. Understand how data gaps can be filled to provide

smoothed data.5. Deliver automated pre-processing systems that convert in

real time.

In order to use information as actionable intelligence we must:1. Better integrate data from multiple data sources.2. Have the ability to (both automatically and manually)

remove or add additional data sets to complete an other-wise incomplete picture.

3. Better visualize data, including data from disparate data sources.

4. Provide automated updates to TMC Operators and Man-agers.

We are going to be very data rich – but we are simply not ready! We have no filters; we have no integration schema; we have no method of prioritizing this onrush of data to make it usable in a timely and efficient manner.

Some of the questions that must be addressed:• How will you use data?• How will you process, store and distribute it?• What will be your litmus test as to viability, usability and

credibility?• How do you identify and control your sources?• How will you process visual and aural data (ie CCTV,

machine vision and telephonic reports?• How will you prioritize establishment, restoration and

maintenance of data sources?• How will you prioritize the flow of data through the vari-

ous communication media?• What is the evaluation process for inclusion/exclusion of

sources?• Who else can use your data; how do you get it to them and

in what form (raw or processed); and what is the timeline

“If a bit of data does not meet these criteria singularly and in composite, the entire ensuing flow along the continuum becomes suspect”



OPINION PIECE Big Data

to provide it?• What are the external sources of data that could be useful

to you?• What is the filter process for identifying the correct data to

store for planning processes?• What changes, if any, need to be made within your person-

nel organization and individual attributes (skills, knowl-edge and abilities –SKA) to be able to handle this?

These are just some of the litany of questions and consid-erations we are going to face as we move into this “Big Data” realm.

WHAT WE DO WITH WHAT WE’VE GOTIt should be established now that “data” is really not the issue. It is what we do with it, how we process it and how it is integrated into the operations, management and plan-ning activities that we must address.

How best to accommodate the onrush of Big Data? From a simplistic perspective this is done by addressing the four Ps – Planning, Policy, Procedure and Process.

Planning is actually the first and yet the most constant of the Ps. You must have a plan for the implementation and you must have a plan for the actual Big Data sup-ported operation; the components of these two plans are the other three Ps.

“Policy” considerations are driven by jurisdictional liabil-ity concerns, mutual aid agreements and regional alignments as well as any factor that might impact the legal and fiscal aspects of the subject entity. It should drive the constraints within which the system is to operate. It may also dictate from and to which agencies data flow is to occur.

“Process” aspects address how the data is to be received, processed, aggregated, stored and distributed; it addresses more of the communication network, computing equip-ment, personnel and facility considerations while “Proce-dure” addresses how the data is to be utilized to accomplish the assigned task.

As can be expected, planning for the implementation and utilization of Big Data is iterative and continuing. Develop-ment of the implementation plan will entail a review and analysis of currently available data and will establish the base case plan to be implemented on Day One of opera-tion. Additionally, a significant element of this plan has to

address the policy aspects of how the system will grow,

flex, expand and adapt to new and varying sources of data. If this system review meth-odology is not estab-lished as part of the

initial planning there is a significant risk that the

resulting system will not have the necessary breadth

and depth of life cycle manage-ment to ensure a long and productive life cycle of the supported system.

The operational plan must build on this base case and constantly review all aspects of the supported decision support system – people, procedures,

HW/SW/Communication networks, facilities and decision aids – to, for example, establish new training requirements, facility modifications, equipment mod-

ifications/upgrades/eliminations and the need to implement or modify the processes currently

in use. In short, the operational plan is a roll-ing plan that always looks forward to ensure the fiscal and human resource requirements are programmed in a sequence that opti-

mizes the system performance while mini-mizing unexpected perturbations.

SUMMARYThe onset of Big Data will bring quantum leaps in the data available to feed the decision support systems attendant to the successful operation of the surface transportation net-work. It will entail significant thought as to how best to tran-sition from today’s “paucity of data” to tomorrow’s “glut of data”. Developing a clear understanding of how data is col-lected, how it is to be processed and distributed and what decision process needs it will support are at the core of devel-oping a path forward. Now is the time to start.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Tip Franklin is Senior Advisor, Transportation at

Schneider Electric’s Smart Infrastructure division, based in Lakeland, Florida

[email protected]

“Development of the implementation plan will entail a review and analysis of currently available data and will establish the base case plan to be implemented on Day One of operation”

Reinventing Transportation in our Connected WorldSeptember 7-11 | Detroit, Michigan

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Co-hosts:

Join the 10,000 international transportation professionals who will gather in Detroit, Michigan this September for the 2014 World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). These industry leaders will converge on America’s Motor City with the goal of bringing greater levels of safety, efficiency, sustainability, and connectivity to transportation systems worldwide. The 2014 ITS World Congress boasts keynote addresses from industry titans at Ford, General Motors, HNTB, and Verizon; interactive technology showcases with 30 live demonstrations on Michigan’s Belle Isle; more than 250 programmatic panels, roundtables, and interactive sessions; a 300,000 square-foot exhibit area in the newly refurbished Cobo Hall; as well as numerous networking events with the who’s who in ITS. Don’t miss this opportunity to join the discussion as we begin “Reinventing Transportation in our Connected World.”

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Reinventing Transportation in our Connected WorldSeptember 7-11 | Detroit, Michigan

Produced by:

Co-hosts:

Join the 10,000 international transportation professionals who will gather in Detroit, Michigan this September for the 2014 World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). These industry leaders will converge on America’s Motor City with the goal of bringing greater levels of safety, efficiency, sustainability, and connectivity to transportation systems worldwide. The 2014 ITS World Congress boasts keynote addresses from industry titans at Ford, General Motors, HNTB, and Verizon; interactive technology showcases with 30 live demonstrations on Michigan’s Belle Isle; more than 250 programmatic panels, roundtables, and interactive sessions; a 300,000 square-foot exhibit area in the newly refurbished Cobo Hall; as well as numerous networking events with the who’s who in ITS. Don’t miss this opportunity to join the discussion as we begin “Reinventing Transportation in our Connected World.”

www.itsworldcongress.org | #ITSWC14

Sponsors:

Full Registration Rates Nonmembers $1700

Members $1540

U.S. Public Sector $1000

Michigan Public Sector $700

Exhibitions Only $225

*see website for complete list

Registration

Now Open!

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Y

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CMY

K

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TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT Innovation

Innovative approaches to get travelers to help manage transportation in metro corridors, assessed by Paul Minett

People have the power

Us travelers have been doing a lousy job in terms of our contribution to the successful management of the road system and a phenomenal job contributing

to over-subscribing it.Even though day in and day out we arrive to find the roads

full, we just keep on arriving. Some of us adjust our trip start times, starting earlier every year. Others of us do not adjust our trip start times, nor do we look to alternatives. Either way we grumble, but in the end accept the early starts or trips that take twice as long or more than they ought to take.

We do not catch the bus. We do not carpool or vanpool. We fail to recognize that the road just does not have enough space for all of us at the same time. We travel in hope.

Across the USA, in cities of over 50,000 people, for the trip to work, 90.4 per cent of road-based commuters travel as drivers. Only 9.6 per cent of us are traveling as passengers: about 3.5 per cent in buses and 6.1 per cent in car and van-pools (see Figure 1 ).

We set out each day in our private vehicle, generally 90% of us as drivers, being very rational even if people think we are not. Here is how we are rational:

1 We leave home according to our own schedule, a few minutes earlier or later than planned or on time, in a vehicle that is ready to go when we are;

2 As we leave home, we take with us the means of our return on similarly convenient terms;

3 As we leave home, we travel with hope in our souls. The hope is that today will be the day that there is magically less traffic than usual, that we will get a clear run, and arrive at our destination early, not stressed, and there will be a perfect parking space waiting for us. Hope is a pow-erful thing, and as long as we get that dream run every once in a while, we will keep on traveling in hope rather than changing what we do.

4 While the all-up cost of owning and operating a car does indeed work out to over 50 cents per mile, most of those costs are fixed costs on an annual basis, or over the life of the vehicle, so the added cost of driving to work on any given day is really very little.

Figure 1: Workers mode of

getting to work

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Innovation

“We hide behind the idea that this is all someone else’s responsibility: either the politicians or the engineers or both”

5 Our employers provide us with free parking, or allow us to pay for our parking with pre-tax dollars for a fixed monthly amount that is pretty reasonable. We would not get any savings in parking costs as a result of not driving some days.

6 When we consider taking transit we see: overcrowded buses or suspiciously empty ones; huge complexity of chained bus trips; high potential for missed connections; a huge risk of being stranded and unable to get home; and even if those things happen only rarely, they seem to hap-pen often enough to convince us to steer clear of them.

7 When we consider carpooling or vanpooling we see sim-ilar complexity and risk, as well as a potential straight-jacket that removes our flexibility to change our plans without worrying about other peoples’ needs.

Us travelers generally think that the best answer to traf-fic congestion is expanding the number of lanes or adding more public transport so there will be more room for all

of us. This might be because when transportation planners ask for our input they generally offer us two boxes: one says expand roads, the other says add public transport. We tick both boxes, and hope. We hope other people will take public transport so we can keep driving.

We hide behind the idea that this is all someone else’s responsibility: either the politicians or the engineers or both. Sure we spend an extra hour or more each day away from our loved ones, but it seems unavoidable.

But if we were to think deeply about these two choices what might come to mind is the old adage that the thinking that got us into this mess is not likely to be the thinking that gets us out of it.

What is the thinking that got us into this mess? Figure 2 shows vehicle speed compared with vehicle flow. This is a well-accepted picture in transportation: Vehicle flow

Figure 2:Speed vs vehicle flow

Key Point: The killer app that magically gets us to stop driving is pretty unlikely to come along.

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increases until demand reaches physical capacity, and as demand increases beyond physical capacity flow decreases. Note that this chart shows the flow of vehicles.

It does not show the flow of people and goods that are being carried in those vehicles.

Us travelers experience two different types of congestion, as highlighted in Figure 2: Type 1 Congestion that occurs between free-flow and the system just being full, where addi-tional vehicles might slow the traffic but the total throughput increases; and Type 2 where each additional vehicle causes the total throughput to decrease. Think of Type 1 Congestion as the delay you experience when you are third in line at the traffic light, and after the light turns green you wait about four seconds before you can start moving.

Those four seconds are a Type 1 congestion delay. Think of Type 2 congestion as the delay you experience when you are third in line, but after the light turns green the first and second cannot get through the intersection because the next block is full, and you are delayed a whole cycle. That whole cycle is a Type 2 congestion delay.

We do not generally notice Type 1 congestion, but we really dislike Type 2: fewer vehicles get through; the traffic is more unpredictable; we have to allow more and more time to reach our destinations; there is a greater probability of fender-benders that cause even greater delay; we use energy and create tail-pipe emissions while going nowhere; and it is also now emerging that there are bad health outcomes caused by sitting in traffic. The key point to understand about Type 1 and Type 2 congestion is that Type 1 occurs within the design capacity of the road, while Type 2 is caused

by how we travelers use the road. While we are individually rational, collectively we create a mess by not using the road within its capacity.

When there was plenty of space to expand roads, and the Highway Trust Fund was healthy, the simple solution to Type 2 Congestion was to expand the physical capacity of the roads. Now that both those conditions have changed, the solution to Type 2 congestion is no longer an engineer-ing matter. It has been at least two decades since conditions changed, but as community we persist in turning to trans-portation engineers and politicians to fix the problem. While Transportation planners and politicians develop ever-more expensive solutions, they don’t do enough to discourage us from continuing to use the roads in the same way we did when there was ample capacity.

Here are some suggestions for ways to get us travelers to participate more in efforts to manage corridors. We assume the goal is to get all travelers and freight to our destinations, at the time we want to get there, without wasting time in Type 2 Congestion.

1 The first job would be to calculate the capacity of the road in logical segments (that us travelers can understand) and to develop a way of measuring what percentage of capac-ity is being used at any point in time.

2 The second job would be to set a target for managing that capacity. Some allocation should be made for freight and services. The target should be to eliminate Type 2 Con-gestion, with an added margin to ensure there is always

Figure 3:Making passengers visible

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Innovation

room for some variability in volumes without tipping into Type 2. As a suggestion: consider 85 per cent of vehi-cle capacity as the optimal target.

3 The third job would be to use this information to deter-mine the amount of reduction in vehicle counts required on a time slice basis, to get traffic down to that target level on a route-by-route basis within each time slice.

4 Given there are hundreds of empty car seats for every empty public transport seat, the first place we would turn for help would be to the people driving cars with empty seats. The fourth job would be to work with these people to understand what is needed for them to:

a) Increase the rate at which they choose to be passengers; and

b) Increase the rate at which they offer rides to other people

Each person who switches to being a passenger instead of driving reduces the probability of Type 2 Congestion occur-ring. People who are prepared to switch are therefore the most valuable people on the system, and they should be treated very well, because if they switch it makes the traffic better for all of us: freight and services included. For example, if all current drivers left their car at home one day per week, there would be a 20 per cent reduction in traffic volumes, and likely, for a short time at least, a 100 per cent reduction in (ie elimination of) Type 2 Congestion. The goal would be to manage not only the demand, but the latent demand as well, so that the reduction in Type 2 Congestion is sustained.

A logical approach would be to get the community of users (that is us travelers and the freight and services people) to assume some responsibility for achieving the target. Travel-

lers are not usually engaged in this way, except during bus strikes and Carmageddon1!

While figuring out how to get us drivers to help achieve the target, there are several things managers of the transpor-tation system could do to encourage people to become pas-sengers more of the time. For example:

Policy Changes or Clarification1 Charge us daily for employment-location parking. Sure,

no one really wants to have to pay, but we know this will make us think more about the options. To make sure it is fair, require our employers to pay us cash-out for parking at fair value, and charge us for parking at a market rate on the days that we use it.

2 Make it clear that if we give people rides on our way to work, and they give us some money, it is not going to be taxable income or mess up our insurance cover.

Recognition and Reward3 Recognize us for being good citizens when we travel as a

passenger – whether on a bus or in a car or van – put us in prize draws or pay us or give us other benefits (perhaps points we can use to make parking tickets go away, or to use the bike-share system).

4 Integrate the fare-paying mechanisms, including any amount we pay as passengers in carpools or vanpools, so that we get the same transfer benefits as people who transfer bus to/from bus, or bus to/from train, and put these all into a single payment media.

5 When we travel as passengers, provide a back-up system that makes it easy for us to get home in an emergency – either transit, or vouchers for a taxi, or both.

6 Support testing of new ways to make passengers visible, especially automatic mechanisms that require no action by the participants, and explore mechanisms for reward-ing passengers based on this data. See Figure 3 for one idea for doing this.

NOTE1 Improvement work for the freeways in Los Angeles in 2011 and 2012 was expected to cause chaos, dubbed ‘Carmageddon’. Chaos did not occur.

“If all current drivers left their car at home once a week, there would be a 20 per cent reduction in traffic volumes a 100 per cent reduction in Type 2 Congestion”

Key Point: Solving Type 2 Congestion is not an engineering problem

Key Point: We are equally valuable whether in a carpool or a bus. You need to get over the scavenger issue.

Key Point: Turn first to capacity in cars. There is more of it and it costs much less.

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Key Point: the 90 per cent who drive are not well understood. Research is needed.

Make Alternatives Work Better7 Make it really easy for us to get around at the destination

without our cars – an inexpensive bike-sharing system, a low-cost car-sharing system, a very responsive taxi sys-tem, and really frequent transit or circulator buses – are all ways to achieve this; and present them all as choices on a single mobile app.

8 Make taxis much easier to get, easier to pay for, and less costly – review taxi regulations to remove caps on the number of taxis and the technologies they can use.

9 Expand park-and-ride wherever it makes sense, so that we can access either planned or casual carpools or van-pools or transit. Establish casual carpooling meeting-places to fill up the HOVs, and reward us with HOV3 lanes and priority HOV3 parking.

10 Support testing of new ways to form carpools, to make it easier for us to be passengers on a dynamic basis.

11 Support testing of new ways to get people to transit sta-tions – such as demand responsive shared shuttles or dedicated cycles and walking paths, or flexible carpool-ing solutions.

12 For the times we take transit, make sure the connections work so that we do not get stranded, or provide reliable back-up systems.

Communicate13 Communicate with us honestly and directly about what

we need to achieve: tell us how we did yesterday and today, and what we need to do to make tomorrow work. Don’t be afraid to ask us to help. Just be prepared to rec-ognize us in an appropriate way for the help we give.

CONCLUSIONTravellers jam up the roads, and this wastes time and energy, pollutes the atmosphere, damages our health and has other negative externalities. This paper puts forward the idea that travelers might help manage traffic demand in corridors if the goal was for getting everyone, freight included, to the destination on time while avoiding Type 2 Congestion, and if: travelers were appropriately understood; parking and tax-ation policy encouraged change; there was sufficient recog-nition and reward; the alternatives to driving worked better; and there was appropriate communication so we know what is going on.

The main points are that the goal should focus on getting people and freight through rather than vehicles; that the massive capacity of the empty seats in private cars should be the first port of call for changing total throughput; and that there is unlikely to be a solution that is a magic bullet that makes driving cars a less attractive option, so a more collabo-rative approach should be used.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Paul Minett is the Auckland, New Zealand-based chair

of the Ridesharing Institute, a US non-profit; chair of the Emerging Ridesharing Solutions Subcommittee of the TRB, and a founder of Raspberry Express, a carpooling solution based on meeting-places rather than databases.

[email protected]

http://www.ridesharinginstitute.org

“This paper puts forward the idea that travelers might help manage traffic demand in corridors if the goal was for getting everyone, freight included, to the destination on time”

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STATE CHAPTER FOCUS GRITS

The Gulf Region Intelligent Transportation Society (GRITS) has paved the way for numerous advances in ITS, supporting improved mobility, safety and sustainability. As the name implies, GRITS is an organization characterized by Southern tradition – from its members to the values that serve as the driving force behind the chapter’s achievements, as Laura Hartley describes

Trust works The GRITS philosophy is centered on relationships

and providing added value to members. The chapter provides the opportunity for those relationships to

be forged and strengthened. With each passing year mem-bership numbers have grown, and members are becoming more engaged. Chapter growth can be attributed to strong leadership and successful annual events, which are marked with a uniquely Southern flair. New projects, technologies and applications in each state have advanced as a result of the chapter’s initiatives. GRITS serves as an educational and advocacy group for ITS, reaching out to not only its current regional stakeholders, but the next generation of profes-sionals, policy makers, and neighboring chapters. And it all began as a casual discussion between two DOT ITS program managers, colleagues that held common values.

GRITS BEGINNINGSGRITS was founded in 2009 as a tri-state regional chapter of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA) inclusive of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Before its

Below: 2013 Annual Meeting – New Orleans Exhibit Hall

First GRITS Board Meeting LADOTD’s ITS Program Manager Steve Glascock and Chris Hilyer, ALDOT’s Operations Manager

2012 Meeting – ITS America’s Scott Belcher with Mississippi DOT’s Mike Stokes and Louisiana’s Jonathan Fox

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GRITS

“It all began as a casual discussion between two DOT ITS program managers, colleagues that held common values”

said Chris Hilyer, Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) Operations Manager.

With all three states committed, the board was finalized and the inaugural board meeting was held. Over 200 attend-ees were present for the 2009 event, deeming it a success for the chapter.

“The first annual GRITS meeting featured a sound tech-nical program, great food, fellowship, and of course South-ern hospitality,” said Stokes. “We’ve emphasized partnership building as the cornerstone. It’s how we launched GRITS and how we’ve continued for every GRITS event since.”

ANNUAL MEETINGS The annual meetings provide a wide array of educational opportunities and networking activities. The events serve to advance programs and projects as well as provide an opportu-nity for new relationships to be formed.

“If it weren’t for the formation of GRITS and the services provided through the annual meetings, the ALDOT ITS pro-gram simply wouldn’t be where it is today,” noted Hilyer. “I can pick up the phone and call any one of my GRITS col-leagues with an ITS question and within 30 minutes receive the answer I need. It is those relationships that are forged through GRITS that are invaluable.”

The annual meetings alternate between the three member states each year to provide equal opportunities for all involved while including more stakeholders across the region.

“It can be hard sometimes to get out-of-state travel approved,” said Glascock. “In having our annual meetings alternate between the states we ensure that folks that can’t get travel approved during these hard economic times can still participate.”

A testament to the success of the annual meetings can be seen in the number of attendees. The GRITS annual meet-ings draw upwards of 200 participants each year, and the number of attendees steadily increases.

“It is a little bit of a competition between the states to make each meeting better than the last, a healthy rivalry that is much like how we are about college football,” added Stokes. “It helps keep us energized, and allows each state a sense of ownership and pride in the successes each meeting brings.”

It is not only in the numbers that indicate the success of the meetings, but in the ITS advancements made.

“Alternating between the states not only allows us to pro-vide member value, but also allows us to learn about new ITS projects and programs that we can then use in our own projects,” commented Glascock.

Each annual meeting features a ITS State-of-the-State ses-sion to provide an opportunity for each of the state DOTs to

inception, Mike Stokes, Mississippi Department of Transpor-tation (MDOT) ITS Program Manager and Steve Glascock, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) ITS Program Manager began discussing the possibility of forming an ITS state chapter in 2008 following that year’s MDOT ITS Forum.

“We knew we wanted to start a chapter and so MDOT hosted the Forum to engage local stakeholders as well as bring in representatives from neighboring states to determine if enough interest was there,” said Stokes. “The response was overwhelmingly favorable that there needed to be some form of educational and advocacy group for ITS.”

Following the event, a steering committee was established, and the collaborative work to form the chapter officially began. The steering committee was responsible for setting the goals of the chapter along with its bylaws. A key compo-nent in the chapter’s formation was establishing the first slate of board members.

“Early on we knew we would need a champion in each state that would participate,” commented Steve Glascock. “We also wanted balanced representation from the public, private and academic sectors from each member state.”

With Mississippi and Louisiana on board, a steering com-mittee eagerly working to secure a diverse board, all that was left was an official response from Alabama. MDOT invited Alabama to attend the first official GRITS meeting, which was held in Biloxi, MS in 2009, hopeful that ALDOT would decide to participate in the joint chapter.

“It was at the 11th hour, around the time of the first GRITS meeting, I worked with our ITS committee and in recog-nizing the benefits, we enthusiastically responded ‘Yes!’,”

GRITS Regional Workshop in Spring 2012 at the University of Alabama – Students helping with registration

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STATE CHAPTER FOCUS GRITS

present on their latest ITS projects or programs. Interestingly enough, last year’s annual meeting featured one such project that exemplifies how the chapter’s partnership mentality has catapulted region-wide initiatives. Of recent and nota-ble mention are the recent efforts surrounding each state’s Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) software deployments. MDOT deployed its ATMS in 2013 and seeing the capabilities of the system, Louisiana and Alabama fol-lowed suit shortly afterwards.

“Having access to the lessons learned from other states has been a tremendous advantage to our own ATMS deploy-ment,” commented Glascock. “We were able to glean useful information and apply that to our deployment.”

SEAMLESS TRANSITIONThe ATMS deployment also highlights another initiative reflective of the how GRITS has enabled partnerships that advance ITS, the Mississippi River Bridges Incident Manage-ment, Freight Movement and Security Project. The project is being funded by 100 per cent federal funds awarded under the United States Department of Transportation’s TIGER III Grant. The grant application was a joint effort between MDOT, LADOTD, and Arkansas Highways and Transpor-tation Department (AHTD). The system also uses an ATMS system that is compatible and seamless between each state’s individual ATMS system.

“Knowing that both Louisiana and Mississippi were on the road to their own ATMS deployments we reached out to our ATMS software vendor. They agreed to provide private sec-tor partnership funds to support the project,” said Stokes.

Following project completion, slated for August of this year, the three states will collaboratively operate and manage the system. Additionally, the project includes the formation of a joint Traffic Incident Management (TIM) coalition to deploy unified, multi-disciplinary policies to improve incident management.

In addition to these initiatives each state has high hopes for future partnerships and information sharing opportuni-ties. GRITS has been a driving force in these advancements; not only in each member state’s individual ITS programs, but also in ITS programs that drive the region as a whole.

ACADEMIC AND LEGISLATIVE OUTREACHOver the last two years the chapter has been looking to engage students in ITS. Beyond the annual meetings GRITS has also hosted several regional workshops at Universities in each state to foster student participation.

“A core philosophy that has enabled this chapter to expe-rience unprecedented growth has been to initiate and work with the next generation of leaders through our Academic Committee and the 14 Universities that are spread across our three states,” said ALDOT’s Chris Hilyer.

The chapter holds two workshops a year that alternate between the states not hosting the year’s annual event. The topics of the workshop are chosen based on what is most relevant in the area. The location is also chosen to facilitate exchange between more locals that may not have an oppor-tunity to travel to the annual events.

“We wanted to make sure throughout the year the entire region felt engaged along with our students,” commented Stokes. “The workshops are geared to provide an economical alternative to those that can’t come to the annual meeting.”

GRITS is not only looking to the next generation, but actively engaging with state legislatures and policy makers to advance ITS initiatives.

“We are working with our private sector legislative com-mittee chairs in each state to more actively engage with leg-islators, provide educational opportunities, and ultimately advance ITS,” stated Hilyer.

LOOKING AHEAD – 2014 ITS 3C SUMMIT AND BEYONDToday the chapter is reaching beyond its borders to share its vision with others alongside neighbors in Georgia

Right: GRITS Membership Growth Award presented by ITS America

Above: Installing devices on a bridge; Above right: Natchez, MS river bridge – MSRITS project

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49North America Vol 9 No 2

GRITS

and Florida through the combined ITS 3C Summit that takes place 14-17 September in Mobile, AL. The meeting is estimated to draw over 700 attendees from across the United States.

“In the South, families live on a sense of core values and one of those is to always lend a hand to your neighbor,” said Hilyer.

In January 2012, the concept was born to partner with other neighboring ITS chapters to form a southeastern regional Intelligent Transportation Summit. GRITS engaged with leaders from ITS chapters in Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida to facilitate input and determine interest in hold-ing a joint event.

“We learned of some BP oil incentive funds that would be available for events held on the Gulf Coast in Mobile,” said Hilyer. “ So we reached out to our neighbors to pitch the con-cept. We also thought this would be a great way to engage with neighbors and provide enhanced learning opportuni-ties to our members. We also recognized that by combining chapter annual meetings we would provide an economic advantage to our vendors and sponsors.”

The decision was then made for the GRITS, ITS Georgia and ITS Florida chapters to host the joint event. A Planning Committee was established with volunteers from each of the chapters involved.

The meeting’s theme of “Combined Intelligence – Work-ing Together for Smarter Transportation” is indicative of GRITS. The chapter embodies the credo by focusing on rela-tionships, partnerships, added member value and of course “combined intelligence”.

“In the South trust and confidence is established through years of relationship building,” commented Hilyer. “GRITS provides opportunities to build these through the Summit and other activities; providing added member value for the advancement of ITS, transportation safety, mobility and sustainability.”

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Laura Hartley is an Associate Transportation

Engineer at Gresham, Smith & Partners in Jackson, Mississippi

[email protected]

www.its3csummit.com

“We’ve emphasized partnership building as the cornerstone. It’s how we launched GRITS and how we’ve continued for every GRITS event since”

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thinkinghighways.com Vol 9 No 2 North America

INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS Connected camping

ONLINE BONUS CONTENT

How ITS can connect camping and recreation parks to the outside world and, therefore, safety – by Bruce Abernethy

Parks and recreation

Camping and Recreation Parks (CRP) are popular des-tinations for travelers. Many require reservations for camping locations, which may include camper hook-

up or tent erection areas so safety is a major concern. Past news reports includes loss of life due to flash-flooding, unpre-dicted severe storms, forest fires and mudslides. Accidents can also occur from falls during hiking, swimming, burns from campfires and even attacks from wild animals. Visitor safety requires the ability of emergency services to detect and assess risk of harm to visitors as well as the ability to communicate advisory and warning information to visitors.

Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technology can support both the management of camping and recreation parks as well as safety related to visitors to the parks. The emergency of connected vehicles and highway technology will facilitate distributing information to visitors as they approach the park area as well as when they are in the park area. In addition, emphasis is now being placed on closer integration of weather assessment and reporting by ITS cent-ers. Thus in the future, improved assessment of park weather conditions and risk assessment will be possible.

NEEDS MUSTThe needs of a CRP include:• Sensors to support information collection related to

assessing safety risk. This includes:o Localized weather sensors including flooding condi-

tions in CRP streams (water depth, rise versus time and flow velocity), dense fog inhibiting visibility; and high winds which would place tents and trailers in danger;

o Localized fuel moisture content complementing weather sensors (wind direction/velocity, temperature, and humidity) supporting fire danger assessment and restrictions on open camp fires;

o Soil conditions supporting mud slides; o Snow avalanche and rock fall;o Presence of “out of control” fires (smoke and heat

detection sensors);• Surveillance sensors around safety risk areas (such as

swimming areas in a river or lake and rock climbing areas) that support detection of an accident and assessment of emergency needs;

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Connected camping


“Early assessment of risk and rapid CRP visitors warning is a requirement for minimizing injuries and loss of life within CRPs”

• Sensors to support park access control, traffic, vehicle parking and camping site management;

• Ability to communicate with mobile visitors (in vehicles, on bicycles and walking);

• Integration of traffic, weather, parks management, and emergency information supporting safety risk and resources management;

Early assessment of risk and rapid CRP visitors warning is a requirement for minimizing injuries and loss of life within CRPs.

In addition to natural disasters in CRPs, there is also the potential for assaults and robberies.

While campers are away from their vehicles and tents, their property is unprotected. Thus a further need is security surveillance and the ability to identify vehicles entering and leaving the park area.

Vehicles with DSRCs support this via their basic safety measure and communications security. Video detection with license plate readers can support detection and identification of vehicle not equipped with DSRCs.

GOING MOBILEDSRC will connect vehicles to roadside equipment associ-ated with the CRPs. RSE along the main corridor can provide the announcement of the upcoming CRP area. It can further provide information on:• CRP open or closed (due to safety conditions and/or

maintenance activity) status;• MAP of the CRP access;• Available parking and/or camping sites;• Entry restrictions (size of vehicles, fire arms, etc.);• Entry requirements (reservations if required and fees for

use);

At the entrance of the CRP, an RSE may be used to:• Control access,• Collect park use fee;• Provide a detailed park MAP that is used by the OBE VAD

to guide the driver to assigned parking and/or camping site;

• Provide a log of vehicle ID, and park entrance/exit for security;

Figure 1. SMART Camping and Recreation Park Supported by ITS Technology

thinkinghighways.com Vol 9 No 2 North America

INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS Connected camping


• Provide weather information to the visitor;• Identify services and location provided within the park

area;

In addition to the DSRC network, a Wi-Fi wireless network may be set up in the CRP area with access points providing coverage. Technology standard would be compatible with that integrated into smartphones. The Wi-FI link would be used to:• Provide safety alerts and warnings to visitors including:

o Weather Alerts and Warnings;o Fire Danger Warnings and associated fire restrictions;o Park evacuation;o Closed areas due to hazards (such as rock climbing,

swimming area, or hiking trail with sighted, potentially harmful animal such as a bear or cougar);

• Provide a means of communications an emergency need request to park rangers and emergency services via the ITS network and receiving instructions while emergency serv-ices are responding to the emergency notification.

As the visitor’s vehicle exits the CRP, the park area CRP can provide the driver with corridor traffic conditions, roadway-related weather and exit instructions. The exit event of the vehicle would also be logged. Should a criminal event occur,

the RSE can also be used to shut down access and exit cor-ridor, supporting emergency services investigation of the incident. Because many of the CRPs are in rural areas, the park ITS subsystem mar use an LTE wireless network to link it back to a regional ITS center and the nearest emergency operations center.

ARCHITECTUREFigure 1 illustrates a CRP Area with DSRC used to support information to travelers. Figure 2 illustrates the CRP ITS subsystem linking sensors to the local processor that man-ages the safety and resources within the park and links it to regional management and emergency response.

As shown in Figure 3, Wi-Fi access points within the park area allow the system to communicate with visi-tors (not requiring utilization of cellular service time and associated fees) providing rapid dissemination of safety-related information and a means of quickly requesting emergency assistance.

SUMMARYDSRC combined with low cost Wi-Fi technology can provide a critical link between the CRP infrastructure and support-ing safety applications. There is always a tradeoff between safety and privacy. In the past multiple visitors have lost their

Figure 2. Multiple Sensors and Communications Technologies Supports Visitor Safety at the SMART Park

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Connected camping


lives because of unpredicted weather activity combined with the inability to communicate in a remote area. Perhaps peace of mine to allow the enjoyment of the CRP recreational acti-vates and knowledge that rapid response to an emergency is available is a good compromise between privacy and safety.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Bruce Abernethy is Principal of Vector Alpha Systems

International (VASI) based in Allen, Texas

[email protected]

Figure 3. Wireless Communications supports Mobility within the Camping and Recreation Park Area

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SHOW PREVIEW ITS World Congress 2014

Coming home: Motor City welcomes the world of ITS

From 7–11 September, for the first time in its history, the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Sys-tems comes to the home of America’s auto industry:

Detroit, Michigan. The ITS World Congress only occurs in the Americas

once every three years so it’s quite an honor to host 10,000 of the world’s high tech transportation leaders as they gather to discuss and showcase the technologies that are driving the future of transportation. But while it’s an honor to be sure, in some ways, it’s overdue.

Some 101 years after Henry Ford developed the Model-T production line, it seems entirely appropriate that Ameri-ca’s original Motor City is paving the way for the next itera-tion of the transportation industry. In fact, today Michigan

is home to 375 automotive research and development cent-ers, 120 of which are foreign-owned. With its renowned automotive manufacturing base, concentration of trans-portation companies, research institutions and deploying agencies, and cutting-edge R&D footprint, Michigan has an automotive infrastructure that is unmatched anywhere in the world and makes it the perfect backdrop for the ITS World Congress.

SHOWCASESitting at the largest freight border crossing in North Amer-ica, more than 25 per cent of all goods between the US and Canada come through Detroit and that number will soon increase. A new massive bridge will soon connect our two

The future of transportation to be showcased where it all began: the ITS World Congress heads to Detroit, as Jim Barbaresso explains

50-52_TH_0214_NA_Barbaresso.indd 50 29/06/2014 21:51


ITS World Congress 2014

“Michigan has an automotive infrastructure unmatched anywhere in the world and makes it the perfect backdrop for the ITS World Congress”

The newly -refurbished Cobo Center provides a spectacular venue for this world congress

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SHOW PREVIEW ITS World Congress 2014

nations featuring the latest Intelligent Transportation tech-nologies all designed to speed up the crossing while increas-ing traffic flow and protecting the border.

Attendees at the ITS World Congress will not only get to hear about the latest advances in transportation, they’ll get to see and experience them first hand. For the first time in Detroit convention history, our conference activities will extend to Belle Isle, a 900-acre state park in the middle of the Detroit River, to showcase and demonstrate driverless vehicles, connected vehicles and a host of other cutting edge transportation technologies.

The ITS World Congress will be based at Detroit’s newly refurbished Cobo Center. It’s a spectacular home for our event with 300,000 square feet of exhibition space, state-of-the-art meeting facilities and stunning views of downtown and the Detroit River.

Our speaker list represents a who’s who of transportation technology titans including Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman Bill Ford, Verizon Chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam, and Robert Slimp, CEO of HNTB Infrastructure.

We’ll also draw the world’s leading transportation policy-makers, researchers, high-tech innovators, and business pro-fessionals from more than 65 countries to share the latest ITS applications from around the globe. We’re planning a youth showcase to highlight the next generation of ITS talent and investor matching opportunities for high-tech transporta-

tion startups that will shape our industry and pave the way to smarter cities around the world.

The exhibition hall will literally be transformed into a transportation hub where attendees will see “behind the cur-tain” and experience live, multimodal transportation opera-tions in real-time at our working replica of the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Southeast Michigan Traffic Operations Center. In addition, the World Congress will fea-ture more than 250 panels, roundtables, and interactive town hall sessions, and numerous networking and media events.

It’s a special moment in and for Detroit. We’re reinventing Southeast Michigan as a global center for Intelligent Transpor-tation and when you come to the ITS World Congress, you’ll have the opportunity to witness that transformation and par-ticipate in it, first-hand. We hope to see you in Detroit.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Jim Barbaresso is Organizing Committee Chairman

for the 2014 ITS World Congress. A long-time Michigan transportation leader, he is also Vice President of Intelligent Transportation for HNTB Corporation

You can learn more about the 2014 ITS World Congress by visiting: www.itsworldcongress.org

The Preliminary Program is now available and registration is open

“We’re reinventing Southeast Michigan as a global center for Intelligent Transportation”



Shows within shows…

It’s always nice to see the audience fig-ures for Thinking Aloud, the Thinking Highways podcast, and how many

people enjoy listening to our on-demand radio programmes from various major ITS events around the world.

But when we were at Intertraffic in Amsterdam I actually had an audi-ence whilst I was making a programme, because I was putting the whole thing together whilst seated at the Thinking Highways stand.

One of the beauties of modern tech-nology is the ability to do things remotely that used to require specific equipment in a specific place. Aside from the fact we wouldn’t be able to easily disseminate the programme, 20 years or so ago we’d never have had the ability to build a 30-minute news programme from remote locations without transporting tape machines and tape, sound mixers, microphones and the various paraphernalia that went with creating radio programmes (including old fashioned tape-splicing razor blades which they might not let on the plane these days!).

Now, with some (fairly expensive) software, a decent audio recorder and the knowledge of what to do, we can create a programme from anywhere. That’s why I was able to sit at a desk in the middle of the world’s biggest traffic conference and create four episodes of Thinking Aloud.

It’s also why I’ve previously put these shows together in airport lounges, on aeroplanes themselves and even with my Macbook perched on an ironing board in the apartment we were renting during last year’s ITS Europe Congress in Dublin (the laundry room was the only place we had wifi, you understand).

Our “Live from” series highlight so far this year was at Intertraffic, where we

delivered a series of programmes inter-viewing some old and new contributors to the programme, learning about eve-rything from radar-based lighting con-trols to smart ANPR cameras which can determine the make, model and colour of a car as well as its license plate.

These programmes were sponsored by AGD Systems, Nicander, Swarco, Vitronic and WDM. And I’d like to espe-cially thank our sponsors for their ongo-ing support, without whom we simply wouldn’t have Thinking Aloud.

APPOINTMENT TO LISTENOur programmes are very popular with listeners because they bring an almost summary of what’s going on at the major shows. People watching me make the show in Amsterdam told me that they like to download it to their phones in the morning and listen to it en route to the event. When they get there they already have a feel for what’s worth see-ing, and more than one piece of business has been done thanks to people hearing about an new initiative and therefore heading straight to the relevant stand to find out more.

Sponsors do get their money’s worth from supporting the programmes. Although anyone with a story to tell can get on Thinking Aloud (we don’t charge you to be a part of the programme), we will always include interviews with our sponsors. They get a radio-style advert in each programme, three sponsor credits, logos and links on our website and on emails to the thousands of people on the Thinking Highways database (and some-times the event’s database too) and also in the magazine. Like in this article, for example! As well as Amsterdam, we’ve been in Athens for ASECAP’s Study

and Information Days (with thanks to DBA Lab), and also in Leipzig for an International Transport Forum side-event brought to you by the PTV Group that I moderated and recorded at the same time.

Listeners got to hear four of Europe’s leading experts on logistics debate how the logistics sector fits into governmental planning in cities. The session itself was about an hour and a quarter long, so we split it into two programmes, edited out gaps and produced two half-hour pod-casts which are well worth a listen, if I say so myself.

FINNISH LINEKevin Borras, Jason Barnes and Julia Nelepa covered the ITS Europe Congress in Helsinki (another handy use of tech-nology is that I can edit the files even if I’m not at the event) and then in September we’re planning our major roadshow of the year – first the World Congress in Detroit (which you can hear about on one our Helsinki bonus show), then onto the ITS3C Summit in Mobile, Alabama and the IBTTA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. We look forward to seeing you there, and if enough people watch me doing the production, we may even get a round of applause.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Paul Hutton is the head of H3B Media’s Broadcast Services Division

[email protected]

thinkinghighways.com/podcaststhinkinglaooudpodcast.com

For more information about sponsorship opportunities for Thinking Aloud, email Paul at [email protected]

H3B MEDIA BROADCAST SERVICES Thinking Aloud podcasts

Paul Hutton looks back on another busy few weeks on the road for the Thinking Aloud production team Podcast LISTEN NOW AT

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53_TH_0214_NA_Podcast.indd 53 29/06/2014 21:53


ROAD SAFETY Tunnel safety

The social role of roads is undeniable. Roads service citizens by connecting people with hospitals, schools and workplaces. For this very reason, roads must be

not only efficient, but also safe. The IR2B Strategic Research Agenda highlights the impor-

tance of this topic and calls for innovation on road safety solu-tions and advanced road equipment. In particular, priority 47 of the IR2B Agenda proposes undertaking research and inno-vation efforts in the field of “fire-resistant road surfaces for high-risk areas”.

Tunnels represent one of the features of the road network where safety concerns become more important. Road tunnels hold unique characteristics and deserve special attention, even if accidents do not occur more often in tunnels than in other points of the road network. However, any serious incident involving them causes great social alarm, given 1) the actual difficulties posed to rescue or evacuation interventions, 2) the drama caused to drivers due to the closed configuration of a tunnel and 3) the serious disruption which may involve the temporary closure of a road, mainly when there are difficult or non-existent alternatives to detour traffic.

Some recent fires in European tunnels have stressed the need to adopt efficient measures in order to minimize risks for both people and the infrastructure itself, as shown in table 1.

In this context, materials and computer simulation become essential tools to develop innovative safety solutions to improve safety conditions in road tunnels.

PAVEMENT BEHAVIOUR IN CASE OF FIREDue to the high risk of fire, it is mandatory to ensure that all materials used during the construction stage of a tunnel provide the highest safety level. In this sense, the pavement of the carriageway represents an important part of the cross section in a road tunnel. The presence of combustible mate-rials in the pavement can result into significant distress in

case of fire, as they would contribute to increasing the fire load, emitting toxic fumes and destroying the structural properties of the referred element, therefore making evacua-tion operations more difficult.

Nonetheless, the main risk involved in the presence of a combustible material in pavements is the change induced in fire dynamics.

It must be noted that, when a temperature of 485ºC is reached, asphalt burns. Despite the fact that asphalt combus-tion generates a low amount of heat, the truth is that such heat is produced in the lower part of the vehicle, changing fire dynamics and speeding it up. This heat generation in the lower part of the tunnel makes the fire widespread and causes a sud-den and dramatic increase of power – see figure 1. Speeding up the fire brings then a significant increase of smoke, in addition to the fumes generated by the combustion of the pavement. As a result of this, once the pavement starts burning, conditions around the fire will worsen quickly, preventing firemen from working under safety conditions.

In case the power exceeds 50 MW, fire could also spread to other vehicles. This effect may trap firemen between two fires, since intervention teams have to be as close as 20 meters from the original fire, so as to put it out and new fires can be set behind them. Avoiding this sudden increase of power caused by the combustion of asphalt pavements is essential to guaran-tee the safety of fire fighters.

Last but not least, this combustion in the lower part of the

Hard factsCésar Bartolomé discusses the role of the concrete pavement in improving fire safety in road tunnels

Table 1: Summary of recent fires in European road tunnels

54-55_TH_0214_NA_IR2B.indd 54 29/06/2014 21:54


Tunnel safety

the 8% of total energy fire and it should not significantly worsen working conditions. However, the fact is that fire dynamics are often changing and emission rates drastically increase after the asphalt starts burning.

Figure 3 shows the difference between both types of com-bustion processes, depending on the type of pavement.

Concrete pavements (non-flammable), thanks to their inert behaviour, have the advantage of acting as heat accumulators, and their stability under high temperatures allow intervention teams to access the tunnel.

CONCLUSIONSThis author believes that the rules regulating in some European countries the use of concrete pavements in tun-nels whose length is over 500m (Austria) or 1000m (Spain) are therefore well-founded. The amount of fumes and heat released by burning asphalt surfaces is comparable to that produced by the combustion of a truck. The heat energy that asphalt surfaces may release, generated in the low part of the tunnel, can change the dynamics of the fire, leading to an increase of its intensity. Consequently, the fire could easily spread to other vehicles through the pavement. Additionally, the increase in firepower could mean that the design load of ventilation systems was exceeded, making the fire harder to fight and resulting in a higher risk for people and for the structure.

This unfortunate effect took place in some fires that occurred inside tunnels at the end of the 1990s in Austria, France and Italy, and they all resulted into tragedies. When fume extractors are insufficient to eliminate fire gases, heat accumulates inside the tunnel causing other vehicles to catch fire and larger asphalt surfaces to burn. The author’s proposal is that any element that contributes to make the situation worse should be eliminated or minimised.

In some extreme cases, the use of concrete pavements may be the key factor that allows keeping the amount of heat and gases below the standard design limits, so that the extraction system keeps working until the situation is under control.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| César Bartolomé is Director for Innovation

at the Spanish Institute for Cement and its Applications, IECA and Chairman of the “Smart & Green Road Construction and Operation” Programme at the International Road Research Board, IR2B

www.ir2b.org

This article is a summary of a wider study, elaborated by Spanish Technical Association of Firemen, which will be presented next September in the forthcoming 12th Symposium on Concrete Roads in Prague (23–26 September 2014)

Figure 1: Sudden increase of power due to a change in the fire dynamics

Figure 2: Fire power in different scenarios

Figure 3: Differences in fire progress

tunnel may cause the explosion of the wheels of heavy vehi-cles, an additional risk to firemen who are next to the fire. Besides, since asphalt is a thermoplastic material whose viscos-ity decreases with temperature, it becomes significantly softer at temperatures ranging between 150ºC and 180ºC, which are reached approximately 5 minutes after the beginning of the fire and at a distance of 45 meters from the origin of the fire. This distance is longer than the working distance of firemen and it makes their mobility inside the tunnel more complicated.

If asphalt contribution to fire were limited to the energy gen-erated by burning pavement, the power increment would be 4 MW, since the burning surface considered is 100 m2 and the unit power emission is 40 kW/m². This power would represent

54-55_TH_0214_NA_IR2B.indd 55 29/06/2014 21:54

Vol 9 No 2 North Americathinkinghighways.com56

THE VIEW Vision and Focus

The world of transportation is changing beyond recognition and we can’t keep looking to the past for inspiration

Shelley Row

My home state of Texas is in a record-breaking, five-year drought. Aquifers drain,

farm land cracks open, and cattle thirst. As a child we water-skied on Lake Travis. We knew to avoid the shallow area in the middle of the lake where “Sometimes Island” periodically appeared in a dry spell. Today, water levels are so low that Sometimes Island is a peninsula with trees. Boat ramps dangle in the dirt far from the water’s edge and with each dire weather forecast, my 83-year-old mother says, “It’ll rain. It always has.”

A nice thought, but the wisdom of the past is unlikely to hold true in this period of climate change…a fundamental remaking of the Texas climate. Likewise, we are in a period of fundamental remaking of transportation. As in Texas, the wisdom of our past is unlikely to hold true in the future.

We are – all of us – experts in some area of transportation. Perhaps it is traffic signal system design, vehicle telematics, transportation planning or management. Whatever our expertise, we developed it through education and experience. That’s a good thing. Isn’t it? The answer is: sometimes – but not all the time. To know the difference, let’s first look at how expertise develops.

Thanks to the recent advances in neuroscience, we know more than ever about how the brain works. Expertise is a habit that develops over time with repetition. Expertise creates pathways in your brain like the paths cattle create in the pastures as they walk each day to water or shade. Over time, with repetition, the cattle wear a trail into the earth. Your brain is

the same. Over time, with repetition, you create expertise pathways in your brain. The specific neurons “fire” together forging the pathway. The scientists say that “the neurons that fire together wire together.” Your expertise is literally wired into your brain.

When you encounter a familiar situation, your brain defaults to the easiest route through all those neurons – the pathway you created for your expertise. Decisions using your well-developed pathways are easy, simple and quick. They are fast, efficient and made with confidence. You hear phrases like: • “This is a no-brainer.”• “Been there and done that.”• “I’ve got this.”• “I’ve seen it all before.”• “This is the way we’ve always done it.”

Good – right? Well…maybe.

It’s good if the situations in the past (that originally wired the neural pathways) are the same as the situations in the future. However, if the future diverts from the past, those well-developed pathways and easy responses are no longer reliable. In times of rapid and disruptive change, past is not prologue and hindsight does not provide foresight. The quick, easy, expertise-driven responses may no longer give the right answer.

I contend that we are living in a time of rapid and disruptive change in transportation. The very nature of transportation is shifting. Past is definitely not prologue. Within the last few months Google released its prototype self-driving vehicle, vehicle connectivity is multiplying, the USB port is the first thing I look for in

❝If the future diverts from the past, those well-developed pathways and easy responses are no longer reliable❞

the rental car and travelers’ use of transportation shifts (only 54 per cent of millennials are licensed before their 18th birthday). Change is all around us.

This is not the time to rely on the neural pathways that served us in the past. Now is the time to question those habits and to coax the brain to develop new pathways. Transportation leaders, managers and planners must be on their guard for habitual thinking. It is easy to fall into habit thinking, but this is not the time for ease. This is the time for watchfulness, questioning and probing. This is the time to slow down long-term processes and challenge conventional thinking. This is the time to watch trends, read widely and pay attention to that nagging voice inside that goads you to take a deeper look. Do the decision-making processes of the past – transportation plans, modeling processes, designs – make sense for the future? How do time frames for plans and projects sync with the time frame of change? Challenge your brain to connect new neurons and create new pathways. New brain connections take more mental energy and are slower than a habitual response, but the old brain pathways don’t serve you in this fundamentally changing world. Give yourself the gift of thinking differently.

It’s tempting to do what we’ve always done and hope it will work out. After all, it always has. But fundamental change is afoot. Past is no longer prologue. It’s time for new thinking.

As I write, there is a bit of rain in Texas, but the boat ramps still end in dirt and Sometimes Island still looks rather permanent. The cattle drink today but next month requires new solutions. The world my mother knew no longer exists. And in transportation, neither does ours.

Shelley Row is the former Director of the US DOT’s Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office and is now building a new career as a motivational speaker and business [email protected]; www.shelleyrow.com; @shelleyrow

56-63_TH_0214_NA_Columns.indd 56 29/06/2014 21:58


THE VIEW Legal Brief

In-vehicle navigation: NHTSA seeks to have a say

Bob Kelly & Mark Johnson

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) and its National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration (NHTSA) are seeking Congressional authority to regulate in-vehicle navigation systems, including built-in systems as well as navigation apps on smartphones. MAP-21, the current surface transportation funding law, is scheduled to expire by the end of August 2014. In April 2014, the Obama Administration transmitted to the US Congress its proposed replacement bill, the “GROW AMERICA ACT” (available at http://www.dot.gov/grow-america). Section 4105 of the Administration’s reauthorization proposal would extend NHTSA’s authority over “safety-related electronics or software used in motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment.” If this provision is enacted into law, NHTSA would be authorized to prescribe requirements or guidelines for the “design, functional safety process, verification and validation, and development” of such electronic devices and software for use in vehicles.

The proposed Section 4105 appears to have resulted from DOT’s long-standing program examining distracted driving issues. In addition to DOT conducting a public relations campaign against distracted driving, NHTSA has undertaken a multi-step examination of the technical and human factor implications of drivers’ use of electronic devices in vehicles in three phases. In Phase 1 NHTSA examined original equipment, in-vehicle electronic devices used by drivers to perform “secondary tasks”

(communications, entertainment, information gathering, navigation, etc.). In April 2013, NHTSA released voluntary guidelines for these types of electronic devices. NHTSA is currently working on Phase 2 of its investigation examining portable, hand-held devices (ie smartphones) brought into the vehicle and their impact on driver distraction. Phase 3 will review voice-based user interfaces. This effort also involves input from vehicle OEMs as well as the technology industry.

AUTHORITYFormer NHTSA Administrator David Strickland has testified before Congress that the agency has authority over navigation systems and devices as they could be classified as “motor vehicle equipment” in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), the federal regulations that governs vehicle safety. However, explicit statutory authority would strengthen NHTSA’s hand to require, for example, specific use restrictions and/or design changes if the agency finds there is a safety impact, and not just issue voluntary guidelines.

The proposed statutory language is not specific to navigation systems and devices, although that appears to be NHTSA’s primary concern. The text is sufficiently broad to be read to encompass the wider universe of vehicle applications that drivers – and passengers – might bring into vehicles, whether for navigation, communications, information, entertainment or something else. For example, Toyota and IBM recently announced a partnership on a platform

❝Explicit statutory authority would strengthen NHTSA’s hand to require, for example, specific use restrictions and/or design changes if the agency finds there is a safety impact❞

to create on-board systems as well as third-party apps under the “Toyota Open Vehicle Architecture.”

There are also other companies and interests that could be implicated by the Administration’s proposal, including technology companies, OEMS, and others. For example, the Open Automobile Alliance, backed by Google and many of the leading vehicle OEMs and technology companies, seeks to bring the Android platform to vehicles. The Intelligent Car Coalition, is a DC-based organisation created to shape federal public policy for “intelligent” vehicles. AT&T, also a member of the Intelligent Car Coalition, has established its “Drive Studio” in Atlanta, Georgia to spur the development of vehicle apps that will utilize its wireless network and cloud services. GM, Audi and other vehicle OEMs, as well as Qualcomm are already participating. There are also start-ups, unaffiliated with any wireless carrier or automaker, for example, that are also developing vehicle apps. OpenCar, from Seattle, is seeking to develop a “next-generation platform to bridge the automotive and mobile App ecosystems.” Cisco has developed systems to bring Wi-Fi connectivity to vehicles. These efforts envision the vehicle as another device within the burgeoning “Internet of Things” ecosystem.

GeoToll, a member of the Intelligent Car Coalition, published an opinion piece on 7 May 2014 in the Capitol Hill newspaper, The Hill, questioning the Administration’s proposal. According to GeoToll, a first concern is that technology constantly evolving and do not have the long development lead-times

Robert Kelly is a partner and Mark Johnson is an attorney at law at the Washington, DC-based law firm Squire Patton Boggs, LLP. [email protected]; [email protected]. www.squirepb.comFor more information on this and other legal issues, please follow us on Twitter at @globalcomlaw



❝GeoToll argues potential NHTSA regulatory action creates uncertainty, which would stymie innovation, investment and risk-taking ❞

like there is for vehicles and motor vehicle equipment. The company contends that it is not practical for NHTSA to review vehicle apps and require changes prior to market introduction. GeoToll also notes that since users typically download multiple apps on a single device it would not be possible for NHTSA to identify a static list of characteristics or features that would make the vehicle environment unsafe. Third, GeoToll argues potential NHTSA regulatory action creates uncertainty, which would stymie innovation, investment and risk-taking.

Proposed Section 4105 does not mandate specific regulatory actions for NHTSA. The agency has explained that it does not anticipate conducting pre-market review of proposed vehicle apps. Rather, consistent with its regulatory practice with vehicles,

NHTSA indicates it would act to change an app if it is found to be dangerous. Presumably, therefore, NHTSA would order a “recall” of an app in the face of some evidence that vehicle safety is impaired and require that the developer take remedial measures to alleviate the concern. However, as pointed out by the criticisms from technology interests, the proposed statute speaks in terms of NHTSA being able to “prescribe” the “design and development” of vehicle apps, which suggests that NHTSA could take pre-emptively measures to alter vehicle apps prior to their market introduction.

Notably, consistent with its authority under the FMVSS, NHTSA does not typically impose specific design criteria for vehicle equipment or systems, but establishes performance standards that manufacturers are then free to create their own designs to

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A SHIFT IN EMPHASISSix experts discuss the

changing role of the traffic

control centre

Finnish on a high

Small nation, big ideas

The approach that makes the

ITS Europe Congress host

country so unique

Malta’s impressive ITS

implementation plans


EUROPE AND REST

OF THE WORLD EDITION

INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS AND ADVANCED TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

TCC Documentary Podcast

available NOW!

PLUS: Listen to our ASECAP 2014 podcasts

Podcast LISTEN NOW AT

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category/podcasts/

TECHNOLOGYThe importance of the

perfectly executed Russian

toll road, p18

INNOVATIONGeoff Collins goes hehind the

scenes of a particularly English

traffic project, p14

SPECIFICATIONSOpen source and open data for

the Norwegian Public Roads

Administration, p22

SMART MOBILITYFITSRUS: the Helsinki to

St Petersburg Smart Transport

Corridor, p26

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meet those performance standards. A final question is whether the

provision will be enacted into law. The Administration’s proposed surface transportation reauthorization bill was presented to Congress in February 2014. Congress is currently debating larger issues for reauthorization, particularly how to sufficiently fund the Highway Trust Fund. In the short term, it does not appear that Congress will be taking up the Administration’s bill but appears more likely to enacting a temporary, several months’ extension of the current MAP-21 statute. NHTSA’s current “Phase 2” study effort bears monitoring, the results of which could create added impetuous for new statutory authority for the agency to regulate vehicle apps. The vehicle environment is fundamentally changing. Whether and how regulatory intervention is needed is open to debate.

THE VIEW Legal Brief



THE VIEW AS I SEE IT...

Some issues are as relevant in ITS as in any other sector...in this case aviation, as our new columnist explains

Jason Barnes

My interest in military aviation goes back to sitting next to an British Royal

Air Force pilot’s son whilst at school in Germany. The first fascinations of a small boy turned into a fairly encyclopaedic knowledge by my teens. It grew to include not just knowledge of the aircraft themselves, but the pilots who tested them – men such as Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown and Roland Beaumont, a print signed by whom sits above me as I write. It also included the great designers on both sides of the Second World War. On the Axis side, men such as Willy Messerschmitt, Kurt Tank and the Horten brothers, and on the Allied side visionaries such as Geoffrey de Havilland, Barnes Wallis and RJ Mitchell.

It makes for fascinating reading. Post-War, there was a mad scramble between the Western powers and the Soviets to take advantage of the cutting-edge research that Nazism had fostered. It was spy fiction made real, and it was only at his funeral some years ago that I learned how involved a former colleague had been involved in it all. Nevertheless, familiar names endured. Barnes Wallis, for instance, was studying advanced supersonics at the time he died. London to Sydney could have been a rather shorter trip if what he had planned had ever occurred.

I reserve a special fondness for Sidney Camm’s creations. Chief Designer at Hawker, he was behind machines with such evocative names as Hurricane, Tempest and Sea Fury. Later, he was instrumental in the development of the Hunter, that most

graceful of the pre-supersonic jets, and the iconic Harrier, still the only truly effective vertical/short take-off jet to enter significant military service.

But it’s not all about success. Military aviation is a great place to look for might-have-beens – so-called ‘paper planes’ which never made it off the drawing board or those which drowned in intrigue and incompetence. In the 1950s and 60s, Britain’s aerospace industry underwent great changes, emerging as a shadow of its former self through a combination of political and commercial hubris and bungling.

Perhaps the most iconic ‘failure’, one in which Camm had a hand, was the TSR-2, a deep-strike bomber capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons and intended to penetrate the most contested of airspace and survive. Britain’s answer to the F-111, it was so advanced that capabilities embodied within it have only recently reached squadron service with the very latest versions of the multinational Panavia Tornado. Some remain unsurpassed and yet, amidst much acrimony and in circumstances that many have called industrial suicide, TSR-2 was cancelled before entering production. Airframes, construction jigs and test data were all destroyed in a concerted act even as the announcement was being made in Parliament, a move designed to make sure that the project could never be resurrected.

A plane half a century ahead of its time, TSR-2 continues to excite controversy amongst aviation enthusiasts. Of the whole episode, Camm said this: “All modern

❝There’s a particular engineering mindset that unconsciously assumes that knowledge is shared almost by osmosis, which is ridiculous❞

aircraft have four dimensions: span, length, height and politics. TSR-2 simply got the first three right.”

I mention all this because I wanted to show how, if unheeded, history does indeed repeat itself. Camm’s words underline that getting the product right is often easier than getting the message right.

SPREAD THE WORDAn issue in engineering is that those involved in systems development exist cheek by jowl with their creations over extended periods. They become convinced of their products’ superiority over competitors’ because they are so immersed in them but they then fail to give adequate consideration to how best to convey that to others.

We’ve seen some very interesting and successful efforts to add value to products in the ITS space in recent years – recession, like war, is a great fosterer of innovation – I’m not so convinced, however, that we’ve seen as much innovation in getting the messages across.

It’s an issue that ranges up and down the scale, from the gadgetry to the strategy and back again. There’s a particular engineering mindset that unconsciously assumes that knowledge is shared almost by osmosis – which, if viewed logically, is ridiculous. We’re blessed now with a very feature-rich technology set for transport management but right across the industry we have to get better at talking about it. Getting smarter about talking is the best way we have to prevent some very worthy projects from having their wings clipped.

Jason Barnes is associate editor of Thinking Highways and editor of THx, H3B Media’s new multi-platform, interactive ITS [email protected]; www.thinkinghighways.com



THE VIEW Automated Vehicles

Not for the first time Google has us all agog

Richard Bishop

Last month, Google once again put the media and pundits into something of a frenzy. Yes,

Google is really building their own cars, and they will drive themselves.

Google, now engaged in a wide variety of projects, actually started with the self-driving car project. From the beginning, they focused on a transformational approach – developing vehicles that can do ALL the driving, with no need for human input other than where to go. Google’s approach is captured by this (paraphrased) quote from Chris Urmson, leader of the self-driving car team: “You can get a lot more fired up in the morning when you’re thinking about changing the world rather than making an incremental improvement on something.”

Now they’ve unveiled their change-the-world starting point – low speed automated taxis to serve, initially, their employees moving between buildings in their spread-out complex in Mountain View, California. Vehicles would be summoned with a smartphone to pick up and drop off passengers at the doorstep. Service would be opened up to the public from there. Ultimately the plan is to serve disabled and elderly people who cannot drive but want full mobility.

Google’s fleet of 100 vehicles – which they’ve designed – are not an adaptation of the common car, even though they’re being built in Detroit. Their footprint is somewhat like the Fiat 500 or the Smart city cars currently on the roads, but that’s where the similarities end. They have no steering wheel, brakes, or accelerator pedal – just a start/stop button. Their speed is capped at 25 mph;

a speed range in which safety regulations for crashworthiness are typically not as stringent, an important factor for building vehicles from the ground up.

This summer Google will begin testing these vehicles with their own drivers. After that, they aim to run a small pilot program in California “in the next couple of years” (within the bounds of California’s recently published autonomous vehicle testing regulations). Based on the results, they say they’ll “work with partners” to bring it to market.

Their concept is quite similar to the work done in Europe in the CyberCar and CityMobil projects over the last decade or so. In the current CityMobil2 project, small urban automated vehicles are being deployed in six-month demonstrations in five cities. Plus, in 2017 Volvo Cars is offering automated production vehicles to members of the public for their DriveMe trial across 50 km of roads in and around Gothenburg. Yes, the media will continue to froth over Google, but clearly a wide range of key players are active as well.

Google says the auto industry’s incremental approach – asking humans to monitor automation and be ready to step back into the control loop, whether immediately or with a time buffer – is flawed because humans are, well, human. As we gain confidence in our self-driving vehicles (and this happens very quickly based on my experience and affirmed by Google founder Sergey Brin in interviews), we are going to get engrossed in something other than the road scene, or take a nap. We may not be “there” when our car needs us.

❝You can get a lot more fired up in the morning when you’re thinking about changing the world rather than making an incremental improvement on something❞

Don’t assume, however, that the incremental approach is impossible for the car industry. This goes back to personal responsibility. It goes to well-informed users and well-designed human interfaces. It goes to fail-operational systems when the human does not step in. All of which is well within the capability of the auto industry. Some will do it better than others, and there will be the inevitable viral videos and debates. But it will nevertheless happen.

Google’s move has huge significance. After stimulating the entire automotive industry and fascinating the public with the initial unveiling of their self-driving car in 2010, speculation about where they’re going to take it has been endless. Now we see they have crystalized their focus on urban mobility. This is a good fit with the “mobility as a service” concept. A future offering would involve a service provider who owns the vehicles, maintains and tests them to high standards, and limits geographic range to stay within pre-mapped areas “approved” for automated operation. Cars sold to private owners are obviously much more difficult to monitor and limiting their geographic usage is not a great sales proposition.

And, by offering vehicles without traditional controls, Google is creating even more distance from the car companies, staking out their domain even more definitively.

In the ideal case, Google’s automated taxi performs superbly and the concept takes off, “ploughing the ground” for the larger market served by the automakers to build widespread trust in automated driving technology. Let’s watch what happens – we in the ITS world have ringside seats.

Richard Bishop is principal of Bishop Consulting and Associate Editor of Thinking Highways North [email protected]; www.auvsi.org; www.vehicleautomation.org Follow Richard at #ThinkingCarsH3B



THE VIEW IBEC: ITS and Evaluation

Evaluating incremental and radical innovations

Dr Alan Stevens

Benefit-cost assessment (BCA) methodologies have a long history and despite

many acknowledged flaws and subtle arguments are well embedded in many business processes. In mainstream implementation, the essential process is to monetise and then add all the expected costs and all the expected benefits into the future and then discount back to present day. Such a process works well for projects that involve building a new facility or developing a new service such as Automatic Crash Notification (eCall in Europe). Before the project, the facility or service isn’t there and we envisage the process and the future costs and benefits.

The situation becomes more interesting in the real world where innovation is often incremental and takes place against a backdrop of existing products and processes, some of which are disturbed by the innovation. This seems particularly to be the case in the developing area of cooperative systems (connected vehicles) and the rapid but incremental progress being made towards more automated systems.

Figure 1 illustrates how both the road infrastructure and the vehicles that use the infrastructure are increasingly becoming smarter. Every step brings benefits by building on previous developments. In one view, automated vehicles are a radical innovation but they can also be seen as the result of many incremental developments of the past 20 years.

As noted, innovation whether radical or incremental, can disturb the status

❝In one view, automated vehicles are a radical innovation but they can also be seen as the result of many incremental developments of the past 20 years❞

BCA of the individual steps. Of course, in looking forward it may not be clear where we are going and there is a greater innovation risk the more radical the change. It seems that often we are implicitly prepared to accept lower BCA because of the lower innovation risk.

This argument is not just academic as step-skipping is a particularly relevant issue for emerging economies that can take advantage of the experience from other regions. Even for those economies further along the ITS development path the question of how we value radical and incremental innovations is still very much an open issue.

IBEC is organising a number of sessions and events in association with the ITS World congress in Detroit this year relevant to this topic. These include: IBEC4 “Evaluation of highly automated driving and truck platooning”; IBEC5 “Evaluating benefits and business cases for cooperative ITS (connected vehicles)”; and the IBEC Workshop “Evaluation of connected (vehicle and infrastructure) and autonomous vehicles”.

Alan Stevens is Research Director, Transportation at TRL and IBEC Management Committee Member [email protected]

Figure 1: Progress towards cooperative and automated systems

quo and may marginalise or render redundant previous facilities or services. For example, road loops can be largely replaced by above ground sensors or by connected vehicles communicating with the infrastructure; similarly, the need for Variable Message Signs will likely be reduced (or, at least, the signs simplified) with the advent of in-vehicle messaging via smartphone Apps.

How these effects are taken into account by BCA is an area that probably needs more attention. Previous generations of technology are be treated as a “sunk cost” in BCA and, in a way the risk of redundancy can be included by estimating the number of years that future benefits will be counted. But should this risk be made more explicit?

Another issue is how efficient the incremental progress is in the sense that each step requires investment that will become, at least partially, redundant by the next step which also requires investment. If we had the foresight and it were possible to skip some steps, then the BCA should be improved compared with the actual (delivered)



THE VIEW Thinking the Highway of the Future

Intelligent road mobility: now or never

José F Papí

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) have revolutionized the way business and private mobility is understood

in a safer, greener and smarter transport system. Despite the progress made, I am of the opinion that the “actual” deployment of ITS solutions is not yet sufficient: ITS systems must make further progress to achieve full potential and provide true quality and real-time information to road users. After having mapped out more than 500 R&D and innovation projects worldwide, the IR2B’s Strategic Road Research Agenda has identified 32 research priorities to bring the Smart Roads concept to reality by 2025 in the field of intelligent road mobility. Let me briefly review them:• Effective implementation of

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)• Enhanced synergies derived from data

already supplied by ITS equipment installed in road infrastructures

(Priorities 72-75 of the IR2B’s Strategic Road Research Agenda, period 2013-2015)

The time has come to go beyond the elaboration of “new” ITS studies, analysis and strategies. The binomial “enforcement agents – cameras and radars” needs to be overcome, upgrading the value of existing information and data with more advanced ITS systems. Users must obtain more detailed journey times through smarter processing of data already available from a variety of sources (sensors, Bluetooth, ALPR, satellite, etc). I trust only then will ITS become an unsegmented market in which solutions with mass appeal will benefit billions of customers worldwide. • Optimizing the utilization of existing

road infrastructures (Priorities 76-82, period 2013-2015)

Attaining “The Highway of the Future” also demands a greater optimization of existing infrastructure capacity. The traffic management systems of tomorrow should therefore address this challenge and run tools allowing an efficient and dynamic operation of roads, according to the traffic conditions at a given moment.• Provision of quality and real-time

information to users on the travel options available in the road network, both in public transport and in other transport modes(Priorities 83-87, period 2013-2015)

Whether we like or not, we have come to a point in which the transport “mode” approach is becoming old-fashioned: today we must refer to a transport “system” – I would even call it “ecosystem” – ITS systems can and must have a crucial role in this context, by developing technologies that facilitate freight and passenger transfer between the different transport modes, which can be coordinated more efficiently in order to cut travel times and costs.• A more sustainable and

environmentally-friendly road mobility• Definition of mobility models adapted

to a new generation of vehicles (Priorities 88-92, period 2016-2020)

At the IR2B we also believe that infrastructure-based ITS systems must promote more efficient mobility scenarios that benefit from car industry development and respond to the

❝Whether we like or not, we have come to a point in which the transport “mode” approach is becoming old-fashioned ❞

requirements and opportunities brought by electric, hybrid, plug-in, hydrogen-powered vehicles, etc. • Development and deployment of I2V,

V2I, V2V and I2I cooperative systems in urban and interurban areas(Priorities 93-98, period 2016-2020)

Integrating data generated by both vehicles (V) and the infrastructure itself (I) is a prerequisite if ITS systems are to provide high-quality services to road users. Yet these “cooperative systems” must operate within a common framework and an integral architecture, with a clear definition of the roles assigned to the “V” and the “I”…Still much work to do, isn’t there?• eROAD: The electronic road 2.0• Dynamic infrastructure charging systems (Priorities 99-103, period 2021-2025)

In the long run ITS will definitively build the mobility scenarios of tomorrow, paving the way for groundbreaking solutions such as automated mobility, prediction of driver behaviour, dynamic charging of vehicle use through a reliable and precise positioning system, etc. I deem the future “eROAD” will be a collaborative electronic road 2.0, where users will exchange data in order to disseminate information and contribute to a sustainable road operation and maintenance.In short, most of the challenges posed by the intelligent road mobility of the future are still ahead of us and represent a fantastic business opportunity for the traffic management industry. I therefore invite you to review the roadmap proposed by the IR2B to address them (downloadable for free from http://www.ir2b.org/#!publications/cmx9).

What are we waiting for?

José F Papí is Chairman of the International Road Research Board, [email protected]; www.ir2b.org @The_IR2B (LinkedIn) http://goo.gl/zTiMj7



THE VIEW Positive Thinking

Getting real about Big Data: a delicate balance of the “whoops” and the “wow”...

Bob McQueen

I’ve written about Big Data in transportation before (and indeed covered it in my last column) and

interest in the subject seems to be growing in leaps and bounds. It is clear that there is huge potential to apply data analytics to Big Data sets and gain new insights into the demand for transportation and the operational effectiveness of transportation delivery. I think we all understand this on an intuitive level. However, like so many things in life, Big Data really doesn’t come alive and become relevant until you start to focus on what you’re going to do with it once you get it. In this column I explore a few Use Cases for Big Data in transportation. These could otherwise be known as “things to do with it once you’ve got it”. My hope here is that discussing some real-life possibilities for the application of Big Data to transportation, will inspire even more awareness, interest, desire and action within the transportation profession. My belief is that Big Data techniques will fuel a revolution in how we understand transportation.

Consider the first example, a forensic investigation into the cause of pedestrian fatalities. Statistics show that there are a relatively high number of pedestrian fatalities in metropolitan regions. While the statistics give us total numbers, it would be wonderful to have the ability to conduct forensic analysis to determine the causes of the fatalities.

We would really like to explore the relationship between the location of each fatality, the availability of a sidewalk, the presence of street lighting, weather conditions and time of day.

These factors are all suspected to play a role in the cause of the fatality. Metropolitan planners could access data analytics on the above factors to develop an understanding of the cause of pedestrian fatalities in the region. Are fatalities occurring at nighttime and being caused by little or no street lighting? Are fatalities a direct result of having no sidewalk and does weather play a role?

Being able to investigate and explore connections between these factors would help us to develop an understanding that could then be used as the basis for the development of strategies leading to a reduction in pedestrian fatalities in the region.

The second example relates to developing a detailed understanding regarding the impacts of prior investments in ITS. Such an understanding would support the development of results-driven investment programs.

The use of data analytics on Big Data sets would enable us to ask questions like “for every dollar spent on incident management, is they are a corresponding improvement in incident management performance?” From a transit perspective we could ask questions like “for every dollar spent on electronic ticketing, how many people switched from private vehicles to transit?”

The third example involves gaining insight into travel time variability across a metropolitan region. Using Big Data techniques and transportation data analytics we should be able to determine the variability of travel time

by different modes of travel over time and space within a metropolitan area. This should yield a good understanding of the reliability of transportation service delivery. With the addition of data regarding the cost of travel we could also make an assessment of the value proposition offered to the traveler. How many dollars does reliability cost for example? If we add weather data then we should be able to see the effect of weather on travel time variability.

There are many other Use Cases that could be used and I chose these merely because I’m interested in them. They represent a very small sample of the possible and hopefully they will stimulate your won your own questions. Of course, it may also make you think about data collection and acquisition strategy if you don’t currently have the data to answer your questions.

Looking to the future my prediction is that we will see a few “Wow!” and “Whoops!” moments as we apply data analytics to transportation. With regard to the “Wow!” moment, I would expect that we will gain some amazing insights into how transportation systems really work. With regard to the “Whoops!” moment it might also be revealed that transportation operations and planning are not as good as we thought they were.

In my humble opinion we have always been aware of the potential value of data in transportation but may not have been as hungry for data as we could be. Big Data and transportation data analytics are going to expand our appetite for data both directly related to transportation and from other data sets.

We have seen the menu, perhaps nibbled on a few appetizers and are now about to experience the main course. Stay hungry my friends!

Bob McQueen is CEO of the 0Cash Company and Content Director at H3B Media Broadcast Services. [email protected]; www.0cash.com

❝Are fatalities occurring at nighttime and being caused by little or no street lighting? Are fatalities a direct result of having no sidewalk and does weather play a role?❞


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INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS AND ADVANCED TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

TECHNOLOGYKeeping a watchful eye on Marseille’s crucial tunnel network, p24

MOBILITYHow ecomobility is helping Europe steer towards a more sustainable future, p34

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UPPING THE PACEGuy Fraker on how and why Europe has taken the lead in the mobility race


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