Completed

As Freeway work-zones become more and more dangerous for roadway construction crews, new ways are needed to keep the speed of traffic in the work-zones below the posted maximum. The Dutch Ministry of Transportation (Rijkswaterstaat), along with Pulnix, are evaluating the effectiveness of utilizing video imaging as a method for measuring vehicle travel time, calculating travel speed and automatically reading license plates of offenders.

The effort validates a video imaging system in the real-world environment at various locations. It is important that testing occurs both in Europe and in North America to ensure the concept’s validity. The system utilizes license plate recognition, without actual reading, for tracking vehicles and then measures travel times between sequential locations at various test sites. From travel time values average speed values can be calculated. This gives a speed of travel over the whole work-zone section and not just a spot speed. The system can read the license plate of offenders. On site citing by police
officers is possible. As an alternative, the information can be processed off line and ticketing can be handled fully automatically. The accuracy of the system was tested and approved by the Dutch counterpart of the Bureau of Weights and Measures.

Testing occurred in both Rijkswaterstaat and within Iowa. The results were positive and further implementations are planned.

Project Duration: 1995-2001

Automatic vehicle identification (AVI) systems are becoming increasingly popular. Example applications include electronic toll collection and automatic vehicle location. AVI data is viewed as a potential source of traffic surveillance for emerging Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS). AVI systems can relay information about conditions of the traffic stream in real-time. Recent reports on the effectiveness of several AVI systems for incident detection have been very encouraging. This is particularly important as incidents cause over 65% of the total traffic congestion in urban areas. It is possible that through the use of AVI equipment, a vehicle probe system may prove to be more cost effective than other types of surveillance systems in collecting information to support ATMS projects

This project examined the percentage of probe vehicles required to provide data which are representative of general roadway conditions. As part of the investigation, a detailed benefit/cost analysis was conducted to evaluate the cost effectiveness of this approach relative to alternative surveillance systems.

The objective of this project was to devise a new more cost-effective way to perform freeway and arterial surveillance including lane occupancies, route speeds and possibly incident detection by using traffic probes. Specific goals of the project were to determine the minimum sample size of vehicle probes necessary for reliable traffic data and to evaluate the cost effectiveness of this approach.

It is important to note that this project did not seek to develop or evaluate AVI systems.

Project Duration: 1995-1996

The VRC (Vehicle to Roadside Communications also referred to as Dedicated Short Range Communications or DSRC) Application Identifier Protocol project reviewed current and planned North American and European developments and projects involving multiple applications of VRC equipment. The project was accomplished under the guidance of a project steering committee and resulted in a comprehensive list of VRC application identifiers.

The objective of this project was to gain a broad understanding of current VRC application communications protocols and identifier methods in North America and Europe with the ultimate goal of standardization.

Trying to determine an appropriate driving speed under less than ideal conditions is a challenge for the motorist. It is equally difficult for law enforcement agencies to enforce and cite someone going too fast for poor conditions. The determination is difficult and subjective. In many cases drivers are cited for going too fast for conditions after an accident has happened. Currently no system is available in the U.S. to identify safe speed limits on a variable basis.

This project developed a variable speed limit system that utilizes fuzzy control technology to identify speed limits appropriate for differing environmental conditions. Fuzzy technology is proving to be effective in a broad cross-section of difficult control problems. In particular, fuzzy control concepts are well-suited to the control of complex non-linear systems where classical mathematical analysis is difficult and imprecision is
inherent.

The project objectives were to develop a variable speed limit signing system for identifying speed limits that are more realistic and appropriate for environmental conditions than posted highway limits.

The goals were achieved through the following objectives:

• Developed a fuzzy control algorithm that uses environmental conditions to define
  speed limits;
• Built a test system for conveying variable speed limits;
• Tested and validate the system in a simulation environment; and
• Evaluated the potential for operational field testing of the system.

Project Duration: 1997 – 1998

In 1996, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) asked the ENTERPRISE Program to help them conduct a rural outreach study. The objective was to identify and describe proven, cost-effective ITS solutions for rural transportation-related problems and needs. The result was a stand-alone document targeted at rural transportation professionals. It described simple ITS solutions developed by rural transportation professionals to address their common problems. The document detailed the cost, requirements, and effectiveness of each simple solution. It also provided contact information and a scope that would help rural agencies implement the simple solutions in their own jurisdictions.

The ENTERPRISE Inform project followed the completion of this project.

Project Duration: 1995-1997

Mayday systems reduce the time it takes emergency service responders to reach crash victims via automated incident and accident reporting systems.

MJM successfully educated public agencies interested in the Mayday concept, and allowed vendors of Mayday products to receive feedback from such agencies. MJM allowed separate projects to benefit from collaboration with other emergency response systems. Most notably, the MJM group initiated a discussion with GM Onstar and Ford RESCU (Remote Emergency Satellite Cellular Unit) as their products were being developed. This discussion allowed for emergency response providers in Minnesota, New York, Colorado and Washington State, to interact with GM and Ford to share their needs from such systems. As a result of this, some states have formed relationships with Mayday responders.

The following tasks helped make the MJM project a success:

• Interacted and exchanged experience with Mayday activities through public-private
  partnerships;
• Influenced the scope and objectives of future Mayday activities, and raised the
  awareness of others through outreach;
• Contributed to the evolution of Mayday activities by providing input to standards and
  architecture development processes; and
• Shaped future private sector efforts based on public-initiated project experience.

The MJM activities were wrapped up in 1998. As a finale to the committee, a “roadshow” was conducted where the results of the group were presented to 9 different states in order to share the entire efforts of the group, and help initiate Mayday activities in the states.

Project Duration: 1996-1998