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Recently, the IntelliDrive initiative has been proposed by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) to enhance on-road safety and efficiency. In this study, we provide a mathematical framework which predicts the effect of such technologies on the efficiency of multilane highway systems prior to their real-life deployment. Our study shall encompass mixed traffic conditions in which a variety of assisted, automated and unequipped vehicles coexist. We show that intervehicular communications improves the flow of vehicles by reducing the perception-reaction (P-R) times of drivers and, in some cases, allowing for more efficient lane-changing operations. As we shall see, unlike the latter, the former effect of IntelliDrive on driver P-R time is always there, regardless of the specific traffic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of advanced transportation controller (ATC) standards in traffic management. The current adopted ATC rules, which are backed by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), make a U.S.-wide open platform for different transportation applications and keeping the software spending of an agency simultaneously. The transportation standards are presented including a version 5.2b advanced transportation controller and a version 2.06b application program interface.

Usually, benefits from deploying an adaptive traffic control system are measured by comparing data collected in the field before the system is installed with those collected after the system is fully operational. Such an approach is costly because it requires installation of a system before potential benefits can be observed. Nowadays to investigate effectiveness of many alternatives that were traditionally investigated in field, microsimulation is used. However, how much can one rely on results from microsimulation? There has not been a single study in which benefits of adaptive traffic control systems measured in the field are compared with those obtained through microsimulation. This study presents such a research effort. The authors compared performance measures from a field evaluation of Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System in Park City, Utah, to their counterparts from microsimulation. They collected a significant amount of data to assess system performance in the field and to help build a microsimulation model. A 14-intersection model of the Park City network was developed, calibrated, and validated on the basis of multiple data sources. The results show that a validated microsimulation model can accurately reflect field conditions although such an effort can be very challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various developments in traffic incident management (TIM) network in the U.S. Topics include involvement of intelligent transportation systems engineering and design in traffic incident management; Strategic Highway Research Program 2 National Traffic Incident Management for Responders training course to address communications barriers between engineers and first responders; and resources to provide information to TIM stakeholders including the website ResponderSafety.com.

Traffic incidents are a major contributor to congestion on US freeways, resulting in millions of dollars in property damage and significant deaths and injuries each year. Because a single incident can cause traffic delays, equally devastating secondary incidents can result. Thus, the faster an incident is detected, verified, and cleared, the less significant the impact. Traffic cameras and other technologies are widely used for this purpose. This work examined the effectiveness of traffic cameras at five metropolitan freeway sites in South Carolina using the traffic simulation software PARAMICS to simulate various incident scenarios and traffic camera operations through application programming interfaces. The authors used these interfaces to produce random spatial and temporal occurrence of incidents, including the incident start times, durations and locations. A benefit-cost analysis based on the simulation results suggested traffic cameras returned $12 for every dollar spent under the prevailing conditions at the study sites. A sensitivity study, varying different benefit- and cost-related parameters, such as deployment costs, number of incidents, and discount rate, revealed benefit-cost values that were always above one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Council in the U.S. The ITS Council partnered with the Traffic Engineering Council to develop a proposed recommended practice on ITS. It is supervising the development of ITS standards for which ITE is responsible, including the traffic management data dictionary, the transit communications ITS profiles and the advanced transportation controller.

The article focuses on the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Traffic Engineering Council in the U.S. The Council completed work on a number of major publications in 1998, including "Design and Safety of Pedestrian Facilities." It sponsored five sessions at the 1998 ITE International Conference on Harmonizing Transportation and Community Goals and seminars on operating and managing Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and traffic calming.

The article offers news briefs related to transportation standards in the U.S. The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocol (NTCIP) Standards Review Panel has moved to approve the adoption of various NTCIP standards. The ITE Joint Traffic Engineering and Industry Council committee addressed concerns on the DRAFT interim purchase specification. The draft of the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Data Dictionary (DD) is in works.