Kirk Steudle, nationwide transportation advisor with Steudle Govt Group and former director of Michigan DOT, explores how interoperable ITS techniques allow smarter site visitors information choices
Within the Might situation of TTi, I spent a good quantity of my column explaining and inspiring extra interoperability of applied sciences inside our business. I imagine this might be a vital functionality that straight impacts the way forward for transportation, and mobility as a complete.
One of many greatest advantages to interoperability of ITS options is the entry, aggregation, and sharing of information that may drive extra knowledgeable choices. Aggregating and analyzing site visitors information performs a pivotal position as we speak in serving to improve roadway efficiencies and security. Simply as importantly, shareable real-time site visitors information might be essential to shaping the way forward for mobility by enabling smarter planning and implementing AI-powered functions to ship optimized techniques.
Because the complexities of our city facilities enhance, the flexibility to gather and analyze site visitors information from a large number of sources might be much more vital for the way forward for our roadways. As infrastructure homeowners and operators (IOOs), we’re acutely conscious that leveraging site visitors information is important to creating choices that enhance operational efficiencies. Actual-time and historic information assist us acknowledge site visitors patterns, congestion hotspots, and security conflicts.
“Visitors information helps determine inefficiencies and encourages modal shifts”
As well as, aggregating and analyzing shared site visitors information from so many sources helps sustainability targets. It helps determine inefficiencies and encourages modal shifts, serving to cities cut back carbon footprint, improve security, and higher join communities. Information-driven-based choice making allows IOOs to develop focused roadway community options with long-term methods. In consequence, planners can prioritize and make extra knowledgeable funding choices on roadway infrastructure primarily based on information reasonably than assumptions. It additionally helps assess the effectiveness of present insurance policies, permitting for calculated enhancements.
An ongoing instance of integrating interoperable ITS techniques throughout states, counties, and jurisdictions is the I-80 hall challenge in California. I’ve referenced the I-80 hall challenge previously, nevertheless it has undergone vital technological developments since, particularly with the technology-driven aims the ITS America AV Freight Working Group has set forth. With the heightened interoperability of techniques, and availability of standardized site visitors information, the AV Freight Working Group is now advocating for situational consciousness, the adoption of APIs, and digital infrastructure to reinforce information sharing – one thing not doable a simply few years in the past. The I-80 hall challenge has been fairly influential for its success at enhancing site visitors circulate, security, and total mobility by implementing data-driven applied sciences. A lot so, that because it integrates extra ITS qualifying initiatives, over 850 as of this writing, the I-80 hall usually now known because the ‘data freeway.’ Till subsequent time, journey secure.
This text was first revealed in the August 2025 version of TTi
