Thinking Highways Na Sep 08

THIN KING

HIG HW AYS NORTH AMERICAN EDITION Volume 3 • Issue 3 • September/October 2008

IT ALL STARTED HERE Paul Najarian looks back at the roots of ITS: the Electronic Route Guidance System

TEAM SPIRIT Phil Tarnoff on why the public, private and academic sectors should work together

GREAT MINDS... Gethin Perrry, Ian Catling and Andrew Pickford consult on international consulting

UPWARDLY MOBILE Mike McGurrin’s ITS vision of the near future

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Foreword Thinking

This is what you want, this is what you get A North American transportation magazine, published in the UK, with a feature on the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix.Well, you did ask...

Kevin Borras is co-founder and vice-president, publishing of H3B Media and editor-inchief of Thinking Highways North American Edition.

When we set up H3B Media two and a bit years ago we did so with one thing in mind: to give people what they want, within reason. What you, the readers wanted, was something different from what is already, probably, on your desks and shelves. There was absolutely no point in spending all that time talking to “the industry” about what they would most like from a new magazine and then completely ignoring their wishes and producing a “metoo” publication. Hence, Thinking Highways is split into two regional editions, North America and Europe/ Rest of the World.You receive the one that is relevant to your part of the world and you can either pay US$60 to have the other one shipped to you or of course you can read the electronic version on our website, which is soon to be relaunched with a stunning new look, I might add.

Sub-Editor and Proofreader Maria Vasconcelos Administration Sales and Marketing Jodie Graham ([email protected]) Luis Hill ([email protected]) Tim Guest ([email protected]) Subscriptions and Circulation Pilarin Harvey-Granell Design and Layout Visualisation Phoebe Bentley, Kevin Borras Tom Waldschmidt ([email protected]) Associate Editors Richard Bishop ([email protected]) Conferences and Events Amy Zuckerman ([email protected]) Odile Pignier (odile@h3bmedia.,com) Website Contributing Editors Bruce Abernethy, Lee J Nelson, Andrew The Mind Corporation Pickford, Phil Tarnoff, Harold Worrall Financial Director Martin Brookstein Contributors to this issue Bruce Abernethy, Donna Blake, Nicki Bradley. Dan Brand, Bob Byerly, EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING Ian Catling, Jodie Graham, Allison H3B Media Ltd, 15 Onslow Gardens, Griffiths,Mark Johnson, Bob Kelly, Frank Wallington, Surrey SM6 9QL, UK Long, Mike McGurrin, Paul Najarian, Tel +44 (0)208 254 9406 Gethin Perry, Andrew Pickford, Stephen Fax +44 (0)208 647 0045 Slater, Phil Tarnoff, Amy Zuckerman Email [email protected]

All this is a precursor to telling you that, due to popular demand, we’ve included a couple of the more interesting articles from the Europe/Rest of the World edition in this issue. We listened to what you wanted from the outset and have continued to do so. The articles in question should provide a fascinating insight into what is happening on the other side of the world, literally in a couple of cases. Pages 23-29 are taken up with a fascinating look at how consultants in Australia, Europe and South Africa work. What unique difficulties to do they face? How much commonality is there between consulting for local authorities in Cape Town and Sydney? How different are their experiences from those working in North America? Another “out-of-bounds” piece that we thought would make for interesting reading is Stephen Slater’s account of Thinking Highways

Editor-in-Chief Kevin Borras ([email protected])

www.thinkinghighways.com

how Singapore’s traffic management system is planning to cope with the forthcoming (at the time of writing) Formula 1 Grand Prix. Street circuit motor racing usually makes for a more exciting spectacle (anyone who has seen a race at Long Beach, Houston or Belle Isle may well agree), but there’s more to F1 than ridiculously fast cars as Stephen’s article is testimony to. Our cover feature, Paul Najarian’s look at what was essentially the forerunner of VII, is certainly timely. It may look like an old, yellow computer cabinet from the 1960s (well, it is) but this is where ITS started. However, shortly after these photos were taken, the cabinet vanished. The majority of people who have driven past it over the last 40 years had no idea of or interest in its significance... but clearly someone did. This is our history, after all. TH

is published by H3B Media Ltd.

ISSN 1753-43Z1 Thinking Highways is published quarterly in two editions – North America and Europe/Rest of the World - and is available on subscription at £30/€40 (Europe/RoW) and US$60 (North America). Distributed in the USA by DSW 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Thinking Highways, 13705 North Ivy lake Road, Chillicothe, Illinois 61523, USA.

CEO & Co-Founder Luis Hill Vice-President, Publishing & Co-Founder Kevin Borras www.thinkinghighways.com

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. © 2008 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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Contents

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COLUMNS Bob Kelly and Mark Johnson’s Legal Brief

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Paul Najarian’s Connected World

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ITS Mobility 2020: a new vision for ITS, seen through the eyes of Mike McGurrin

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THE THINKER ITS guru Phil Tarnoff on why the public sector, private sector and the universities should work together The Thinker

Climate Change The Thinker

The mysterious Stunted case of the growth three-legged stool Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

The public sector, the private sector and the universities are the triumverate of essential but often disparate ingredients in the transport community mix - but isn’t it time that we all just got along? PHIL TARNOFF thinks it is

Public employees are lazy and unimaginative. Private sector employees actions are based exclusively on the almighty dollar and university faculties ignore project objectives and schedules when conducting research. These insulting perceptions are neither accurate nor fair. But they are repeated here as an indication of the degree of misunderstanding that exists among the three major sectors of the transportation community; public, private and university. These statements ignore the fact that the great majority of employees within all sectors of the transportation industry work hard to achieve their common goal of improving the system within the constraints of their chosen area of employment. It is unfortunate that these opinions exist when there has never been a greater need for cooperation and collaboration within an industry that is undergoing major changes that include: • Privatization: The public sector is relying on the private sector to an increasing extent for provision of services including design, construction, operations and management. Without an appreciation of both the capabilities and limitations of the private sector, the move toward privatization will not succeed. In addition, the public sector must also develop an appreciation of the ways in which its procurement practices influence private sector performance. • Workforce development: There is a shortage of professionals trained to meet the needs of the public and private sectors. The university community which is the obvious source of supply falls short of providing both the quantity and quality of needed graduates. An understanding of the motivations and priorities of this sector of the transportation industry is important if the shortage is to be corrected. • Technology: Technology is rapidly advancing, which creates challenges for all sectors of the transportation community, all of whom would benefit from its application. An understanding of their mutual capabilities and motivations is needed to ensure that the industry takes advantage of new technologies as they become available.

For these reasons, it is important to improve the relationships among the various sectors of the transportation community. The manner in which this might be accomplished requires an intimate knowledge of their characteristics and capabilities. Viewing my transportation career of nearly 40 years, one would conclude that I have been unable to hold a job; having been a public sector employee while working for the Federal Highway Administration, a private sector employee while working for Alan M. Voorhees and Associates as well as PB Farradyne, and most recently a university employee while working for the University of Maryland. While at the University of Maryland,I have also enjoyed a close working relationship with the Maryland Depart-

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When DAVID This SCHONBRUNN ment of Transportation. breadth of experience qualifies me the (or at least I think it does) to reflectof on the read April/May issue relative strengths and weaknesses of each of the three Thinking Highways felttheir sectors of the transportation community,he including cultures and their assets to suggest in which compelled toand write anways article these characteristics can be leveraged in a way that offering his own views on strengthens the overall industry. transportation’s impacts

Sectoronm characteristics and solutions for,

Few, if any, individuals enter the transportation engichange neering fieldclimate with the objective of becoming multi-millionaires. Instead, like most technical professions, newcomers enter the field with the vague notion of a career that offers a reliable (comfortable) income, working on interesting projects that might produce societal benefits. Although the balance of monetary rewards, interesting work and societal benefits shifts somewhat among possible transportation career paths, most of its participants are motivated by some combination of the three. It should be noted that the following discussion of industry sectors emphasizes organizations responsible for infrastructure development and operation. Many major sectors such as vehicle manufacturers, transit operators and commercial vehicle operators have been excluded to provide focus for the following discussion.

“Few enter transportation engineering with the objective of becoming multimillionaires”

A little bit of backstory

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Public sector

The public sector includes many types of organizations; the Federal Government, state and local agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, etc. In spite of their differences, they share a number of attributes, including job security, good fringe benefits and reasonable (although deteriorating) retirement benefits. Public sector salaries are generally lower than those of either the private or university sectors. With some notable exceptions, the pressures of public sector employment are relatively modest, due at least in part to the job security it offers. Public sector employment fosters an environment in which the penalties for failure exceed the rewards for success, with the result that many, (certainly not all) public sector employees have a low tolerance for the risks associated with creativity. The common denominator among the majority of public sector employees is the feeling that they are the “keepers of the public good”. In other words, since they are not influenced by the profit motive, their actions are oriented toward public service rather than avarice or personal advancement. Many have indicated that they selected the public sector career path out of a desire to contribute to the public’s welfare, and because of the ability to establish public policy – an opportunity that is not available to those in other sectors. Advancement in the public sector is based on keeping the “ship of state” sailing in untroubled waters. Rewards accrue to those who effectively perform the duties they are assigned without creating problems for their superiors. Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3

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CONSULTANTS Thinking Highways’ guide to international consulting, presented by the consultants themselves: Gethin Perry, Ian Catling and Andrew Pickford COVER FEATURE Paul Najarian and Dan Brand on ERGS,the origins of the ITS program. It’s all too easy to draw parallels with VII, but are they relevant? And, like all good stories, there’s a twist at the end... Cover Feature: ERGS

Climate Change Cover Feature: ERGS

Stunted growth

The inspiration for this article arose during a recent visit by to Washington, DC, by Thinking Highways’ editor-in-chief, Kevin Borras. In the US for H3B Media’s series of Think Tanks around the Memorial Day holiday and with his hotel located near the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), I couldn’t let yet another of his visits to our nation’s capital pass by without us taking a detour down Old Dominion Drive, in McLean, VA to visit a shrine of the ITS program: a remnant of the ERGS system (Electronicl Route Guidance System). The cover photograph of this issue (as well as those that illustrate this story) shows what is probably the last existing ERGS cabinet. It is located in the Southeast corner of Old Dominion Drive and Birch Road, in Fairfax County (VA); unused, derelict and a mystery to its neighbors. The intent of the article, though, is not to provide a technical overview of the ERGS system, or to embark on a journey down memory lane. It is also not intended to look at the specific lessons learned from this experimental system. Its intention is to draw comparisons with its 21st century successor.

Roots and branches Vol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways

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Your eyes have not deceived you.That is indeed a photograph of an ugly, old, rusting roadside cabinet disfigured by graffiti, but as PAUL NAJARIAN (and later DAN BRAND) explains, it’s where ITS was born...

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

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On the eve of the ITS World Congress in New York City, one can easily substitute the ERGS acronym from the published papers of the late 1960s and early ‘70s with that of the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) program, as nothing major has changed conceptually in terms of the delivery of ITS information from a roadside infrastructure to the vehicle. www.thinkinghighways.com

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ALPR Donna Blake and Bob Byerly have good news from and for the automatic license plate recognition market 60

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ALPR Frank Long takes the leaner route to automatic licence plate recognition... TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT A Formula 1 Grand Prix isn’t all glitz, glamour and terrifyingly fast cars. When the venue is a street circuit there are traffic management issues to be considered as well, says Stephen Slater INCIDENT MANAGEMENT Traffic congestion’s many and various impacts, as assessed by Alison Griffiths

A precursor

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AUTOMATED ENFORCEMENT The US has hitherto been reluctant to follow Europe’s and Australia’s example and use photo radar for enforcement... until now, as Nicki Bradley explains

INTELLIGENT CCTV Bruce Abernethy on the escalating use of CCTV for traffic surveillance 64

VIOLATION ENFORCEMENT Seven San Francisco Bay Area bridges are getting new violation enforcement systems as Jodie Graham reports CLIMATE CHANGE Amy Zuckerman spoke to experts from the fields of transportation and the environment and asked what should happen next? Advertisers’ Index

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Robert Kelly and Mark Johnson’s Legal Brief

Hanging tough?

Robert Kelly is a partner with the Washington, DC based law firm Squire, Sanders, Dempsey

So just who is responsible if vehicle software causes an accident? In the June/July issue of Thinking Highways, Bruce Abernethy and Harold Keeler (“A Different Kind of Car Crash Altogether”) posed the question of what could happen if the operating systems in a car “hangs up” when the car is moving at 65 mph? Although likening such a situation to when a PC or laptop “freezes up,” or is infected by a virus, Abernethy and Keeler noted that “realtime management and control of a vehicle is much different than executing office software in a general purpose computer.” A software error or virus could have catastrophic results for a vehicle and its occupants. The final question the authors pose is who would be legally responsible if a software problem causes a vehicle accident. This article looks at the possible liable parties and the relevant legal theories.

Get on the bus A first area of examination is the relationships among the vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers, including software companies that design and install vehicle operating systems. Vehicle manufacturers have been reluctant to have consumer accessible software systems, such as telematics and the like, connect to the vehicle bus that supports the operations of the engine,

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braking and the transmission. However, as Abernethy and Keeler point out, the risk of software error or the possible introduction of a virus becomes greater as these and other vehicle software systems connect to the Internet and VII and vehicle-to-vehicle communications are deployed. Such problems may put the operational safety of the vehicle at risk.

“A software error or virus could have catastrophic results for a vehicle and its occupants” Protect and survive Given these developments, it is likely that the vehicle manufacturers will seek from their suppliers, both of the physical components and the associated software systems, contractual guarantees of performance and service levels. Vehicle manufacturers will also likely seek specific contractual protections in the form of indemnification and other provisions from their suppliers for a vehicle accident that is attributable to a software failure. These same contracts may also seek to identify specific types of software failures that are attributable to the supplier so as to minimize the

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guesswork involved in assigning fault if a vehicle accident occurs rather than try to resolve this question through litigation.

Compromising situation The more interesting relationship is between the vehicle manufacturers and the purchaser and ultimate user of the vehicle. In the majority of instances, the purchaser and user of a vehicle equipped with telematics or other similar systems is not going to be aware of how these systems work or the risk of a possible software error or virus that could compromise their operation. In some instances, the vehicle purchaser will be buying a service either from the vehicle manufacturer or a third-party provider, who may or may not have a direct relationship with the vehicle manufacturer. It is common for such contracts to include provisions (disclaimers, limitations of remedies, limited warranties, and the like) that seek to minimize the seller/service provider’s potential liability if the purchase claims breach of contract because the product or service fails to perform as expected. Vehicle manufacturers may also seek in its own contract with a software provider, as well as in any contract with the vehicle purchaser, to limit its exposure by trying to assign

Mark Johnson is an attorney at law with Squire, Sanders, Dempsey based in Buenos Aires, Argentina

www.thinkinghighways.com

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Robert Kelly and Mark Johnson’s Legal Brief

any liability to the service provider and limit the ability of the purchaser to seek compensation from the vehicle manufacturer.

contract for telematics are contracts of adhesion but, even so, are not necessarily suspect on face value. In the case of a standard software package, or even where an individual Devil in the detail purchasers a telematics Any contractual provisions that package for his or her vehicle limit and/or assign liability that involves only information warrant closer scrutiny. In services, it is unlikely that a many purchase/sale scenarios, court would find provisions especially between corporate limiting potential liability as entities and individuals, there “shocking” and, therefore, really is no opportunity for unenforceable. meaningful negotiation. But it Where, however, the liability is not in the interest of both limitations significantly effect parties that there be. the ability of an individual to These so-called “contracts of seek compensation for adhesion” enable the efficient personal and/or property buying and selling of products damages, a court may be more and services: A corporation likely to find the terms suspect selling a popular product to in a contract of adhesion that potentially millions of persons involves uneven bargaining does not have the resources to power. In other words, a negotiate a separate contract vehicle manufacturer and/or with each. “Shrink-wrap” software provider may find it contracts for the purchase of more difficult to limit and/or software is a common example assign liability where a in which the purchaser must software error or virus in a accept all the terms of the end- vehicle is found to have user agreement on their face caused an accident, especially in order to access and use the an accident involving bodily software. injury or death. The courts will Courts will not normally want to find a way to upset the terms of such compensate the victim. contracts unless there is Separate from a lawsuit imbalanced bargaining power claiming breach of contract, an in favor of one party over injured party may seek another such that the contract compensation based on tort does not appear to have been theories of negligence and/or “freely bargained” and the product liability. Under questionable term “shocks the negligence, a plaintiff would court” to be deemed need to provide that the unconscionable and, thus, vehicle manufacturer and/ or unenforceable. software provider failed to The purchase contract for a take reasonable steps to vehicle as well as the service prevent a foreseeable software

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error or introduction of a virus. Negligence, however, in the manufacturing or design process can be difficult to prove. Recognizing this possibility, courts have developed the theory of product liability, sometimes called “strict” liability, wherein the plaintiff need only show that the product was defective, even if there was no negligence by the manufacturer, in order to recover damages.

Detective, defective There is not a uniform opinion among courts that software is a product but rather a service and, therefore, not necessarily subject to product liability claims. Where, however, software is integrated into a vehicle and its failure could have catastrophic results, a plaintiff would be in a stronger position to argue that the software was defective and, consequently, created an unreasonably dangerous situation involving physical harm, making the software error or virus subject to a product liability claim. Negligence and product liability claims can exist notwithstanding contractual provisions that attempt to are not limited or extinguished by provisions in the contract that attempt to limit potential liability of the vehicle manufacturer or software provider. ITS systems on vehicles, and the software that runs them, are becoming more sophisticated and prevalent, which brings with it a greater chance of an error or virus that could compromise the operational safety of the vehicle. If an accident results, Abernethy and Keeler may be right that trial lawyers will be lining up to seek compensation for their clients from the vehicle manufacturer, the software provider, the ITS service provider, or others. TH www.thinkinghighways.com

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HOT lanes will provide congestion relief while minimizing the impact on the local environment, and will improve public transport opportunities in the region. Visit www.virginiahotlanes.com to find out more about the benefits HOT lanes will bring to commuters—including carpoolers, bus riders and the Northern Virginia community as a whole.

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Paul Najarian’s Connected World Paul Najarian

Autopsy or resuscitation: part three

Paul Najarian was director of telecoms at ITS America from 1996-2006. He can be contacted via email: [email protected]

PAUL NAJARIAN completes his DSRC trilogy by assessing the merits of the ASTM standard This article completes the theme presented in “Autopsy or resuscitation” (Thinking Highways, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 14-16), regarding the development and deployment of Dedicated Short Range Com-munications (DSRC) and its linkage to the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) program. In this third and final installment, the role of standards is examined. In particular, the article focuses on the role of mandating a standard in order to ensure interoperability, deployment or other requirements. The second article in this series (“Autopsy or resuscitation (part 2),” Thinking Highways, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.12-15 ) analyzed potential deployment models while using the much anticipated Public-Private partnership of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) D-block auction in the 700 MHz band as an analogy. As was discussed, that segment of the auction failed to attract any bidders.

Very interesting idea That article also coined a new term for the VII program as the “Vehicle Information Interstate,” and suggested that any possibility for the

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deployment of this new interstate is through a strong Federal commitment, similar to the buildout of the Interstate Highway System. The kick-off article in this series provided a historical overview of the DSRC

“The goal of the GSM mandate was to ensure interoperability by developing a single common standard” program, including the complex relationship among its regulatory aspects, the development of the technology and the progress on associated standards, the current lack of a nationwide and interoperable network, and the identification of DSRCenabled VII applications. So far, none of the articles either stated or answered the question of whether standards, and more importantly, mandated standards, ensure interoperability. Would such a mandated standard be accepted by the DSRC deployers? Would a mandated standard encourage or thwart competition in the

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marketplace and innovation?

The case for GSM In 1984, the European Commission endorsed the “Groupe Speciale Mobile” (“GSM”). This project was formed earlier in 1982 by the Confederation of European Posts and Telecommunications (CEPT), the telecommunications regulatory body of the European Commission. Clearly, the goal of the European Commission’s GSM mandate was to ensure interoperability by developing and deploying a single, common standard across European countries that were signatory of a GSM Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). In 1988, CEPT created the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and transferred all its telecommunication standardization efforts, including the transfer of GSM in 1989. By 1990, the GSM adaptation work started for the 1800 MHz band; and commercial service started in Europe by mid-1991. In 1993, 32 GSM networks were available in 18 countries. By 1996, 200 networks were deployed in nearly 100 countries worldwide, representing more than 50m subscribers. By 1998, worldwide subscribers www.thinkinghighways.com

surpassed the 100m mark. In 1997, GSM finally made its entry into the US, with 15 networks operating in 1900 MHz band. This introduction into the US was mainly due to the relaxation of certain regulatory rules by the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

Contrast and compare Now, let’s compare the European approach for the delivery cellular services in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands using the GSM standard as a mandate, with the US market-oriented approach. In contrast to the European approach, the US had at least two or three carriers per market area using a variety of wireless standards in the 850 to 890 MHz band. These standards included Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and Motorola’s integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) standard used by Nextel. In the late 1980s, the FCC had required that carriers use the analog AMPS standard in addition to the normal transmission mode (TDMA or CDMA). The purpose of this requirement was to ensure interoperability among the carriers, and to allow for roaming across networks. The requirement for carriers to provide analog AMPS networks was sunsetted by the FCC on 18 February 2008.As mentioned earlier, GSM was introduced in the US through the PCS auctions in 1997. So, the period 1991-1997 can be summarized as follows: Europe with a mandated approach for GSM in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands, while the US stays true to its technology neutral policy with at least four standards operating in the 850 and 1900 MHz bands. One could also argue that the implementation of AMPS in the US for interoperability www.thinkinghighways.com

purposes constituted a standards mandate; however, it was not limited to a single standard and technology (as in Europe), as three other standards and associated technologies were also available. During this period, travelers across the transAtlantic were clearly inconvenienced. US travelers to Europe lacked any connectivity, unless they had purchased or rented bulky “World Phones.” These travelers were also amazed at their European counterparts, who could hop from one country to another within Europe and many parts of the world while still maintaining connectivity. Even travelers from developing countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia often appeared to be more advanced than those from the US.

“The EC backed Nokia’s DVB-H as Europe’s technology for mobile TV broadcasting” Tri, tri and tri again This inconvenience lasted about six to seven years until tri-band phones (900, 1800/1900 MHz) initially became available in Europe. This allowed European travelers to have connectivity in the US. This was shortly followed by a wide-array of quad-band phones. Despite this temporary inconvenience, the European mandated approach or the US market oriented approach had no impact on the deployment of different wireless networks, primarily because the competition was (and still is) at the application and quality of services level, and the ubiquitous delivery of such services.

To date, all of these standards (in Europe and the US) have not only survived, but have also contributed to a variety of convergence efforts in the deployment of 3rd Generation wireless networks, and future Advance Wireless Services (AWS).

The case for DVB-H Recently, in March 2008, the European Commission used a similar approach as GSM regarding the deployment of Digital Video Broadcast – Handheld (DVB-H) standard and associated technologies. The European Commission adopted ETSI’s DVB-H specification, EN 302 304, as the “preferred technology” for terrestrial mobile broadcasting across the European Union, and required member countries to encourage the use of this technology. Essentially, the European Commission backed Nokia’s DVB-H as Europe’s technology for mobile TV broadcasting, while declining other technologies such as Qualcomm’s MediaFLO, and Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB), which was favored by China and South Korea. Despite objections by certain countries (such as Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) to setting a single standard, the European Commission’s decision is tantamount to an implicit mandate.

Not here or now While some may question the ramifications of the European Commission’s decision, including its impact on international trade and legal concerns, it is not the intent of this article to address such issues. These issues are not only beyond its scope, they should also be addressed by legal experts.

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Paul Najarian’s Connected World The Commission, however, justified its decision citing the need to establish regional interoperability. But more importantly, the Commission firmly believed that such a decision is absolutely necessary to launch the digital video broadcasting marketplace.

The end is not night Does the European Commission’s decision sound the death knell for MediaFLO and DMB? Absolutely not. To date, MediaFLO already has an estimated subscriber base of more than 100,000. All of these technologies can have successful implementations pending the availability and competitiveness of the applications and associated quality of services. As in the case of GSM, these technologies will not remain static through their life-cycle. They will evolve into next generations. The marketplace will also dictate whether these technologies need to converge. The European Commission’s decision is clearly wise in terms of

launching the market place. However, it is also a timelimited decision. After the initial stages of the market, the impact of the Commission’s implicit mandate will be minimal at best.

The case for DSRC On 3 August 2004, at the request of US Department of Transportation, the FCC mandated the American Society for Testing and Material’s (ASTM) E2213-03, “Standard Specification for Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Roadside and Vehicle Systems – 5 GHz Band Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications.”

“As in the case of GSM, these technologies will not remain static through their life-cycle” According to this mandate, described in Section 379 of Part 90 of the FCC Rules (Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations), roadside units operating in the 5850 to 5925 MHz band shall comply with the technical specifications described in ASTM’s DSRC standard. From a regulatory context, the use of the term “shall” implies a mandatory “incorporation by reference.” The lack of interoperability among toll operators in the 902-928 MHz band, especially during the early years of the tolling industry, was the primary catalyst for US DOT’s insistence on a standards mandate that would ensure nationwide interoperability consistent with the US National Architecture.

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One voice, one standard In addition to interoperability, public safety concerns were also main drivers. The critical need for a single, national standard for VII’s Public Safetyrelated applications further justified US DOT’s requirement for a mandated standard. Unfortunately, the ASTM standard never came to a complete fruition in terms of products or deployments. Instead, this activity has been transferred to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for the eventual completion of the IEEE 802.11p air interface standard. Some engineers may argue that the IEEE 802.11p standard would be backward compatible with ASTM, since the ASTM standard was used as the baseline. In such cases, others may extend this argument by stating that compliance with the IEEE standard would also ensure compliance with the ASTM standard. More than five years have passed since the publication of the ASTM standard, and yet not a single full-scale deployment could point to the use or usefulness of this mandated standard. Since the ASTM standard is also mandated in the 5.9 GHz band, no other technologies were or could be considered, encouraged, developed or contemplated in this band. In the case of DSRC, as the window of opportunity for an initial commercial launch has long disappeared, the standards mandate has thwarted innovation, and stifled consideration for competing standards and technologies that are readily available in the commercial world. In other words, the standards mandate evolved into a deployment barrier with limited hope of providing a platform ensuring nationwide www.thinkinghighways.com

Paul Najarian’s Connected World interoperability, especially for public safety-related VII applications. Also, since interoperability is a multidimensional problem, a standards mandate does not necessarily resolve interoperability issues.

The end is nigh As the IEEE 802.11p standard nears completion, the ITS community is at a crossroads. Will it accept that the commercial viability of DSRC requires no mandated standard, or will it ask the FCC to substitute in Section 379 of Part 90 of the FCC rules for the moribund mandate of its ASTM standard an IEEE standard that would raise similar variables to deployment. The ITS community would be best served by removing an artificial standards mandate to allow for the competitive marketplace to achieve

commercially viable solutions. As DSRC deployments have been extensively delayed since the publication of the ASTM standard, the ITS community will also have an

“The ITS community will also have an extremely difficult time convincing the FCC that such mandates are necessary”

a market, though that usefulness lasts only a short time. Yet, the ASTM standard was not successful even for an initial launch. It is now more than five years old, and the market should have been launched immediately after the publication of the standard for the mandate to be effective, even if such effectiveness were only temporary.

Spot the difference

extremely difficult time in convincing the FCC that such mandates are still necessary today. As evident by the European model for GSM and DVB-H, standards mandate can be effective at the initial launch of

Over the last five years, the standards mandate blocked the introduction of other emerging technologies, and no deployment alternatives were permitted. With the failure to protect the launch of a market, the ASTM standard has shown it should be taken off the road. There is no reason to believe that the IEEE standard as a mandated replacement to the ASTM standard would achieve different results. TH

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ITS

2020 Stunted vision growth Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

MIKE McGURRIN presents Mobility 2020: Towards a New Vision for Intelligent Transportation Systems

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Vol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways

www.thinkinghighways.com

Climate Change ITS

The roots of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) go back for several decades prior to the Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems Act of 19911. The 1960s brought an increased interest in the use of electronics to aid highway transportation and the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads prototyped many concepts, including the Electronic Route Guidance System (see pages 12-15) and the Urban Traffic Control System. However, funding and interest faded, and the current program owes its roots to a resurgence of interest in the 1980s and an ad hoc group of individuals from the private sector, public sector and academia who called themselves “Mobility 2000.”2 Mobility 2000’s members developed the original strategic vision for ITS and then turned that vision into a strategic plan. As the name of the group implies, the primary focus was on mobility, with a high level of importance also placed on safety. Productivity, energy and the environment were included as secondary goals.

Mobility 2000 defined the ITS program in terms of “four broad, interrelated areas: advanced traffic management systems, advanced driver information systems, commercial vehicle operations, and advanced vehicle control systems.” 3 These four areas, with some modification, have continued to provide the structure of the ITS program ever since4. The importance of integrating across these areas was recognized from the start and the Mobility 2000 report stated that “A systems engineering prospective is key to the successful evolution of IVHS.”

“Productivity, energy and the environment were included as secondary goals”

www.thinkinghighways.com

New light through old windows

The Mobility 2000 vision has served the nation well for over 20 years. However, while many of the same problems of highway safety and congestion remain, new problems have emerged, including global warming, the need to find new transportation funding mechanisms, and an aging driver population. At the same time, new technologies hardly envisioned in 1990 have now come Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3

13

ITS into widespread use. It is time for a new round of strategic thinking, building upon what’s been learned, to develop a new vision for ITS, and a new plan to carry the program forward.

Scenario planning approach In moving forward with a new vision for ITS, it is important to take a fresh look, rather than simply extrapolating from the framework laid out over 20 years ago. Specifically, we recommend starting with strategic thinking utilizing a scenario planning approach5, prior to jumping into strategic planning. This approach starts with an external focus, looking at the major issues affecting and affected by transportation. The urgent tasks of the day often preclude spending the time to think strategically. Strategic thinking requires not just a dedicated block of time, but the ability to step back from the immediate concerns and address high level issues and ask questions that challenge fundamental assumptions. However, without this step, strategic plans are often developed with blinders, either simply examining possible next steps for existing programs, or assuming a linear extrapolation of the current environment - ie, the “if this goes on” approach. An example from the past would be a 1907 urban plan focusing on improved equine waste management, totally missing next year’s introduction of the Model T Ford.

Futureproof Another approach does recognize that the future will be different, and spends time thinking about it. However, considerable time and energy are spent determining the single most likely future environment, and then developing plans that are optimized to that future. The problem is that such plans, developed at considerable expense, lack resiliency and are useless when the future inevitably turns out to be different than the one predicted. A solution is scenario planning. Rather than trying to predict the future, one determines the key driving forces or events that are likely, and then develops divergent scenarios based on the directions those forces might take. When possible, one then develops plans that are resilient across the uncertain future landscape. Of course, sometimes the appropriate actions cannot be independent of a particular scenario. In these cases, one must begin taking action along the most expected future path, but consider contingencies and identify the “leading indicators” might be to indicate that the future environment is deviating from that path, and that it is time to consider the contingencies. The result is that even a scenario-specific strategy is implemented in a way that makes it more resilient in the face of uncertainty and change. For ITS, a small number (say, two to four) of alternate “scenarios” would be developed, based on key external trends or events that may shape both the requirements and the opportunities for transportation. These scenarios are described in the form of stories, similar to the way a Concept of Operations provides an easy to read, non-technical description of a system.

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“How would the requirements for ITS change if severe weather events become much more frequent over the next few decades?”

This approach makes the initial focus the external transportation environment, rather than simply projecting forward from the current program and near-term trends. Strategic forces that might be considered for inclusion in the scenarios include a strong push for a gas tax replacement within the next eight years, the aging driver population, gas prices going to and remaining above US$6 per gallon and climate change. One might examine climate change and ask how would the requirements for transportation systems change if severe weather events and natural disasters become much more frequent over the next several decades. From the many possible combinations of forces and events, two to four feasible combinations would be selected, and developed into scenarios. These scenarios will cover a broad range of likely futures, and promote a more flexible and resilient approach to planning. From these scenarios, one next looks at how ITS would be impacted by, and how ITS can contribute to, resolving the issues identified.

Program scope ITS is often been defined as the application of sensing, communications, and information processing technologies to improve surface transportation. This continues www.thinkinghighways.com

ITS to provide a good starting point. However, while communications and information technology can improve the movement of people or goods, the movement of information can sometimes serve as a substitute to the movement of people or goods. As we consider problems such as congestion, highway-related injuries, and carbon emissions, we can look at many ways of improving transportation systems, such as adding capacity, making travel safer, or improving the availability of information on alternative modes. However, we can also consider solutions that provide an alternative to transportation that still satisfy the original need. As the program moves forward, it is appropriate to consider this latter role within the scope of ITS. Thus, ITS in the 21st century is the application of sensing, communications, and information processing technologies to either improve or substitute for surface transportation.

Goal areas Once the program vision has been defined, it is important to set realistic, quantifiable goals for the programs, and to identify what will be required to meet these goals. These should be determined once the overall vision is defined, but one can offer initial thoughts on areas to consider. In developing the goal areas, it is useful to look at the current program as a starting point, but it is also useful to take a broader view, and consider what might be missing, or what hidden assumptions should actually be open to question. For example, is it time to consider

Craft diverging scenarios based on key but uncertain driving forces and events (Scenario planning)

Single future forecast

I T S

Extrapolation from current situation (“if this goes on…”)

Global Environment

Internally focused extrapolation (Blinders)

Approaches to Long-Range Planning www.thinkinghighways.com

Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3

15

ITS ITS Today:

Movement of People and Goods

ITS

Movement of Information

Movement of Information to improve transportation

Movement of People and Goods

Mobility 2020:

ITS

Movement of Information

Movement of Information to improve transportation or as a substitute for the movement of people or goods Program scope

more aggressive use of ITS technologies for enforcement? Should the ITS program address how technology can improve driver training, for both new and aging drivers? How will global warming affect transportation systems, and how can ITS technologies help mitigate the effects? The future goals for ITS can be categorized into eight areas: • Primary Goal Areas 1 Safety 2 Mobility and System Efficiency 3 Productivity 4 Efficiency 5 Energy and environment 6 Customer and societal satisfaction • Supporting Goal Areas 7 Systems engineering and integration 8 Institutional issues, innovations and partnerships The primary goal areas are those where ITS can provide benefits, whether to individual users, to transportation operators, and to society as a whole. The systems engineering and integration area is included because, as was pointed out by the Mobility 2000 group, it is important to integrate across the areas that comprise ITS, and without specific goals and metrics, it is too easy to develop stovepipe approaches.

Roles Saxton’s paper on the roots of IVHS3 cites a number of reasons why the ITS program took root from Mobility 2000, and why it did not take off immediately from the research done in the 60’s. One of the reasons cited for Mobility 2000’s success is the true partnership that was formed between the public sector, the private sector,

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and the academic community. Saxton writes, “today’s [ITS] program evolved from a newly found partnership between industry, universities, and state, local and federal governments… In contrast, the earlier [1960’s] program in BPR was a standard federally run research program… A lack of true partnership with industry and other government almost guaranteed no buy-in or commitment to take these systems to production and operation.” This coming together into a true consensus-based partnership is as important to the ITS program in the 21st century as it was when the IVHS act was signed in 1991. .. TH [email protected]

References 1 H.R. 2950, Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, Title 1, Part C - Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems Act. 2 Lyle Saxton, Mobility 2000 and the Roots of IVHS, www.itsdocs.fhwa.dot.gov/JPODOCS/BRIEFING/9003. pdf. 3 Mobility 2000 Presents Intelligent Vehicles and Highway Systems: 1990 Summary, ntl.bts.gov/lib/16000/ 16400/16494/PB2000104082.pdf, page 1. 4 Advanced Driver Information Systems was soon broadened to Advanced Traveler Information Systems, in order to include transit users, and Advanced Public Transit Applications and Emergency Transportation Operations were later added as additional categories, as the scope of the program broadened from the original private vehicle perspective. 5 Jay Ogilvy and Peter Schwartz, Plotting Your Scenarios, Global Business Network, www.gbn.com/ArticleDisplayServlet.srv?aid=34550. www.thinkinghighways.com

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The Thinker

The strange case of the Stunted three-legged growth stool Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

The public sector, the private sector and the universities are the triumverate of essential but often disparate ingredients in the transport community mix - but isn’t it time that we all just got along? PHIL TARNOFF thinks it is 18

Vol 3 No 3 Thinking Highways

www.thinkinghighways.com

Climate Change The Thinker Public employees are lazy and unimaginative. Private sector employees actions are based exclusively on the almighty dollar and university faculties ignore project objectives and schedules when conducting research. These insulting perceptions are neither accurate nor fair. But they are repeated here as an indication of the degree of misunderstanding that exists among the three major sectors of the transportation community; public, private and university. These statements ignore the fact that the great majority of employees within all sectors of the transportation industry work hard to achieve their common goal of improving the system within the constraints of their chosen area of employment. It is unfortunate that these opinions exist when there has never been a greater need for cooperation and collaboration within an industry that is undergoing major changes that include: • Privatization: The public sector is relying on the private sector to an increasing extent for provision of services including design, construction, operations and management. Without an appreciation of both the capabilities and limitations of the private sector, the move toward privatization will not succeed. In addition, the public sector must also develop an appreciation of the ways in which its procurement practices influence private sector performance. • Workforce development: There is a shortage of professionals trained to meet the needs of the public and private sectors. The university community which is the obvious source of supply falls short of providing both the quantity and quality of needed graduates. An understanding of the motivations and priorities of this sector of the transportation industry is important if the shortage is to be corrected. • Technology: Technology is rapidly advancing, which creates challenges for all sectors of the transportation community, all of whom would benefit from its application. An understanding of their mutual capabilities and motivations is needed to ensure that the industry takes advantage of new technologies as they become available.

When DAVID This SCHONBRUNN ment of Transportation. breadth of experience qualifies me the (or at least I think it does) to reflectof on the read April/May issue relative strengths and weaknesses of each of the three Thinking Highways felttheir sectors of the transportation community,he including cultures and their assets to suggest in which compelled toand write anways article these characteristics can be leveraged in a way that offering his own views on strengthens the overall industry.

transportation’s impacts Sectoronm characteristics and solutions for, Few, if any, individuals enter the transportation engichange neering fieldclimate with the objective of becoming multimillionaires. Instead, like most technical professions, newcomers enter the field with the vague notion of a career that offers a reliable (comfortable) income, working on interesting projects that might produce societal benefits. Although the balance of monetary rewards, interesting work and societal benefits shifts somewhat among possible transportation career paths, most of its participants are motivated by some combination of the three. It should be noted that the following discussion of industry sectors emphasizes organizations responsible for infrastructure development and operation. Many major sectors such as vehicle manufacturers, transit operators and commercial vehicle operators have been excluded to provide focus for the following discussion.

“Few enter transportation engineering with the objective of becoming multimillionaires”

A little bit of backstory For these reasons, it is important to improve the relationships among the various sectors of the transportation community. The manner in which this might be accomplished requires an intimate knowledge of their characteristics and capabilities. Viewing my transportation career of nearly 40 years, one would conclude that I have been unable to hold a job; having been a public sector employee while working for the Federal Highway Administration, a private sector employee while working for Alan M. Voorhees and Associates as well as PB Farradyne, and most recently a university employee while working for the University of Maryland. While at the University of Maryland,I have also enjoyed a close working relationship with the Maryland Departwww.thinkinghighways.com

Public sector

The public sector includes many types of organizations; the Federal Government, state and local agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, etc. In spite of their differences, they share a number of attributes, including job security, good fringe benefits and reasonable (although deteriorating) retirement benefits. Public sector salaries are generally lower than those of either the private or university sectors. With some notable exceptions, the pressures of public sector employment are relatively modest, due at least in part to the job security it offers. Public sector employment fosters an environment in which the penalties for failure exceed the rewards for success, with the result that many, (certainly not all) public sector employees have a low tolerance for the risks associated with creativity. The common denominator among the majority of public sector employees is the feeling that they are the “keepers of the public good”. In other words, since they are not influenced by the profit motive, their actions are oriented toward public service rather than avarice or personal advancement. Many have indicated that they selected the public sector career path out of a desire to contribute to the public’s welfare, and because of the ability to establish public policy – an opportunity that is not available to those in other sectors. Advancement in the public sector is based on keeping the “ship of state” sailing in untroubled waters. Rewards accrue to those who effectively perform the duties they are assigned without creating problems for their superiors. Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3

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The Thinker Private sector Private sector employment can be characterized by relatively low job security, modest fringe benefits, and long working hours. Offsetting benefits include higher salaries, and perhaps most important, the ability to create (software, reports, ideas, products, infrastructure) rather than to oversee its creation. Thus the greatest difference between public and private sectors is the public sector’s responsibility for establishing policies and programs versus the private sector’s responsibility for implementing programs and systems. The private sector is far from homogenous. The private sector includes consultants, manufacturers, and contractors, each of which offers a unique set of characteristics. To a certain degree, the cultures of these three constituents have been influenced by public sector policies. One of the most obvious areas in which this has occurred is the bid and proposal process by which firms are selected to perform work. Consultants are typically chosen using a “best value” process in which their selection is based on the quality of their proposals and the experience of their staff without evaluation of price. Contractors and suppliers are selected purely on a lowbid basis, in which a bid price is offered based on a set of technical specifications developed by the public agency. Thus, consultants tend to emphasize project delivery in a manner that meets or exceeds clients’ requirements, while contractors and suppliers tend to emphasize economic delivery of projects that meet but do not exceed the specifications. A common trait of the private sector contractors and consultants is their total reliance on their project managers. Within these organizations, the project manager is king, having been assigned responsibility for managing all aspects of a project including technical quality, client satisfaction, budget and schedule. The health of the parent organization depends completely upon the effectiveness of its project managers. Unfortunately, most project management experience is derived from on-the-job-training as opposed to formal education (although this is changing). Advancement in the private sector depends on successful project or product delivery. It is readily evaluated using financial measures – profit, growth, sales, etc.

the on-line courses from the Consortium for ITS Training and Education (CITE), and the University of Maryland’s Operations Academy. The university system is the primary source of the needed education, and in turn a major supplier of entry level employees for the transportation industry. In this role, the educational system should, ideally be one that is agile (instruction is adjusted to changing environment, technologies and priorities) and responsive (recognizing the needs of the customer). The system should also be one in which education is given a higher priority than research. Unfortunately few, if any, US universities exhibit these characteristics. Organizationally, the university management structure is the “flattest” of the three sectors being discussed. The system provides tenured faculty with a high degree of independence to pursue the research and interact with students in the manner of their choosing. Faculty evaluations assign priority to the number of refereed research papers that have been published rather than their success at educating students. To a significant degree, departmental performance is evaluated based on the number of doctoral graduates that have received teaching positions at other prestigious universities. As a result, tenured members of the faculty tend to prioritize research over education and production of PhD candidates over those with undergraduate or masters degrees. The ability of the university system to respond to the needs of the transportation profession is further hampered by cumbersome requirements for curriculum changes. The introduction of new courses is typically a time-consuming process requiring review and approval by multiple levels of university administration. Faculty members who might already be reluctant to propose the addition of new courses to a curriculum due to the effort associated with their development, are further discouraged by these bureaucratic processes. However, this does not preclude the inclusion of new or updated subject matter in existing courses, which is a decision that can be made by individual faculty members. As a result, the educational process has become one in which the universities teach the unchanging underlying fundamentals of the profession. In the case of transportation, these might include courses such as traffic flow theory, governmental structure, operations research, simulation techniques etc. Providing more specialized aspects of the education is a responsibility that has been assumed by organizations involved in training.

“The educational process has become one in which the universities teach the unchanging underlying fundamentals of the profession”

University community The transportation community requires a steady infusion of educated and trained (the two are different) personnel. Education is generally considered a formal long-term instruction related to the fundamentals of a technology. Education is provided by vocational schools and universities. Training is considered the delivery of short-term instruction related to a specific job requirement. Training may be provided by vocational schools, but is also available from sources such as the Federal Highway Administration’s National Highway Institute,

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Inter-sector perceptions So how can the transportation field be improved by developing constructive relationships that will leverage the capabilities of its participants? The following five point program is suggested: www.thinkinghighways.com

The Thinker 1) Develop the equivalent of a one year sabbatical program in which employees from one sector work as employees of another sector. Think of the benefits to the university system from the participation of individuals from either the public or private sectors who, as adjunct professors, student advisors and researchers, work on material that is relevant to the needs of their respective sectors. Think of the benefits to the public sector from the participation of private sector individuals who can provide useful financial and technical insights into the project planning process. 2) With the assistance of trade associations such as AASHTO and ITE, define workforce skills needed by the public and private sectors. Work with academia to adopt their education toward the needs that have been identified. Support the development of “transition” training that builds on the basics offered in the current curricula. 3) Address the current misunderstanding of private and public sector finances by offering shortcourses to public sector employees. The need for such training was highlighted in a recent exchange with a public sector manager who was planning a public-private partnership. The manager indicated that he did not understand or care about “how the private sector made money”, but was defining the project requirements in a manner that met the needs of his agency. The result of this activity was a multi-million dollar project that failed financially in less than five years. 4) Include private sector and university personnel in

public sector planning initiatives. Planning at all levels (strategic, operational, project, etc.) is currently a responsibility of the public sector. The planning process would benefit from the insights of the private and university sectors, which may include a broader knowledge of similar developments throughout the US (or the world), as well as their ability to provide more accurate cost and schedule estimates of the activities being planned. Broader representation in the planning process might also increase the success rate of publicprivate partnerships. 5) Critically review the procurement process as it is applied to projects and programs. There is a tendency within public agencies to take the path of least resistance – i.e. do things the way in which they’ve been done in the past. Examination of procurement alternatives from the perspective of ensuring desirable performance on the part of the proposers (or bidders) can often produce beneficial results. Procurement alternatives exist in most agencies. For example; design-build versus low bid, systems manager versus consultant, public-private partnership versus contractor, etc.

Summing up succinctly These five points offer the potential to minimize friction among the various sectors of the transportation industry, leading to a healthy and efficient industry capable of responding effectively to future demands for service. TH [email protected]

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Europe Tel: +32.2.626.11.32 Fax: +32.2.626.11.31 E-mail: [email protected]

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Climate Change Consultants When DAVID SCHONBRUNN read the April/May issue of Thinking Highways he felt compelled to write an article offering his own views on transportation’s impacts onm and solutions for, climate change

Great minds...

THINKING HIGHWAYS presents a comprehensive guide to international transport consulting. Over the next seven pages three consultants discuss how to deal with authorities on local, national and international levels in Asia-Pacific, South Africa and Europe

First, GETHIN PERRY, Principal ITS Consultant at Maunsell AECOM in Sydney, Australia looks at consulting in the Asia-Pacific region www.thinkinghighways.com

Being part of a global organisation of over 40,000 professionals and growing provides us at AECOM with an interesting insight in to the maturity of the advanced transportation management and ITS sector around the world. Our regular global co-ordination sessions help us to understand the different position, needs of each market and to develop strategies that support the varying needs of our clients. A recent discussion on moving away from the term ITS to emphasising the goals and objectives of advanced transportation and network operations management was supported by Europe and Australia but was judged inappropriate for North America. For us this reflects the relative maturity of the industry Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3

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Consultants in each market, and the position of each in the policystrategy-research-deploy-operate life cycle. Across AECOM we share a common vision of improving the operation and management of our transport networks through the application of advanced transportation management techniques, but our approach and skills offered in each market responds to the demands and maturity of that market. In the mature North America our focus is on the deployment and implementation of systems; in an arguably less mature European market our focus is on developing operational and business solutions; whilst in the immature Australian market we are providing thought leadership and long-term vision whilst moving towards developing operational and business solutions.

Far and wide This is not to suggest that each market operates solely in one area, North America is investing huge sums in research and Europe has a large base of installed systems and comprehensive deployment programme with advances of global significance.Whilst in Australia there is a gap between legacy investments in urban traffic control systems (SCATS, etc) and traffic management centres in the capital cities and an immature policy environment that is not setting the agenda for the application and exploitation of advanced transportation management techniques. The personal and organisation knowledge that exists within the Australian states roads authorities is extensive. Consequently they have the skills required to deploy traffic management systems, even to the extent that they have the resources to design, develop, manufacture and install their own hardware. This can often put them in the interesting position of competing against the private sector for their own contracts. However, what the authorities themselves and the transport ministries to which they report are telling us is that they lack a comprehensive understanding of the advanced transportation management options available to them, the benefits that they could realise, and the strategy to bring them forward. Consequently, the approach that we are adopting in Australia is two fold and focuses on providing thought leadership derived from the international experience of our local team and international colleagues: top down promotion and agenda setting with transport ministers; and bottom up development of strategies and visions with the leaders of the transport authorities. The first challenge is to get advanced transportation management techniques on to the agenda of government and decision makers. In recent years Australia has been in period of infrastructure expansion, building the motorways (usually tolled PPP) and expressways needed to support a sustained economic expansion. However, there is a growing realisation that physical infrastructure is not the only solution and may not be the optimal solution. Continued congestion, particularly in CBDs, increasing fuel prices and a growing concern about the environment are changing the political landscape.

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Multilinguistics Through an ability to speak the same language as the decision makers we have begun to set the scene for the development of the policies and strategies that can be delivered through advanced transportation management. In particular Philip Davies, our Director of Transport Planning and Advisory (Australia, New Zealand, and Asia) and formerly Director of Traffic Operations at Transport for London, has the crucial background of developing and implementing similar strategies in one of the most challenging political and urban environments in the world. The position of our clients and markets presents interesting challenges and frequently requires us to work across borders to; identify best practice; learn lessons; outline benefits; and adapt ideas to local requirements rather than simply transplant them. Some examples of where we have done this include: • Council of Australian Governments, Standing Committee of Transport, Urban Congestion Management Working Group – developed an evaluation framework in order to identify successful, applicable and cost-effective new technologies and road management practices that address congestion on urban arterials; • Victorian Department of Infrastructure – identified and investigated policy options to change transport usage and behaviour and reduce transport energy use; • VicRoads – identifying how existing operational initiatives contribute to high level government congestion and traffic management strategies and develop a vision and framework for aligning traffic operations with the strategies.

Mix and match On these and other projects where we are working at a more operational level to plan, procure and implement systems we seamlessly blend the right mix of skills and experience from: local professionals with an in-depth appreciation of our client’s business; locally based professionals with international experience of planning and implementing advanced transportation management; and the international pool of experts from our European and American businesses. In developing our approach to the challenges we aim to do the following: • Demonstrate a detailed understanding of our client’s business; • Clearly and accurately define the issues that our client faces; • Identify solutions to those issues; • Adapt international experience to the local environment; and • Develop an implementation framework. We perceive that the field of advanced transportation management is at the threshold of significant expansion in Australia and New Zealand. The work that we are doing now is assisting our clients to set the scene for that expansion, and positioning them to make the most appropriate and efficient investments to intelligently deliver the improvements to transport that support public mobility and the economy. TH www.thinkinghighways.com

Consultants

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Consultants

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Consultants

ANDREW PICKFORD works all over the world and has consulted for multinational organisations. Here though, he focuses on his work in South Africa In the run-up to the FIFA World Cup 2010, South Africa is now in the transport limelight. It has the challenge of developing its attractiveness as a safe haven for foreign direct investment whilst developing its own regionally and internationally competitive industries and empowering home grown engineers and managers to fill the skills shortage that the country currently faces. International rates are not affordable by most government institutions and procurement rules make it difficult to justify employing international expertise. This balancing act is reflected in the procurement practises for professional engineers and management consultants to work client side in large integrated public works programmes – on roads, rail, ports and airports infrastructure. South Africa has shown its ability to innovate through design in many engineering sectors, in particular the emerging ITS industry has benefited from technologies that had their roots in the country’s defence industry. Amongst many examples, pioneering location-based applications are underpinned by best-in-class GIS systems and comprehensive digital mapping. The wireless communications industry is competitive and in many parts of SA provides essential services where it would take too long to install fixed lines. South Africa is also undergoing EMV migration that will enable e-payment on many transport modes.

Transition and learning In this transition phase, the norm is to employ small teams within government that selectively procure local and international consultants to bootstrap large procurements for services, for example infrastructure development and downstream ITS application. The responsibility for programme management is devolved to a greater degree than in developed countries such as the UK. Consequently, the selection of competent contractors to operate its airports or roads (for example) is critical and the use of Service Level Agreements that describe KPIs are then equally important to ensure that delivery quality targets are met throughout the contract duration to preserve risk allocations. Long-term strategic planning to ensure best value has never been more important to a country that is often regarded as setting the standard for other developing nations in Africa where, for cultural reasons, planning horizons have been much shorter. Each of these ambitious projects (there are many more) places an additional burden on national and regional government transportation authorities. This pressure can help drive up the efficiency by which national and local government agencies can meet deadlinesbut which could also increase the risk of prowww.thinkinghighways.com

gramme delays and adversely impact the quality of programme management. South Africa has a strategic need to nurture, upgrade and retain its own competences in systems design and programme management – these ‘soft’ assets are often forgotten when we look at ITS success stories worldwide. Having a high quality fleet of buses does not make a bus service and having high quality roads does not make a transportation system - as many developing countries have found to their cost. Furthermore, the classical model of upgrading a nation’s infrastructure suggests that local innovation is best. Simply buying ready-made solutions as templates from other countries or cities will not work. Johannesburg is not London and Cape Town is not Bogotá. Consultants take note.

Early signs, mostly good The momentum behind the preparations for 2010 has generated many news stories that show that the country can specify, procure and manage many large scale, competitively tendered projects that meet local needs, in many cases funded and operated by the private sector with accompanying levels of risk as part of in return for operating concessions. Not all news has been good though – the bold attempts to recapitalise (upgrade) the nation’s fleet of informal taxi services at a cost of R7m (€0.8m) has met resistance although by 2010 should result in about 80 per cent of the fleet being replaced with newer and safer vehicles. In May 2008 the Department of Transport, through the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) awarded the final contract of its R11.9 billion for the initial construction phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) to upgrade and extend the Gauteng highway network – all funded through the issue of government-backed bonds. SANRAL intends to procure a related MLFF ETC system with a national back office and operating concession by early 2009. The implementation of Bus Rapid Transit in Johannesburg, the rapidly developing Gautrain link to the OR Tambo International Airport and a new airport link proposed for Cape Town are all helping to fuel market interest that is expected to drive growth in South African professional consulting companies, initially enabled through a mix of local and imported skills.

Facing the long term So, the current stock of high profile ITS projects provides South Africa with a good opportunity to show that design and programme delivery competence can compete internationally. When the final whistle has blown on the next World Cup the long-term challenge will be to maintain and develop this further. TH Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3

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Consultants

IAN CATLING explains the benefits and potential pitfalls of working for the European Commission (and in the UK) as a small consultancy

My company, the Ian Catling Consultancy (ICC) has just celebrated 25 years of working in ITS. I gave up my post at SIA in July 1983 to work on the first Hong Kong Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) Pilot Project, and effectively established the Ian Catling Consultancy then. At the time I was assured that I could return to my ‘proper job’ at the end of the Hong Kong project, but in the end I decided that the new area of what was then called “Road Transport Informatics” (RTI – which is actually the ‘rti’ in the European ITS coordination organisation ERTICO) offered exciting and challenging opportunities for an independent consultancy. At its peak, ICC employed about 10 people, but I have preferred to work with an even smaller core team and use a network of other independent expert consultants who can be available often at short notice and who are prepared to work hard (as well as being, hopefully, quite bright, hard work is, I think, one of the key requirements for anyone considering setting up on their own). For many years my right-hand man was Richard Harris, well-known to many readers as a leading light in ITS at WSP, and Overseas Director for ITS UK (not to mention a fairly regular contributor to Thinking Highways).

Something to get our teeth into

An uneven playing field? Lots of our work has also been with the UK Government, especially with the Department of Transport (or any of the five or six other names that it’s had in the last couple of decades). I think the Government has always ‘played strictly by the rules’ but, as with the Commission, it’s become both more competitive and harder to get contracts as a small firm. In fact the way in is often to be partnered with one or more of the larger firms who are able to bid for framework contracts. But just being part of a successful framework team doesn’t actually guarantee you any work! When ITS was finding its feet at the end of the 1980s and start of the 1990s, there was a small number of specialist consultancies who were able to offer relatively rare expertise and experience in ITS. Now ITS is a much bigger area and includes many multi-million dollar enterprises. There is still a role for the small specialist consultancy, but we are now much smaller fishes in a much bigger ocean. TH

“In order to receive the advance payment you must tie up that amount of money in hock to the bank, so there’s really no point in having it”

At the end of the 1980s the European Commission was putting together the ‘DRIVE’ research programme: ICC helped to develop the programme, and during the 1990s we led and coordinated some of the key projects which sowed the seeds for what are now (at last!) real products and services. Navigation is perhaps the most obvious of these in the mass market, but the other main area in which ICC has remained involved is electronic charging, where there is arguably a glimmer of light for the achievement of what the interoperability directive calls the ‘European Electronic Toll Service’ (EETS). Working with the Commission is rather more constrained these days than it was then. Despite the Commission’s well-stated aims to encourage SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) to participate in European projects, I find it now almost impossible for a small company like ICC to put together the type of consortium which will win through what are usually very competitive bidding processes. This is partly because most of the big consultancy companies now have their own ITS expertise and teams, but also because the funding process is much more difficult now. One of our main projects over the last couple

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of years has been RCI (Road Charging Interoperability), in which ICC is a partner. While the Commission still retains the concept of an ‘advance payment’ (it always was conceptual rather than actual, because it usually arrived when you were about six months into the project), you now are required to provide a bank guarantee which, for a small firm like ours, effectively means that in order to receive the advance payment you must tie up that amount of money in hock to the bank, so there’s really no point in having it. Given the long lead times for these projects, we had actually been working for nearly three years before we received a single penny (or euro-cent). Of course we don’t work in these projects just for the money – but it would help if it wasn’t quite so difficult to get!

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Gethin Perry is Principal ITS Consultant at Maunsell AECOM in Sydney, Australia and can be contacted at [email protected] Ian Catling is Principal of Ian Catling Consultancy in Chipstead, UK and can be contacted at [email protected] Andrew Pickford is Principal of Transport Technology Consultants based in Cambridge, UK and can be contacted at [email protected] www.thinkinghighways.com

Consultants

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Cover Feature: ERGS

Stunted growth Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

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Climate Change Cover Feature: ERGS

Your eyes have not deceived you.That is indeed a photograph of an ugly, old, rusting roadside cabinet disfigured by graffiti, but as PAUL NAJARIAN (and later DAN BRAND) explains, it’s where ITS was born...

The inspiration for this article arose during a recent visit by to Washington, DC, by Thinking Highways’ editor-in-chief, Kevin Borras. In the US for H3B Media’s series of Think Tanks around the Memorial Day holiday and with his hotel located near the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), I couldn’t let yet another of his visits to our nation’s capital pass by without us taking a detour down Old Dominion Drive, in McLean, VA to visit a shrine of the ITS program: a remnant of the ERGS system (Electronicl Route Guidance System). The cover photograph of this issue (as well as those that illustrate this story) shows what is probably the last existing ERGS cabinet. It is located in the Southeast corner of Old Dominion Drive and Birch Road, in Fairfax County (VA); unused, derelict and a mystery to its neighbors. The intent of the article, though, is not to provide a technical overview of the ERGS system, or to embark on a journey down memory lane. It is also not intended to look at the specific lessons learned from this experimental system. Its intention is to draw comparisons with its 21st century successor.

A precursor On the eve of the ITS World Congress in New York City, one can easily substitute the ERGS acronym from the published papers of the late 1960s and early ‘70s with that of the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) program, as nothing major has changed conceptually in terms of the delivery of ITS information from a roadside infrastructure to the vehicle. www.thinkinghighways.com

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Cover Feature: ERGS was similar (but not identical) to ERGS in terms of the use inductive loops for roadside to vehicle communications. By 1979, Japan’s CACS project, which used more than 1,000 probe vehicles in a large footprint, unlike ERGS’ two intersections, finally validated the feasibility of the ERGS concept. In turn, it also launched Japan’s IVHS program.

All photos by Kevin Borras

Satnav, circa 1969

In the course of our research, we found that dozens of publications, articles and videos on the ERGS remain available in the archives of TFHRC. One would only hope that the ERGS fate does not befall the VII program. All that remains of ERGS now is a rusty cabinet on a secondary road, spilling open, displaying its innards and covered with ivy. It is our hope that the success of the VII demos at the ITS World Congress will usher a new era of large scale deployment, rather than leaving the demo’s assets at the mercy of the weather, vandals and graffiti artists along the streets and highways of New York City.

Sound familiar? In the late 1960s, ERGS was designed by General Motors, through its Delco Radio division, in Kokomo, Indiana. The contract, through the Bureau of Public Roads, was based on a three stage project, culminating with the installation of ERGS at 100 intersections throughout the Washington (DC) metropolitan area. In 1971, the effort was terminated only after two intersections due to congressional inquiries regarding the cost and need for such a system. The ERGS system was extremely visionary for its time and it involved all the founders and early pioneers of the IVHS program. It is considered to be the genesis of the IVHS program in the US and, possibly, in Japan. In 1973, Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) initiated the Comprehensive Automobile Traffic Control System (CACS). The CACS project

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The basic concept of ERGS was to provide in-vehicle, directional route-guidance to the driver. The system included an in-vehicle unit consisting of a display or console, a data entry device and a roadside communications unit providing two-way data communications. The driver would initially enter pre-selected origin and destination information. As the vehicle approached an ERGS-equipped intersection, additional route-guidance information would be already computed by a central computer, transmitted via the loop detector, and displayed as directional arrows in the vehicle display. The roadside unit was in constant communication with the central computer in order to receive new route guidance information based on real-time traffic conditions. In lieu of advanced, high-speed and wideband wireless communications such as Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), the roadside to vehicle communications consisted of a basic inductive loop detector using near field communications, connected to the radio systems and electronic circuitry located in the cabinet of the roadside unit. Since no “killer application” was ever identified for the ITS program, one could argue that any roadside-tovehicle ITS application requiring two-way data communications, including those identified for VII, could have been made available via ERGS, albeit at a snail’s pace. As the ITS program evolved, and new user services and applications were added, the concept of downloading or transferring point-to-point data or information has remained relatively stable, whether for ERGS from 1968 to 1971 or for VII in 2008. The major changes or advances that have occurred are those in the field of wireless transmission, which allows for higher data rates across a wider bandwidth. This, in turn, simply translates into larger amounts of data at a higher speed for VII, as compared to ERGS.

Congressional wish As we approach New York’s turn to host the ITS World Congress, let us not replace the ERGS acronym with that of VII. Let us deploy more than two intersections. May the VII demonstration assets along the streets and highways of New York City become fully operational, rather than evolve into a derelict, mysterious, roadside eyesore that is only ever noticed during TRB when busloads of largely Japanese ITS professsionals come and pay homage to their industry’s spiritual source. And let us hope that a new visionary administration and Congress ensure funding and deployment, so that VII is not left to waste and rust by the side of the road, as ERGS did. TH [email protected] www.thinkinghighways.com

Cover Feature: ERGS

Tales from the frontline If this was an article about the first moon landing, a first-hand account from a journalist who was at the Kennedy Space Center on 20 July 1969 would add unquestionable value to the story. DAN BRAND was the author of some of the first articles about ERGS back in the early 1970s and was the founding chair of the TRB ITS committee in the late 1980s... ERGS was a part of the magical 1960s when the technological fix was on and we assumed we could invent our way out of our social problems. We looked at all the functions of traffic control and information, and laid out the electronic (computer) solutions that would facilitate, or take each of them over, singly and in optimal combinations. Little did we know that the hardest problems were institutional, not technological. For example, I worked on (digital) computer traffic signal systems in several cities in the US and Europe in the 1960s and they worked well when we passionate developers of these first generation large scale systems were operating them. But then, when they were taken over by others, they fell into disuse (e.g., became large, expensive, fixed-time systems) because the public will just wasn’t there to maintain them. And with ERGS, we came up with some prototypes in the laboratory in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, but by the mid- to late 70s, the promise of the technological fix was fading.The death knell was the Reagan Administration, when “anything Government could do was much better done by private industry.” The mantra was, “if it’s worth doing, private industry will do it.” Also, through the ‘80s and much of the ‘90s, the highway lobby fought the technological fix to our transportation problems because they saw a threat that operational improvements would substitute for physical capacity increases to our national transportation system (ie, construction dollars). I know this, because as the founding chair and organizer of TRB`s Task Force on “Advanced Transportation Technologies” in 1988, and later the founding Chair of the IVHS/ITS Committee in 1992, I was yelled at and hounded by highway lobbyists during that time! Unfortunately, I still think that the promise of ATIS (we now call it) remains unfulfilled and largely unrecognized. People think that ATIS will reduce observably measured travel times on our transportation networks, when its promise is that it will greatly increase the more difficult to measure benefit, customer satisfaction. Increases in customer satisfaction will result when we are able to schedule our trips with some certainty as to the time and cost of travel, and the benefits from our activities at our trip ends. With this certainty, we will also make much more efficient use of our transportation system, with all the additional benefits this entails. It is the behavioral changes which result from improved, reliable information that are key to the benefits of ATIS, both to individuals and to society! (For more on measuring these benefits, I`d refer people to my paper in TRB Record 1651 (1998), Applying Benefit/Cost Analysis to Identify and Measure the Benefits of ITS.) www.thinkinghighways.com

FOOTNOTE Since these articles were written, the ERGS cabinet in McLean has been removed. Several investigations have lead down blind alleys, leading to the assumption that one of these four scenarios has occurred. 1) it has been thrown away in the mistaken belief that it was trash and is still in a dump somewhere in Virginia, awaiting rescue. 2) It has been thrown away in the mistaken belief that it was trash and is now lost forever in a landfill. 3) VDOT or Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center have removed it with the intention of preserving it. 4) It has been stolen and will soon appear on eBay. If anyone does have an idea of what has happened to this fascinating piece of US transportation history, please email us at [email protected] Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3

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Looking good Stunted growth Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities Screenshot of footage being processed through Citysync’s JetBase software using the Fox HD camera

DONNA BLAKE and BOB BYERLY on why the automatic licence plate recognition market’s recent upturn is good news for everyone... 34

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Climate Change ALPR When DAVID SCHONBRUNN read the April/May issue of Thinking Highways he felt compelled to write an article offering his own views on transportation’s impacts onm and solutions for, climate change

Citysync’s Fox High Definition ANPR Camera

Licence Plate Recognition has been around for over 10 years as a viable, commercial product but we have seen a dramatic uptake in the technology over the last five years in the world of Traffic Monitoring. CitySync (www.citysyncamericas.com) is a UK headquartered company rapidly gaining traction and credentials in the US and have just opened an office in Houston, Texas. They have been in existence since 1999 and have a very competent technical team to help plan, test and pilot projects using their own in-house developed software and hardware. Their frontline people are all ‘hands-on’ with their products and they typically work through a trained network of approved partner system integrators but are able to offer initial consultancy directly with local DOTs. CitySync have successfully delivered 14,000 lanes of ALPR across the globe and have an unrivalled reputation for excellent customer support. Right now they are looking for Traffic Systems Integrators to partner up with across the US.

Time is of the essence The whole LPR industry has really come of age as a result of faster processors, advanced ALPR camera technology that can capture license tags 24/7 and the general acceptance of the ITS industry. Couple this with the twoto four-car families and congestion on roads and travel time information systems are a top priority. What is interesting is that LPR is replacing often very low-tech in-road sensors that only cost a few cents each but they are very expensive to install as they need to be embedded in the road which is also very disruptive to traffic. ALPR Cameras are deployed either roadside, on outriggers or from a bridge, and can cover one or more traffic lanes from a single camera. The processing of the captured plates can either be www.thinkinghighways.com

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ALPR

Citysync’s Silverbird PC

done in the camera, or roadside depending on the system requirements. The results can then be transmitted on any available, suitable medium using fiber/cable or wireless/GPRS. Simple or more complex travel time analysis can be delivered to suit user requirements. Vehicle counts and speed can also be provided from the ALPR system.

Sharing the cost with the police... However, don’t miss the opportunity to discuss your plans with your local or State Police to take an interest and help share the infrastructure budget cost, as they are the other significant LPR user. Police use of LPR systems are growing very fast as they have found that stolen or otherwise wanted vehicles and drivers with outstanding warrants etc are much easier to catch when ALPR system can match every plate against police databases. Law Enforcers can also utilize the ‘captured event log’ of all vehicles and rapidly search against this list for terrorism or crime suspects who were present in an area when a crime was perpetrated, look for potential witnesses etc, all after the event.

Accuracy It may seem obvious, but the key to Automatic License Plate Recognition is accuracy. There are many ALPR providers in the USA but the number one issue on the checklist before deciding on which installer to go with must be how accurate recognition rates are. And, you cannot necessarily rely on what any company rep may say. Unlike other items you may buy for business or to fulfil a client’s need, there is some degree of risk associated and you need to know your facts. For example, it is very common for LPR vendors to be asked the questions “what is your percentage accu-

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racy?” Now it may be reasonable to assume that if a vehicle has no plate or if a plate is damaged then we should omit this from any answer that might be given to this question, but it may surprise you to know that when accuracy figures are quoted e.g. 75 per cent or 90 per cent what is meant (but not necessarily readily communicated) is that this ‘accuracy’ figure is based on getting two or three digits wrong on a license plate. We all know that US plates are not the best in the world (sad but true) as the quality and paint finish is often easily damaged or worn away by the sun, weather and salt on winter roads. It is also reasonable that if we are reading rear license plates, as many States do not have front plates, then we have to contend with tow hitches that may make it impossible to read all of the characters, but there still is a lot of smoke and mirrors in the LPR world.

Camera technology For the record, it is generally not possible to make use of existing CCTV camera technology for LPR purposes. Whilst CitySync has many downtown CCTV Systems where legacy CCTV hardware is in use for LPR, this is for daytime use only and the cameras have pre-set positions to cover city centre intersections and, where the camera shutter speed can be set to at least 1/500th to 1/1000th of a second depending on traffic speeds. This scenario is less common now as users tend to be more educated about the camera end of the business and want their systems to capture plates 24/7 and this is not possible with a standard color CCTV camera. TH To learn more about CitySync’s ‘ALPR YOU CAN TRUST’ please contact: Donna Blake, Marketing Manager or Bob Byerly,VP of Business Development by email at [email protected] or call 832 369 7502 www.thinkinghighways.com

ALPR

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Intelligent CCTV

A great way to see Stunted the city growth There are many issues associated with the use of closed-circuit television for transportation surveillance purposes. BRUCE ABERNETHY looks at some of the major points and assesses CCTV’s Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET strengths (and weaknesses) PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

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Climate Change Intelligent CCTV It seems that everyone is deploying Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) to support security, operations management, or both. This includes jurisdictions state, county, city and school districts as well as different agencies within the jurisdictions from transportation/traffic, public works, to emergency management. Unfortunately there is limited coordination between jurisdictional agencies. The reason is that Federal funding sources are different. Emergency Management receives its funding from the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Traffic Management receives its funding via the Federal Highway Administration (and the Environmental Protection Agency). Transit Agencies receive their funding via the Federal Transit Agency. Public Works receives funding through a variety of sources, including fees for public utilities and funding through DHS for protection of critical infrastructure. This results in limited coordination between agencies and increased deployment cost for surveillance CCTV within a jurisdiction. Emergency Management is deploying CCTV along streets with high crime rates and at jurisdictional owned, public entertainment centers. Traffic deploys CCTV along major corridors having high congestion and at intersections that have a high accident rate. Public transit agencies deploy CCTV at bus stops and transfer locations, in park-and-ride lots and even on their public transit vehicles. Public Work may deploy CCTV cameras in parks and in areas to provide security to jurisdictional water and waste water processing and distribution system, electric facilities (if jurisdictional owned), jurisdictional vehicle service centers, and other critical infrastructure supported by them.

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Intelligent CCTV School districts are deploying surveillance cameras within schools, in school parking areas, within operating centers for school buses and even on the buses themselves. Intelligent Transportation Systems deployment, usually managed by the jurisdictional traffic engineering department, includes a management center linked to field sensors, traffic signal controllers, and traveler messaging devices via a modern, metropolitan area network (MAN). Most jurisdictions have either transitioned to an Ethernet MAN or are in the process of upgrading an old, narrow bandwidth network to wide band Ethernet. If properly designed, this network should be capable of providing a communications path back to jurisdictional management centers for CCTV video meeting all city agency requirements. Deployment of IP-video compatible CCTV cameras and a network supporting multicast allows all jurisdictional centers to share critical surveillance video. Traffic generally has a communications node at an intersection utilizing a hardened Ethernet switch with multiple Ethernet ports. A mid-block CCTV required by police can easily be linked to the intersection, hardened switch via wireless Ethernet. By appropriately integrating jurisdictional CCTV surveillance requirements, greater effectiveness can be achieved across jurisdictional agencies at less cost. Interoperability between jurisdictional operations centers provides synergy needed to rapidly respond to a major emergency with coordinated resources.

Does CCTV deter criminals? The answer to this question depends on the criminal act. As we have seen in London, terrorist are not deterred by CCTV. In their warped minds, becoming a martyr, killing many innocent people and causing major destruction to infrastructure is their primary objective. They well plan their actions and rapidly execute their plans. Surveillance CCTV is useful to identify the terrorist after the horrific event, but usually is not a deterrent. While it may be possible for surveillance cameras to identify suspicious activity and to perhaps for law enforcement to apprehend the terrorist before they act, this success has been limited. Perhaps this is because terrorist are well trained and are taught to “blend in”. This is not the case with the common criminal that is intent on robbery and with those who just want to vandalize property. They are concerned about being identified by surveillance cameras and are perhaps less skilled in rapid execution of the crime. This is proven out by crime statistics. The Dallas Morning News (DMN) published an article (3-22-08; pp A1 & A11) entailed “Cities Keep an Electronic Eye on Crime” (by A. Abshire and T. Eiserer) and discussed the success of CCTV deployment by police in reducing crime. The article stated: • Camera deployment in the Dallas CBD is attributed to reducing crime by 12 per cent and increasing arrest by 9 per cent (2006 versus 2007)

• With CCTV deployment in the 62 Block of Jubilee Park neighborhood, crime was reduced by 13 per cent and arrest were up by 21 per cent (same time period). • In Deep Ellum area (an old part of Dallas converted to an entertainment area where crime has continued to grow) where CCTV cameras were deployed resulted in a 96 per cent reduction of violent crimes against people and a 48 per cent reduction in property crimes. • Deployment of CCTV cameras in North Richland Park Estates resulted in a reduction of crime from 2.4 per week to 0.08 per week. These statistics clearly show the benefits of CCTV deployment in reducing common crimes within a city and to improve arrest success.

“Within a year, HDTV will have migrated into the surveillance market”

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Emerging trend One emerging trend is the deployment of CCTV cameras to prevent crimes in residential neighborhoods. Neighborhood organizations are funding the deployment of CCTV cameras and paying a security service to monitor the

cameras. The DMN article indicates that there are 12 communities in the Dallas area that have now deployed CCTV cameras to reduce crime. Thus there will be a growing business for companies to not only offer home security sensor monitoring service but also monitoring of neighborhood CCTV surveillance sensors. Yes, there are those that cry, invasion of privacy and yes there is some concern in residential neighborhoods about “virtual peeping Toms” as cameras scan by www.thinkinghighways.com

Intelligent CCTV windows of houses with curtains, blinds or shades open. While there are certainly cameras with programmable privacy zones, there becomes a question as related to the crime deterrent effectiveness of the camera with privacy zones set up on both sides of a street. Also the emerging trend is the need for high resolution. Police want to be able to see the details of a crime, such as passing of drugs and receiving money, plus the ability to positively identify those involved. They need adequate image resolution to support prosecution of criminals in courts of law. The trend will be towards HDTV cameras. These are now available in the Camcorder market and will be migrating into the environmentalized surveillance camera market, most likely within one year. This will have an impact on ITS communications planners who should not only consider that the deployment density of CCTV surveillance cameras will increase but so will the required communications bandwidth to support HDTV. The bandwidth requirements of compressed, digital HDTV is approximately three times that required for standard definition TV (SDTV).

Summary CCTV deployment has been proven for years to improve the ability of traffic engineers to manage traffic and to identify and coordinate response to incidents. Now we have proof that CCTV surveillance cameras reduce

crime. The success of CCTV camera deployment by law enforcement in reducing crime is supporting the emergence of private businesses devoted to providing neighborhood security and funded by the residence of the neighborhood. Security monitoring seems to be affordable as retired law enforcement personnel are offering their services. Certainly privacy issues must be resolved and certainly communications network planning in jurisdictions must consider the needs for increased communications bandwidth needs to support advances in surveillance video. TH Bruce Abernethy is Principal of Arcadis-US and can be contacted via email at [email protected]

Traffic Control where you need it, when you need it.


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Automated Enforcement

Stunted growth Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

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Climate Change Automated Enforcement Although photo radar is both popular and successful in Europe and Australia, there has been an apparent reluctance within the USA to adopt this means of enforcement. However, as NICKI BRADLEY suggests, that may no longer be the case The USA has largely chosen not to adopt automated enforcement but is there a change on the horizon? The State of Arizona is home to two key photo radar companies and interestingly both have recently been pitted against each other in a State-wide photo enforcement program. Chicago has announced an extension to its speed camera program launched in 2006 whilst Colorado State legislature has also recently given its approval to use cameras to enforce speed in work zones. In total around 35 cities currently used photo radar. Politics, inevitably, have had a part to play in the decision-making progress. There is the story of a politician whom, it is reported, earlier this year performed a rapid and surprising U-turn in his opinions of photo radar, allegedly influenced by a lobbyist in the pay of a photo radar company. Maybe, on this occasion the lobbyist was able to produce a strong enough case to persuade the politician - certainly lobbyists have a powerful voice in the corridors of power.

Democrats for change? The United States is built on a foundation of liberty, equality and justice for all which is reflected in both the Constitution and Bill of Rights. In the world’s strongest democratic State the voice of the voter carries much weight. With decisions made at State level rather than nationally, it is a brave leader who will risk incurring the wrath of the local electorate and future votes by introducing unpopular bills. Throughout the world, the introduction of automated enforcement cameras has been met with comparisons to George Orwell’s 1984 totalitarian state with public surveillance likened to the Big Brother cameras. Rather than being seen as a means of protection, protesters claim that the cameras track movement and limit freedom. Those claiming that photo radar infringe civil liberties site the presumption of innocence until found guilty is turned on its head by automated enforcement. Indeed, the assumption is that the vehicle’s registered keeper is guilty of committing the offence unless they can prove otherwise is prevalent in many States. www.thinkinghighways.com

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Automated Enforcement The againsts Opponents see photo radar as a means of generating revenue, a “stealth tax” on the unsuspecting public. The deployment of the cameras can influence opinions here. Some countries opt to warn motorists that photo radar is in operation giving them the option to slow down to the posted speed limit if they are exceeding it before they actually reach the camera. In the UK, fixed cameras are painted a bright luminescent yellow to make them more obvious. Other countries choose to be less open and honest in their deployment with cameras even being cunningly disguised as trash cans or hidden in trees or bushes. So are these cameras as sinister as their opponents would suggest? Are they there purely to make money and restrict our freedom? Supporters say not. The purpose of the speed enforcement camera is exactly that, to enforce speed. Photo radar is already being used quite extensively across America to enforce red light intersections and where it is deployed there has been a reduction in the number of side impact or t-bone collisions. Speed cameras can reduce the number of crashes on the road. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report sponsored the review of 13 published studies reporting on injury crashes showed a reduction of between 20 and 25 per cent for fixed camera sites and 21 to 51 per cent reduction in crashes where mobile cameras were deployed. (Decina, L.E.; Thomas, L.; Srinivasan, R.; and Staplin, L. 2007.

Automated enforcement: a compendium of worldwide evaluations of results.Washington DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.) The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the US provide a great deal of statistical information supporting the use of automated enforcement. The Institutes sites the City of Maryland as one positive example of speed camera enforcement, their studies indicated that six months after the introduction of cameras to residential areas and school zones in 2007, the number of drivers exceeding the speed limit by more than 10mph had decreased by 70 per cent.

British example In the UK, where they have been in use since the early 1990s there are around 6,000 speed cameras, 2,500 of which are mobile units. In the period 2003-2004 alone more than 1.8m speeding offences were recorded by these cameras; that’s an average of 300 offences per camera per year. Automated cameras are effective at freeing up often over-stretched police resources for other aspects of law enforcement. Where police officers are required to verify offences,evidence from a number of cameras can be reviewed at any given time in offence processing centre – something that cannot be achieved by the police officer out on his motorcycle or in his cruiser. Speed enforcement technology is constantly developing, new average speed time over distance systems are being developed. Using Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) in the cameras vehicles are identified as they enter a measured stretch of road and once again as they leave the road. The systems calculate the average speed of the vehicle over the stretch of road for enforcement. Already in use in the UK, indications are that there is a greater compliance from drivers as there is no benefit to be had in slowing down when passing the camera, speeding up once again when out of range. Such systems can be deployed on highways, school zones or residential streets, any road that has an entry and exit point. Vendors are constantly working to improve existing systems and develop new technology to make roads a safer place for drivers.

“With a great deal of contradictory research available it is difficult for the layman to make an informed decision”

What’s next? No doubt the debate will continue as to whether the cameras deter offenders, with a great deal of contradictory research available it is difficult for the layman to make an informed decision. Maybe it is time to start an education program giving the public all the information needed to make the choice photo radar or not photo radar. Will the USA continue with its reluctance to use photo radar? It is unlikely, as communities become more and more safety-conscious the benefits of the safety cameras will surely outweigh the fears of the detractors. TH

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ALPR

All-in-one imaging systems can be rapidly and inexpensively deployed – either with or without built-in ALPR engines

All for one, one for all All-in-one video imaging systems can help streamline deployment of ALPR capabilities – if they have the right stuff. FRANK LONG takes the leaner route to ALPR... Automated license plate reading (ALPR) is an essential element of many different types of intelligent traffic systems. Whether being used in isolation, to identify vehicles for tolling, congestion charging, or other applications, or being used for video enforcement in transponderbased systems, ALPR provides the essential ingredient needed to link vehicles and their owners to billing, tickwww.thinkinghighways.com

eting, and other back-office functions. Not surprisingly, governmental agencies and other roadway operators are finding more and more potential uses for ALPR to help them realize projects that increase transportation revenues, reduce traffic congestion and lessen environmental impacts. This desire for more widespread ALPR has created a growing need for vehicle imaging systems capable of Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3

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ALPR providing the high quality, precisely-captured images needed for efficient plate reading. Traditional video enforcement systems (VES), which utilize toll plazas, ground loops, lane controllers, and multi-component network infrastructures, still provide the best performing solution for feeding the ALPR application with high quality images. But these systems generally require significant investments in time and money to properly construct and deploy. While this approach is warranted in many traditional tolling setups, there is an increasing number of newer applications, such as HOT/ HOV lanes, congestion charging, and open road tolling, which have roadway operators looking for a leaner alternative – one that is faster to deploy and less costly than traditional vehicle imaging systems.

And there’s still the problem of manual effort to remove false or multiple triggers caused by the contours of certain vehicles, including trucks, convertibles, and others with non-standard profiles. On the other hand, systems that use software to analyze every image in a free running video stream must struggle to balance a variety of “readability” factors, such as contrast, size, and position in the frame, as they attempt to select plate images from the stream. Again, the result is often an unacceptable percentage of images selected as optimal by the pattern recognition software but deemed “unreadable” by the ALPR software. One method that is providing performance approaching that of traditional loop-based systems is the innovative, patent pending self-triggering technology being used in JAI’s IIT Camera System. This system contains built-in optical sensors that analyze IR light reflected from passing vehicles to create a “virtual” trigger line to tell the camera precisely when to capture an image based on the position of the vehicle. Unlike free-running video approaches, there’s no waiting for the next available frame. This combination of virtual triggering and on-demand image capture, results in more consistent positioning of the plate within the field of view, which provides the ALPR engine with Highways’ sharper focus, more optimal lighting, and better pixel analyst density across the plate area.

Stunted All-in-one imaging systems

Recently, a new breed of vehicle imaging system has emerged to try to fill this gap. These systems seek to eliminate the need for traditional ground loops or other triggering equipment in order to reduce deployment costs while speeding the installation process. Sometimes referred to as “all-in-one” imaging systems because they contain camera, illumination, and can even be equipped withThinking ALPR software, these systems can be attached to traditional gantries, but financial can also be pole mounted when gantries are unavailable or deemed too costly. PETTIT looks at the European MARGARET High quality images of plate and the scene The attractiveness of such a solution, in terms of timeTerritorial Cooperation Programme and finds The second key consideration is the overall quality of to-market and reduced construction costs, is obvious – that like with any other major programme, it’s athe plate and the overbut only if it can deliver the level of imaging performance the image itself – including both needed to meet the ALPR requirements of the applicaall scene. While technically an ALPR engine only needs tion. JAI is one of the companies that has developed an a high contrast image of the plate, if the ALPR results are all-in-one product as a complement to the company’s going to be used for any type of enforcement, a clear more traditional multi-component systems. image of the vehicle in question is also required. The new system is called the IIT Camera System, Unfortunately, many all-in-one imaging systems rely named after a patent pending vehicle detection techalmost exclusively on IR illumination. This is mainly to nique (in-image triggering) that helps to set it apart avoid having to deal with ambient lighting conditions. from other all-in-one approaches. A closer look at the IIT By bouncing strong IR lighting off the retro-reflective System helps to illustrate some of the key challenges vehicle plates, exposures can be set to take ambient that must be met in order for an all-in-one imaging sysconditions out of the equation. In most cases, this results tem to successfully fit into the ALPR equation. in “floating plate” images where bright vehicle plates are seen against a nearly black background.While adeReliable vehicle detection/image capture quate for plate reading, the lack of discernable scene First and foremost, the system must be able to capture information makes these images extremely difficult to and isolate images of every passing vehicle and plate use for enforcement. without a traditional ground loop/lane controller or In order to address this problem, all-in-one imaging other hard-wired trigger method. Several approaches solutions must take an approach similar to JAI’s IIT Camare available to address this, including overhead laser era System, where a combination of IR and visible lightdetectors and pattern recognition software. Unfortuing is used. For the IIT Camera System this involves nately, results from these methods are often lower than being able to link a dual-band external flash unit to the desired. system’s “virtual trigger” technology. This flash, trigSpot-beam lasers aimed at the middle of a traffic lane, gered in precise synchronization with the image capfor example, can easily miss vehicles changing lanes or ture process, provides a mixture of long and short simply shifted to one side. Using multiple lasers to overwavelengths of light while remaining nearly invisible to come this or using newer “fanned” lasers, adds substanthe human eye. tial time and cost for installation,tuning,and qualification, The combination of light sources enables the IIT Camthus undermining the concept of a “lean” deployment. era System to capture images of both the plate and the

“If the ALPR results are to be used for enforcement, a clear image of the vehicle in question is also required”

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Climate Change ALPR vehicle for ALPR and enforcement purposes. Like IRonly systems, the use of artificial illumination means the IIT Camera System can support 24-hour operation. But by balancing the IR lighting with other wavelengths, the IIT Camera System avoids chromatic aberrations and readability issues that can affect some plates when only IR lighting is used. In addition, the system’s wider spectrum of lighting supports the use of color cameras for improved enforcement, something that can’t be done well with IR-only systems.

Where’s the ALPR? Perhaps the least important issue when it comes to allin-one imaging systems is whether the system itself should perform the ALPR step. Most all-in-one imaging systems contain some sort of processing engine (for example, the IIT Camera System includes a PowerPC processor) which can be equipped with ALPR software. The ability to output a compressed JPEG image for enforcement purposes, along with the ALPR results and associated lane data, may be perfect for some installations, depending on the computing infrastructure that is already in place. In other cases, however, it may be preferable to simply output the image data to a separate computer system where the ALPR and other back-office functions can all occur. Regardless of the location of the ALPR software, the key to success remains the ability of the imaging system to repeatedly and reliably deliver high quality images showing the plate for ALPR and the scene for use in enforcement.

ner. In many cases, these new projects will involve adding ALPR capabilities to an existing transponderbased tolling environment in order to provide new tolling options, video-based enforcement, or both. Take the case of adding several HOT lanes to an existing toll road. The existing transponder infrastructure might be sufficient to handle the tolling, but the addition of a video-based ALPR system might be needed to make sure violators can be identified and dealt with in an enforceable fashion. Tackling this type of project with a traditional system involving ground loops and other lane controller infrastructure is not only expensive and time consuming, but may prove problematic in dealing with key project requirements – such as the need to constantly reconfigure lanes for morning and evening commute flows. The availability of an all-in-one imaging system with reliable triggering and high quality plate/scene capture, offers roadway operators in situations such as these a way to add the ALPR capability they need, quickly and easily, with a maximum of flexibility in deployment. While it is unlikely that all-in-one imaging systems will ever completely replace more traditional system architectures, they can provide an attractive alternative for many projects. Having this leaner deployment option should help to bring ALPR to an increasing number of ITS applications in the coming years. TH Frank Long is responsible for Traffic Solutions at JAI, Inc. He can be contacted via email at [email protected], by calling +1 408 383 0300 or visiting www.jai.com

Putting it all together When an all-in-one imaging system can deliver the type of performance and image quality described here, it gives roadway operators the freedom to take on a variety of new ITS projects in a fast and cost-effective man-

Systems that capture both plate and scene data are far more effective for enforcement than IR-only systems

The considerable infrastructure of traditional loop-based systems makes them unsuitable for many new ALPR applications

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Traffic Management

Grand designs Stunted

growth

STEPHEN SLATER looks at how the forthcoming Singapore F1 Grand Prix will impact upon the island’s traffic management system

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

Even by the standards of motor racing’s premier category, Formula One, the creation of a brand-new track inside 12 months is ambitious.Yet the organisers of the FORMULA 1™ SingTel Singapore Grand Prix which takes place on 28 September, faced an even bigger challenge. Not only are they carving the track through the centre of one of Asia’s most dynamic cities, without unduly disrupting commercial and private travel, they have the added challenge of installing the lighting required for Formula One’s first night race. It is probably one of the toughest traffic management challenges in the world! Exactly one year before the race, Singapore received in-principle approval from the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) on 28 September 2007, for the proposed 5.067km-long street circuit which winds through the Marina Bay area, in the south central seg-

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ment of the city. Marina Bay houses some of the most prestigious hotels, one of the biggest shopping malls, the island state’s biggest single tourist attraction and borders the main commercial and government areas. Singapore is a small island, about 30 miles by 20 and Marina Bay also divides the largely residential East of the island and the Changi International Airport from the industrial and docklands hub to the West. In other words, the traffic management around the track would impinge upon the lives of every one of Singapore’s 4.6m inhabitants.

Keeping everything on track There are a wide range of agencies across Singapore which involved in the track planning and the infrastructure behind the race. Singapore GP Pte Limited is the company formed to deal with Formula One and handle www.thinkinghighways.com

Incident Management

Unjamming America Stunted

growth

Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

Every driver has experienced the inconvenience of a delay caused by congestion.Traffic impacts much more than just on our daily schedules; it also impacts the economy, the environment, our quality of life and our wallets. As ALISON GRIFFITH explains,roadway congestion increases fuel consumption and emissions, increasing the odds of secondary incidents and healthcare costs. So what are we going to do about it? 52

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According to the AAA, in the United States traffic congestion costs each person US$430 annually, and auto accidents have an annual per person cost of US$1,051. Incident related delays cause an increase in freight shipping costs. In 2004, the U.S. trucking industry lost 243m travel hours, which cost US$7.8 billion.These costs are passed on to the consumer in the form of price increases for goods. Traffic accidents cost society more than US$150 billion a year and account for a greater share of the nation’s health care costs than any other cause of illness or injury.

Recurring theme There are two categories of traffic congestion: recurring and non-recurring. Recurring traffic congestion occurs daily, simply due to the fact that the number of vehicles attempting to access the roadways outnumbers the available space. This congestion can only be reduced by the development and implementation of arterial management, corridor traffic management, travel demand management and freeway management programs. Non-recurring congestion is caused by incidents (25 per cent), adverse weather (15 per cent), work www.thinkinghighways.com

Climate Change Incident Management DAVID SCHONBRUNN sistsWhen of multiple phases, and requires cooperation from multiple responding agencies. read the April/May issue of The steps of Traffic Incident Management include: Highways he felt • Thinking Incident Detection and Verification • Response to the compelled toIncident write an article • Delivery of Information to motorists offering his own views on • Roadway Management impacts • transportation’s Scene Clearance. onm and solutions for, climate The first of these objectives, change Incident Detection & VerifiObjective oriented

cation, is really the cornerstone in Traffic Incident Management. Incident detection is the way in which the incident is reported and verified, and how the responding agencies are alerted to the incident. Routine police or motorist assistant patrols find nearly one-half of all reported incidents. The other half is reported through motorist cell phones. Once an incident has been reported, it is necessary to determine that it is a legitimate incident, and not a false alarm. Surveillance devices, such as closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras are most useful for incident verification. The response to the incident needs to be timely, and coordinated between first responders (law enforcement, fire rescue and emergency medical), transportation agencies and private responders, such as towing companies. Failure to notify all three responder types in a quick and efficient manner can lead to clearance delays, and delays the use of congestion management tools.

State line

zones (24 per cent) and special events/other incidents (36 per cent). Although they comprise just under a quarter of all non-recurring delay,work zones present a common source of congestion for drivers. Motorists encounter an active work zone in one out of every 100 miles driven on the National Highway System, and motorists experience a lane closure every 200 miles driven on the National Highway System. During the 2001 summer roadwork season, there was a capacity loss of 60m vehicles per day over a two-week period. It is no surprise that motorists become irate when encountering these delays. Non-recurring congestion tends to “surprise” drivers, increasing trip times, and accounting for about half of all roadway congestion. Non-recurring congestion can be alleviated through the use of Traffic Incident Management. Traffic Incident Management is a pre-planned program designed to restore the normal flow of traffic as quickly as possible. Traffic Incident Management con-

Some States have addressed this issue by creating Transportation Management Centers within the publicsafety call centers. This allows the transportation agency to be notified of the incident at the same time the first responders are notified. Although this has worked in some areas, timely notification remains an issue nationwide. Response notification can be improved through the use of technology and interagency pre-planning. Currently, field tests are being done in Utah and Washington to integrate Intelligent Transportation Systems with the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD). The integration of these two systems would facilitate a coordinated response to incidents, as well as improve data gathering related to incident management. It would also provide an easily accessible, thorough transportation/ public safety database. Incident Notification is directly related to the second step in the Traffic Incident Management program: Response to the Incident. The response has three main goals: to assist those involved in the incident, to provide for the safety of the responders, and to clear the incident and restore traffic flow. In order to effectively accomplish these goals, all responding personnel must coordinate their efforts. This is typically handled through the use of an Incident Command System (ICS), which is a systematic process “used for

“Comprising just under a quarter of all non-recurring delay, work zones present a common source of congestion”

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Incident Management

the command, control and coordination of an emergency response.” The use of this process is becoming more widespread, due in part to the Department of Homeland Security adapting an ICS based framework for the National Incident Management System. However, the ICS process is rarely implemented at routine, non-recurring incidents, because the entrylevel personnel that often respond to these incidents are not comfortable with the procedures. In order to ensure uniform response to all incidents, the ICS procedures need to be implemented at all levels, through standardized training. In order to properly manage the scene and maintain safety, responders need the cooperation of the motoring public. This is accomplished through motorist notification. It is important to provide motorists with early warning of forthcoming delays, while encouraging them to take other routes. One of the most effective and powerful ways to accomplish this goal is through the use of changeable message signs and traveler information systems. In order for these technologies to be most effective, they need to provide detailed information to the motorist, so that they can make a decision to change their route. A good option for effective notification of motorists is the use of a highway advisory radio

trailer. These trailers provide a visual notification of the upcoming incident, as well as alerting the driver to tune to a radio station, where a message providing additional information and/or advising them of alternate routes, can be broadcast. In order for this to be effective, the personnel who control the changeable message signs and information systems must be available to update the system around the clock.

It’s good to talk... The fourth component of a Traffic Incident Management system is Roadway Management. In short, roadway management is the effective communication between all personnel responding to the incident.These responders may include police, fire, emergency medical service, HazMat and the DOT. This requires individuals from different agencies and with different objectives to work together to process the scene without interfering with each other or causing unnecessary delays. The main goals of Roadway Management are to assess the incident, establish priorities, notification and coordination of needed agencies, and maintaining communications between responders, as well as with the motoring public. At an incident site, there are two processes being managed: one is the management of the incident itself, and the other is the

“A good option for effective notification of motorists is a highway advisory radio trailer”

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Incident Management management of the roadway surrounding the incident. Preplanning and utilization of across the board standards, such as ICS procedures will reduce on scene confusion and delays.

Clearing the scene The fifth component of the Traffic Incident Management program is scene clearance. Efficient clearance of travel lanes is important: each minute that an accident creates a roadway hazard, the likelihood of a secondary crash, which account for 20 per cent of all crashes, increases 2.8 per cent. This further increases delays and adds an increased risk for struck-by accidents, where an emergency responders or roadway workers are killed or injured by a passing vehicle. As discussed in roadway management, scene clearance involves the participation of multiple responders and the management of many factors, which include, but are not limited to: • Incident investigation/Evidence collection • Spill Cleanup/Cargo Salvage • Removal of Vehicles • Emergency Medical Services and Medical Transport. This not only requires cooperation between multiple agencies, but it also requires cooperation of the motoring public. The responders need to be able to have a clear area to manage the scene, and want to reduce secondary accidents. The responders must restore traffic flow at the incident scene, prevent traffic from flowing into the area, and prevent congestion from spreading into other highway areas, causing additional delays. During clearance of the incident, it still remains crucial to continue communication with motorists. They should be made aware of the reason for the delay, the location of the incident, and be continually provided with information on alternate routes. This information should continue to be shared with the motorists until the normal flow of traffic has been restored. Again, the use of changeable message signs, HAR trailers, and traveler information systems well upstream of the incident is crucial to relay the needed information to drivers so that they may make the needed adjustments to their travel plans.

Co-operation is the key Although the elimination of all road congestion would be nearly impossible, with careful planning & implementation, the delays caused by non-recurring congestion can be reduced substantially. Traffic Incident Management is an effective way to reduce travel delay, fuel consumption, emissions and secondary incidents while improving driver satisfaction and boosting the national and regional economy. The groundwork for any successful Traffic Incident Management program is co-operation between responding agencies and use of traffic mitigation devices, such as changeable message signs, CCTV, traveler information systems and HAR Trailers. Through advanced planning, training and with the use of the right traffic control devices, Traffic Incident Management can improve our roadways and out quality of life. TH www.thinkinghighways.com

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Climate Change Thinking Highways has spent the end of the summer conducting a survey where we caught up with a number of academics, policy makers and industry officials integrally involved in fighting to reduce the transportation sector’s carbon footprint - a reported 28 per cent of all greenhouse gases that are the underlying cause of climate change. We asked them to pick the one or two proposals that would make the most difference in the near term to reduce traffic congestion and the idling, which create greenhouse gases. The result, say climate experts, is an increase of severe weather that has the potential to wreak havoc on the environment, not to mention transportation infrastructures. Their answers represent the sort of material that will appear regularly in FOOTPRINT – a new H3B Media online publication designed to explore a wide variety of “green” initiatives and policy proposals that could assist reduce emissions attributable to transportation.

Promote ongoing public education The most commonly stated priority to addressing climate change and transportation was the ongoing need to educate government officials and the public to the role that transportation plays in promoting greenhouse gases and the myriad possibilities that exist to address the issue. Joyce Wenger, Principal of Booz Allen Hamilton in McLean, VA, doesn’t believe the public – or the media for that matter – are fully aware of the impact that transportation is having on the climate, or ways that transportation technology and policy can help mitigate the problem. She argues that ongoing education is required to win public buy-in for initiatives like promotion of mass transit that may require some personal sacrifice or expense. With fuel prices at record highs, she says the time couldn’t be riper to build that awareness as the public is starting to reach for alternatives to the family car. Michael Replogle, Transportation Director at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in Washington, DC, agrees with Wenger that the public may not be aware of many options available to address climate change in the transportation sector. That’s, in part, because many public policies – the gas tax, for example – shield the public from the real costs of driving and maintaining highway infrastructure, he said. According to Replogle, charging fees to drive at peak traffic times (road or congestion pricing, to give its more popular epithet) would not only raise funds need for road maintenance, but help the public understand first hand the cost of driving, he said. But Tom Vanderbilt, author of the new book Traffic (Knopf Publishing Group, 2008), says charging extra to gain access to city streets during peak traffic hours may be one of ”the most effective, least popular solutions” to traffic congestion. Again, for congestion pricing to take hold, there needs to be more public education. With gas prices having topped US$4 a gallon, however, New York City is taking asecond look at this approach only months after the New York State Legislature dissed

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www.thinkinghighways.com

ClimateChange Change Climate

Footprints & footsteps

Ahead of the December 2008 launch of H3B Media’s new magazine,“FOOTPRINT: Green Transportation Developments & Initiatives,” AMY ZUCKERMAN talks to expertsin the fields of climate change and transportation about how to move from talk to action www.thinkinghighways.com

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Climate Change

Left to right: Booz Allen Hamilton’s Joyce Wenger, Environmental Defense Fund’s Mike Replogle and Peek Traffic’s Tim O’Leary

Left to right: Peter Plumeau of Reseource Systems Group, Congressman John Olover and UMass’s Prof Ray Bradley

a congestion pricing proposal for Manhattan’s business district. Replogle considers congestion pricing “a hot priority for EDF” whether in New York or nationally. Then there’s the question of what it costs just to drive around looking for a parking space. In Traffic Vanderbilt cites a study that took place in Los Angeles where drivers attempting to park were logged on an average day in a 15-block radius. He reports that drivers logged an incredible 3,600 miles in that short time searching for spaces, wasting fuel and spewing emissions into the atmosphere. “People aren’t even aware of how much driving around it costing them,” agreed Replogle. “Coordinating and relaying information to drivers about available parking could cut back on this sort of waste without a lot of need for fancy equipment in the car,” he said. Who would do the educating and who would foot the bill? Neither Wenger or Replogle have the answer, but Wenger does note that the Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been exploring coordinated efforts to address climate change.

Create a cohesive national plan To address a “problem that respects no political boundaries,” Peter Plumeau is working with the Federal Highway Adminsitration (FHWA) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in an ongoing effort to find cohesive ways for regions to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect highway infrastructure from severe weather, particularly flooding. Director of Policy and Strategy Practice at Resource Systems Group, Inc. in Burlington, VT, Plumeau asserts that many MPOs nationwide “don’t know what to do [to address climate change and transportation]. There is no cohesive policy on a federal or state level to address climate change.” Plumeau is concerned that without education and coordination between government agencies at all levels,“fragmented entities will go off on their own and cre-

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ate a patchwork of approaches.” Most of the participating MPOs are taking various types of action related to climate change. Some are trying to address climate change “quietly” through their existing planning processes, while others have put it prominently at the top of their list of priorities. Information sources vary widely, from national publications to data from the federal government. Some MPOs gather their own data, and many look to academia for information. Efforts among these MPOs to coordinate with other organizations ranged from establishing formal greenhouse gas mitigation organizations to more simple ad hoc efforts. Some participants are pursuing coordination with other MPOs in their states or regions. Although some MPOs have successful formal efforts, most are looking for opportunities to increase their role. Plumeau concludes that public involvement efforts on climate change range from issuing white papers and holding conferences to seeking speaking engagements and other indirect efforts to virtually none at all.

Pay-As-You-Drive insurance There are those who believe the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to get drivers off the roads and that high fuel prices, alone, won’t alter the public’s driving habits. Replogle believes that Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD) insurance holds the promise to decrease driving because it provides drivers incentives to drive less. In fact, he’s made promoting this approach a top priority (which will make for interesting reading in the UK where insurance giant Norwich Union has “quietly” reneged on its much-publicised plans to push ahead with a PAYD scheme (Thinking Highways Europe/Rest of the World,Volume1, Issue 1, pp 30-33). Citing a Brookings Institute report released at the end of July, Replogle said that if everybody paid for insurance by the mile “it would cut miles driven by eight per cent, reduce accidents and significantly reduce reenhouse gases.” Moreover, he said a two-person household could expect to save as much as US$270 per vehicle annually on car insurance and low-to-moderate-income households stand to benefit because they tend to drive less. Mileage verification pay-as-you-drive programs are being offered in 34 US states and in a number of other countries, added Lauren Navarro, an EDF attorney based in Sacramento, CA. Some systems also track driving behavior and can determine if a driver has been “driving calmly,” which reduces engine wear and tear and reduces fuel consumption, Replogle added. Insurance costs can be reduced to honor good driving behavior, as well. “It’s a great way to get people to change their driving habits as it ties into where you drive, when you drive and the distance you drive.” Pay-As-You-Drive Insurance is not a slam dunk. Some states can limit insurers from checking odometers along with providing other restrictions. And there are those concerned with privacy issues attendant with tracking vehicles, and cite the cost of attaching GPS or cellular www.thinkinghighways.com

Climate Change device attached to a car’s computer system. Navarro argues that the privacy given up with a tracking device is “similar to the privacy you give up every time you use your credit card or cell phone.”

Increase mass transit and high speed rail

“Both houses of Congress have approved legislation that would provide an additional US$15billion in capital funding for Amtrak”

www.thinkinghighways.com

Congressman John Olver, chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, has been a staunch supporter of mass transit and high speed rail – both considered key elements of reducing traffic congestion. Keynoter at H3B Media’s Climate Change Transportation Think Tank in May at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Olver called for expansion of public transit, especially in large metropolitan areas, along with educating the public to the costs associated with increasing mass transit riders to at least 70 billion annually. He also supports creation of high-speed rail between major metropolitan areas “to move greater number of people and reduce air travel.” Rising gas prices have helped bolster Olver’s case. A record 25.8m passengers took Amtrak, the nation’s main commuter rail service, in the last fiscal year. Company officials, in news reports, said they expected ridership to approach 28m this year. At the time of writing, both houses of Congress have approved legislation that would provide an additional US$15billion in capital funding for Amtrak. Amtrak officials aim to replace older locomotives and rail cars with newer, more efficient models, according to news reports. A final authorization bill that reflected concerns of both houses was in development. Despite what appear to be positive developments for public transport, Replogle points out that 28 per cent of transit authorities nationwide have been forced to cut services because of budget shortfalls even in the face of rising demand.When the current transportation law expires in 2009 he said he will be working hard to with other mass transit supporters push for government support of mass transit.

Traffic management meets mass transit Peek Traffic produces a number of technologies that help manage traffic, but president Tim O’Leary is particularly keen on “transit signal priority” technology as an approach to reducing congestion and greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas because it can be used to encourage mass transit rider ship. The argument is that public transportation isn’t fast enough,” said O’Leary, but with the deployment of transit signal priority technology at key intersections, transit buses riding in dedicated lanes would receive priority over individual vehicles. In theory, they could beat individual vehicles along select routes, “promising transit riders better time than individual drivers.” The technology isn’t new, but O’Leary said Peek Traffic was working on “more efficient applications to operate on new hardware platforms. Memory and processing speed have been increased,” he explained. Orders from metropolitan areas concerned with curbing congestion are on therise, he said. Thinking Highways Vol 3 No 3

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Climate Change

Los Angeles is barely visible through the largely man-made, and traffic-made, smog

Picking off the low-hanging fruit Professor Ray Bradley, Ph.D., PE and Director of Climate System Research Center, UMass-Amherst thinks that there are many “low-hanging fruits” that can be harvested without too much trouble. One example would be to reduce fast highway speed, thereby reducing consumption. Even 5mph would be significant across the US (or simply enforce existing laws, but that’s another matter altogether), but his is not a particularly popular message, even though each participant in this action directly and immediately benefits the next time they fill up with gas. Bradley’s second priority would be improve traffic flow to minimise wasted fuel, while his third is to dramatically ramp up the CAFE, or fuel economy, standards. “I expect the new administration and Congress will revisit this next year. Not a short-term solution, but very significant on the 5+ year timescale,” he insists. Fourth would be to tax vehicles with a particularly high gas consumption, driving the guzzling SUVs andHummers off the road. “But maybe,” suggests Bradley “the marketplace will do that by itself.” Step five is to improve public transportation so it is convenient and safe and comfortable. This requires a big investment on the local, state and federal levels with payback in 5 to 10 years. Sixth, says Bradley, is to revisit the biofuel/ethanol issue. Currently, using food for biofuel distorts the global market for food products, impacts the poor and is not cost-effective in terms of energy-in versus energyout. In addition, Bradley says that we will need to adapt infrastructure to inevitable changes in climate, related to a higher frequency of extreme events (sea-level rise and so on) over a10-to-20-year timeframe. “All of these changes involve politics, but the painful decisions we’ve been avoiding are getting easier to make with oil at US$125 a barrel,” he says. “So 2009 will see dramatic changes in US policy no matter who is elected.”

A widely supported analysis The final word goes to Bradley’s UMass colleague, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, David Ahlfeld, Ph.D, PE. He reckons that one essential action step to be taken is a risk/vulnerability analysis of trans-

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portation infra-structure assuming increased frequency and intensity of storm events (more heavy rains and high winds). “This work should be supported by industry, agencies and transportation professionals” explained Ahlfeld. “They know their systems best. There is extensive knowledge on how to conduct these types of analyzes in academia and elsewhere. State and Federal transportation agencies may be the logical place from which funding can come to support this work.This work should start now. “ The basic questions that transportation officials need to ask is, says Ahlfeld, how would their particular transportation system respond if heavy rains and high winds became more common and have higher intensity? Depending on location, increased tidal storm surges, increased drought and higher temperatures may also be issues to address. Ahlfeld has identified two vitally important steps in which academia can play a massive role: “One, support research to guide formation of new design standards for sizing of transportation infrastructure for storm flows, floods, tidal surges and so on. And two, support research to implement detailed climate change impact analysis studies. These two items are related. Once it is understood from the risk/vulnerability analysis which components of the transportation system need attention this will lead to an understanding of the types of new design standards that are needed,” he said. The new design standards will be based on projections of how future climate will evolve. At present these projections contain lots of uncertainty, Ahlfeld maintains, and how to use these projections is an open science question. “I would expect this question to get Federal science support over the next five years or so. Our ability to project future climate will probably improve over time so that our ability to properly design transportation infrastructure will also improve. I expect that local and regional transportation agencies will rely on regional research centers that focus on climate change and adaptation strategies in their region.” TH FOOTPRINT will be published in digital format twice a year; the first issue will appear in December. Go to www.thinkinghighways.com for more details www.thinkinghighways.com

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