By Lori DeBoer
With Arizona’s population growth three times the national average and roads strained to their utmost, implementation of ITS to help alleviate traffic congestion has picked up speed.
In 1996, Phoenix was one of four metropolitan areas selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation for the ITS Model Deployment Initiative and received a $7.5 million (US) grant to implement an intelligent transportation infrastructure.
Drive by AZTech—a consortium of more than 40 public and private entities—the project was completed within its two-year schedule and under budget. For its work, AZTech received the “Award of Excellence” in the ITS category in the Federal Highway Administration’s 1998 “Excellence in Highway Design” competition. AZTech also was a finalist for the 1998 ITS Transportation Achievement Awards; received the ITS America 1999 “Outstanding Achievement in Regional and Carrier Programs Award” and was the co-winner of the ITS America award for “Outstanding Achievement in Architecture and Standards.”
AZTech’s ITS technologies alert drivers to delays, suggest alternative routes and integrate traffic signals and computer systems to keep traffic flowing. Travelers in Arizona can access up-to-the- minute traffic information from a variety of sources, ranging from kiosks to pagers. Nine cities within Phoenix’s Valley of the Sun are linked to better respond during emergencies and coordinate road closures. Public transit operations are now more reliable and provide convenient information to riders about schedules and routes.
For the three million people living in the Valley of the Sun, benefits have already included shorter commute times, better traffic flow, reduced accidents and fatalities, reduce emissions and lowered fuel consumption.
For example, along on emajor corridor, a national evaluation team found that the average trip speed was improved by 8 percent, the average delay was reduced b 7 percent, fuel consumption was reduced by an average of 1.6 percent and the average number of vehicle stops was reduced by 3.6 percent.
“Arizona is a role model for the entire country,” said John Collins, president and CEO of ITS America.
Mortimer Downey, deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Transportation, concurred, calling Phoenix “the home of the nation’s most advanced travel technologies.”
Help on the way
AZTech’s technology rollout was considered remarkable, not only because of its innovations, but also because of its extraordinary cooperative effort. Government and private agencies pulled together, sharing infrastructure, coordinating systems among disparate jurisdictions and dispensing traffic information in a common format to travelers.
Public partenrs incorporate 10 municipalities, which include the Arizona Department of Transportation, the Maricopa County Department of transportation (MCDOT), fire departments, the Regional Public Transit Authority, Valley Metro Public Transit and a number of private corporations.
“AZTech is a great example of a multi-agency approach, with everybody actively seeking solutions,” said Pierre Pretorius, former AZTech program manager. “It really illustrates how you can capitalize on opportunities.”
Gaining cooperation from so many private and public partners that were accustomed to working independently was one of the project’s biggest challenges, according to Pretorius. It was an obstacle that AZTech administrators addressed from the outset by flattening hierarchy and opening the lines of communication.
“The key is to have the institutional integration first and then move on to the technological integration,” said Pretorius. ‘On the public sector side, the model that we used is what we call ‘peer-to-peer,’ with permissive control.’ That means the state, the county and the cities are on the same level, they all act as peers and share the information with other agencies. On the private sector side, the way we approached it is that we accepted that we have to share risk, responsibilities and liabilities—it’s not like th private sector is simply entering a contract. They were part of the project team, they were part of the decisions and, as a result, we got lots of cooperation from our private partners.”
The large number of partners proved to be advantegous, helping AZTech expedite the procurement process because it could tap the most appropriate partner to make purchases. For example, US West was the natural choice to procure certain hardware for which it already had contractors. In other cases, MCDOT made purchases instead of partners who were inexperienced in the process.
“For a fast-track project like this, you’ve got to get your system integrators, procurement and technical people together as quickly as possible. You want everyone to be on the same page when you start the project,” said Pretorius. “Secondly, you have to realize that a certain project for a small agency might be overwhelming. You have to be really sensitive to that, to align your partners with their capabilities.”
Linked infrastructures
To save time and money, as well as to develop a viable ITS solution for the long run, AZTech tied existing systems together whenever possible, including computer systems, fiberoptic networks, traffic signals and communication equipment.
One of the goals was to link the fiberoptic cables used by the ADOT trailmaster freeway management system with the Traffic Management Center for the city of Phoenix. It might have been an expensive proposition had not a local cable company just applied to install a fiberoptic cable in some key locations. By taking advantage of some of the city agreements with the cable company, AZTech gained access to the cable, gaining a high-bandwidth connection for the negligible cost of installing a 400-foot connection.
Now the two entities can share control of the system and traffic information on a network monitored by advanced technology on approximately 42 miles of freeway in the Phoenix metropolitan area. This network includes road sensors, cameras, electronic signs and communication equipment, all linked by fiberoptic cables to ADOT’s Traffic Operations Center (TOC). This is especially advantageous during the peak periods when thousands of motorists stream into central Phoenix to watch the state’s professional baseball, basketball and hockey teams play.
The multimodal transportation management system (TMS) links traffic centers for the state, county, municipalities, transit authorities and emergency service to coordinate traffic signals and manage incidents. When an accident shuts down part of a freeway or surface street, the traffic center notifies emergency response teams. Diverting motorists to alternative routes eases traffic congestion.
“It’s dedicated fiber, so we can run incredible amounts of data over it at a very fast rate,” said Marty Scott, AZTech systems integration coordinator. “And it’s a viable infrastructure that we can use for many years. To change the technology, we just have to change the equipment at each end, not the fiber itself.”
The nerve center for the freeway management system (FMS) features a 32-monitor display wall in a control room staffed by seven operators around the clock. Information is collected by closed-circuit televisions, loop detectors, ramp meters and variable message signs.
More than 150 miles (240 kilometers) worth of “smart corridors” have been outfitted with technology such as traffic sensors and upgraded traffic signals, to enable large numbers of commuters to drive them more efficiently. These corridors will eventually be linked to the rest of the system, forming a network of nearly 200 miles that is monitored and controlled by ITS technologies.
Five cities in the East Valley—Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Tempe and Mesa—had already coordinated some traffic signals, yet motorists nevertheless hit red lights as they crossed city lines. An AzTech task force stablished common cycle links according to traffic flow rather than city limits. Signal timing along arterial streets was coordinated so the last traffic signal at the boundary of one city was synchronized with the first signal of the adjacent city. The signal systems were eventually integrated across all city boundaries. Because traffic patterns area constantly in flux, signal coordination is an ongoing process, noted Pretorius.
Likewise, the town of Paradise Valley, one of the smallest of the AZTech partners in terms of population, did not yet have a central control for its 12 traffic signals. Its neighbors, Scottsdale and Phoenix, each operate a computerized, centrally controlled traffic system. The Scottsdale system was less than a year old, so AZTech upgraded it and connected it with Paradise Valley traffic signals. Paradise Calley monitors and controls its own traffic signals, through specially developed software, yet interfaces with both the AZTech and Scottsdale systems to share information. Scottsdale pays for its operations and maintenance. The city of Phoenix also received a traffic upgrade through AZTech, so all three municipalities essentially received a software upgrade for the price of one, said Pretorius.
By integrating their traffic signal systems with the AZTech system, municipalities are also linked with the TOC of ADOT. Municipalities can receive after-hours control services from the ADOT TOC, while the peer-to-peer, permissive control configuration allows any operations center to grant operation permission to another operations center. Repairs also have been sped up by the AZTech system because all signal failures are automatically reported to the on-duty operator, who can frequently correct the problem directly from the control center.
The future looks bright
Even though it has already implemented soamny successful projects, AZTech isn’t resting on its laurels. It recently issued more than $1 million (US) in RFP’s for another phase of the traffic management and traveler information system. It plans to install more variable message signs and cameras on street routes in the Valley. It also will be expanding its emergency services, adding more police and emergency management centers to the AZTech network and providing complete coverage for fire services in the metropolitan area, as well as statewide coverage for the highway patrol. Emergency information will be available to local news tations to distribute. Adding private partners will expand traveler information services.
“Our Its systems are just going to get better and better—the more we install the infrastructure, the more we will understand traffic,” said Ben McCawley, traffic management coordinator for Maricopa County and an AZTech partner. “What we are ultimately trying to do si produced smarter drivers. To get smarter drivers, you need smart roadways.”
This article originally appeared in ITS World November/December 1999.
