Statewide Architecture: An Interregional Project Demonstration

In order to improve mobility across California, Caltrans is committed to a comprehensive system management approach that values productivity, reliability, flexibility, and safety. Relying on objective performance, this approach is illustrated by a pyramid (see Figure 2) that establishes a hierarchy of strategies ranging from smart-land use to cutting-edge traffic management. ITS is a key component of the system management strategies because it provides the backbone of modern traffic operations based on real-time information and response.

In order to implement ITS on a large scale, architectures have been developed to address the complexity of integrating information technology. The ITS architecture is the planning framework for integrated ITS project development in a specified region, and is most simply described as an ITS system plan.

The goal of this project is to disseminate California’s Statewide ITS Architecture
(SWITSA) and system plan. This was accomplished by developing high-level ITS
planning and project development guidelines for Caltrans and partner agencies, and planning for an interregional systems-integration project demonstrating SWITSA application.

Caltrans staff acknowledges the need for guidance on ITS and technology integration planning. ITS mainstreaming continues to be a challenge because of the high level of coordination required among multiple organizations. Therefore, an architecture is useful to identify areas of common need and service gaps among neighboring jurisdictions.

CCIT developed a guidebook titled Planning for ITS—A Guide to Incorporating
Technology into Transportation Planning and Programming, intended for transportation planning, operations, programming, and project management professionals.

While developing the guidebook, the team selected the Tri-State Integrated Corridor Management System (TICMS) to demonstrate how SWITSA is used. TICMS is an effort in rural Northern California (Caltrans District 2, headquartered in Redding) to improve center-to-center exchange of traffic-management information across Oregon, Nevada, and the Central Valley. With significant stakeholder involvement, architectures from District 2/COATS and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments were leveraged alongside ITS architectures from California, Oregon, and Nevada to develop a concept of operations and high-level functional requirements. Moving the project forward will establish SWITSA’s utility and the importance of ITS planning in
achieving mobility goals.