Demonstrating Statewide ITS Architecture Implementation

Overview

The Statewide Intelligent Transportation System Architecture and System Plan for California (SWITSA) provided a blueprint for the development and application of ITS projects to systematically improve the operations of the state’s surface transportation networks.

SWITSA focused on ITS services that have the potential for added value through coordination with adjacent regions (for example, county-to-county coordination) and/or state-level projects (for example, coordination between transportation management centers in California and Oregon).

This project focused on supporting the implementation of SWITSA with an emphasis on partnerships among public agencies for interregional project planning and coordination. 

The project’s goals were accomplished by

1. Developing high-level ITS planning and project development guidance for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and related partner agency staff, and

2. Supporting the early project planning activities for a systems integration demonstration project that utilized SWITSA and related ITS architectures.

This project initially outlined how ITS and technology integration projects fit into traditional transportation planning and project development processes. 

Project Updates

The resulting document, “Planning for ITS - A Guide to Incorporating Technology into Transportation Planning and Programming,” focused on the needs of Caltrans staff who are involved in all phases of the planning and project development process, especially those involved in planning, operations, programming, and project management. 

CCIT consulted with a wide variety of Caltrans staff in these program areas throughout the development of this document. The result was a useful ITS planning guidebook that takes the reader through the transportation planning process, and examines the opportunities to take advantage of transportation technology applications.

CCIT, Caltrans, and partners also identified candidate-system-integration projects that had potential to demonstrate to Caltrans and its partner agencies how to apply the California Statewide ITS Architecture and System Plan, and began early project planning activities for one or more of these projects. 

The Tri-State Integrated Corridor Management System (TICMS) project was chosen as the system integration demonstration project. TICMS is an effort in rural Northern California (Caltrans District 2, headquartered in Redding) to improve center-to-center exchange of traffic management information among neighboring jurisdictions in Oregon, Nevada and the Central Valley. The project utilized the “District 2/COATS” updated Architecture, the SACOG architecture and the statewide ITS architectures from California, Oregon and Nevada to help create a project concept. 

With significant stakeholder involvement, the project team developed a Concept of Operations, high-level functional requirements, and recommended project phasing. The results were delivered in a Tri-State ICM System project concept report. Additionally, the project team explored the potential for private sector involvement and documented private sector options and opportunities.