Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are applications of advanced technology in the field of transportation, with the goals of increasing operational efficiency and capacity, improving safety, reducing environmental costs, and enhancing personal mobility. ITS projects can provide a variety of benefits, including: increased system capacity through more efficient use of existing infrastructure; improved system management, including incident management; better-informed travelers through the provision of real-time traveler and weather information; increased safety; and reduced environmental impacts. Intelligent Transportation Systems are a series of tools that can be applied, as needed, to address specific, identified regional transportation needs.
Examples of ITS projects include traffic signal interconnections, transit signal priority systems, traffic signal control software, variable message signs, closed-circuit television cameras, traveler information systems, electronic fare payment systems, and automatic vehicle location systems. ITS are designed to make better use of existing transportation infrastructure through improved system management and reliability at a fraction of the cost of conventional infrastructure expansion. Successful ITS deployment requires an approach to planning, implementation, and operations that emphasizes collaboration between relevant entities and compatibility of individual systems. Such an approach is designed to maximize user benefits and the cost efficiency of ITS investments.
A report was produced along with the Regional ITS Architecture and Strategic Plan to provide an introduction to, and overview of, those two documents.
Final Report for 2012 Update of ITS Architecture and Strategic Plan
Regional ITS Architecture
The Regional ITS Architecture is a roadmap for transportation systems integration in the Strafford and Rockingham Planning Commission areas. The architecture was developed through a cooperative effort by the region's transportation agencies, covering all modes and all roads in the region. It represents a shared vision of how each agency's systems will work together in the future, sharing information and resources to provide a safer, more efficient, and more effective transportation system for travelers in the region. The architecture provides an overarching framework that spans all of the region's transportation organizations and individual transportation projects. Using the architecture, each transportation project can be viewed as an element of the overall transportation system, providing visibility into the relationship between individual transportation projects and ways to cost-effectively build an integrated transportation system over time. The purpose of this regional ITS architecture web site is to encourage use of the regional ITS architecture and gather feedback so that the architecture is used and continues to reflect the intelligent transportation system vision for the region. The menu bar at left provides access to the stakeholders, the transportation systems in the region (the Inventory), the transportation-related functions that are envisioned, and the existing and planned integration opportunities in the region.
2012 Strafford-Rockingham Regional ITS Architecture Document
The ITS Architecture is available in a web-based format that allows the users to look directly at included stakeholders, inventory, services, operational concepts, requirements, interfaces and other aspects of the document.
Click to view the ITS Architecture
ITS Strategic Plan
The ITS Strategic Plan recommends specific, project-based initiatives for implementing the Strafford-Rockingham Region ITS Architecture, which provides an overall logical framework for ITS implementation in the region. The ITS Strategic Plan and the Strafford-Rockingham Region ITS Architecture document, taken together, provide a roadmap for coordinated ITS deployment in the region.
The ITS Strategic Plan was first developed in 2008 and the updated in 2012 to take into account new issues, needs, and opportunities that have arisen since the 2008 Strafford-Rockingham Region ITS Architecture; updates to important regional planning documents such as the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP); changing institutional structures and interactions; as well as changes in the wider context of transportation legislation and funding at the state and national level.
There is also an interactive mapping tool that allows exploration of projects that have been identified in the 2012 Strafford-Rockingham Region ITS Strategic Plan. This map is based on Google Maps and functions similarly.
