I recently attended a tradeshow on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). This is an emerging field that has the potential to make a huge impact on how traffic is managed and how transportation impacts the environment.

Traditional traffic management is about moving from place to place, ideally as quickly as possible. That’s why there are freeway signs informing you of “congestion ahead” or letting you know the estimated amount of time to reach a particular off ramp. It’s also why there are intersection controls to control the flow of traffic.

Intelligent Transportation developers are looking to influence traffic patterns by providing information and trying to better distribute traffic on roadway systems. Future traffic management may soon be based on environmental issues, such as air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. The show was the first time I’ve seen the possibility of having intersections timed based on current levels of air quality or greenhouse gas emissions along a freeway or local roadway. It means that intersection timing wouldn’t be exclusively based on moving a certain number of vehicles in a certain amount of time, but on how those vehicles were impacting the environment in a particular area and how that impact could be affected by controlling the flow of vehicles.

I’ve said before that people have an ingrained desire for mobility, and that desire can’t be changed by restricting it. If travel is made more difficult, people may complain about it more but there is still a need to travel for work, school, errands and recreation. ITS planners are trying to improve the roadway system, irrespective of whether people think the system should be there or whether they think it encourages undesired growth in an area. The system is there because people use it. If efforts are made to softly influence people and reduce the impacts of travel, it may be possible to “have your cake and eat it too.”

It will be very interesting to see how these developments will change travel across the country, and what elements we may be able to incorporate into the Connector. ]]> http://www.connectorjpa.net/2009/07/intelligent-transportation-systems-mean-more-options-are-available-for-managing-local-transportation/feed/ 0