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The Tampa Bay SunGuideSM Traveler Information System

Inaugral ITS Florida Scholarship Announced
Road Rangers PDA Application — Bridging
the Communications Gap

Editorial Corner
iFlorida Update

Announcements
FDOT / FDEM Hurricane Evacuation
Workshop
Welcome to NRITS

State to Clear Wrecks More Quickly

FDOT ITS Contacts
SunGuideSM Disseminator Word Challenge District Progress Reports (Supplement)

Moment of Humor!


The SunGuideSM Disseminator
is a publication of:

Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)
ITS Office
605 Suwannee Street, MS 90
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0450
(850) 410-5600
www.dot.state.fl.us

 


August 2003 Edition

 

 

Link to the FDOT ITS GC Web Site

Tampa Bay SunGuideSM Traveler Information System

FDOT District 7 is embarking on an exciting new program to provide traveler information to motorists using the area’s roadways. Two projects are currently being launched which will provide motorists with current traffic and roadway construction information through a 511 telephone-based traveler information system and a Web site. Both projects are being deployed by Mobility Technologies, which specializes in traffic and transportation information products and services.

Tampa Bay SunGuideThe first project, the Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS), was developed via an Invitation to Negotiate issued in December 2002. This project includes data collection from several different sources, such as incidents/events data, automated data sources, camera images, traveler-provided data, and parking information for special events. The information is funneled though a “Data Fusion” software engine. This engine, provided through a special software system, allows combining of both automated and non-automated data into a common database, which can then be used for a variety of traveler information functions.

511 LogoThe most visible service of the ATIS will be the 511 traveler information phone system. This system, which will be advertised using a variety of methods, will accept calls from motorists using the area’s roadway network. When a motorist dials 511, a series of voice-activated menus will be used to provide information on a specific route.

Another service of the ATIS will be the Tampa Bay SunGuideSM Web site. This site will use software developed by Mobility Technologies to display real-time traffic data by route, as well as by long-term data, such as road closures, construction, or other events affecting daily traffic.

behind-the-scenes data to various media outlets. This data will flow through high-speed network connections and allow authorized parties to obtain a direct feed from the information database. In addition, Mobility Technologies will sell value-enhanced data as part of their Traffic Pulse NetworksSM media operations, which serves area radio and television stations.

The second project is being performed under the FHWA Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure Program (ITIP). Under the ITIP, the contractor provides equipment and data sensors as part of a private match to FHWA’s funding. The ITIP is designed to:

  • Help improve incident and emergency management;
  • Reduce vehicular delay through incident response programs; and
  • Improve peak period flow.

ITIP systems are being deployed in several areas around the country as part of the National ITS Infrastructure.

In the Tampa Bay area, sensors will be deployed to cover approximately 100 miles of Interstate facilities. These sensors, which consist of a side-fired radar or acoustic detection device, along with a transmitter and solar power source, will be located throughout the Tampa Bay area. The data from these sensors will be linked in real time to the Mobility Technologies center and included in the “Data Fusion” software engine. The data from the sensors will also be made available to the Tampa Bay SunGuideSM Regional Transportation Management Center upon its completion in 2006.

Combined, these projects will serve Tampa Bay motorists with up-to-date, accurate traffic information that will allow them to more intelligently plan and complete their travels on the area’s roadway network.

This article was provided by James D. Bitting, FDOT District 7. For more information, please contact Mr. Bitting at (813) 975-6401 or email James.Bitting@dot.state.fl.us.

 

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Road Rangers PDA Application — Bridging the Communications GAP

The FDOT District 6 Office provides Road Rangers roadside assistance services to motorists stranded with disabled vehicles under the SunGuideSM ITS Incident Management Program. The assistance services consist of, but are not limited to:

  • Clearing disabled vehicles from travel lanes;
  • Changing flat tires;
  • Jump-starting batteries; and
  • Removing minor non-hazardous spills and debris from Miami-Dade County highways.

District 6 has been averaging about 6,000 assists per month. The Road Rangers contractors maintain daily “Road Rangers Operations Logs” to record all traffic incidents responded to during their hours of operation. These operations logs contain data such as the time, location, nature of service, and other pertinent information critical to the effectiveness of the SunGuideSM ITS Incident Management Program.

Currently, the operations logs are filled out manually by the Road Rangers vehicle operators and then transcribed by the contractors into a Microsoft Access Database file and submitted to the FDOT via e-mail. The FDOT’s District 6 Interim Operations Center (IOC) staff sort through the database submitted by the contractors clarifying, correcting, analyzing, and cross-referencing the data with the IOC phone log incident data records. Some disadvantages of this existing system are:

  • Operations log data entries are not accurately input, or are left blank;
  • Non-standardized data entries;
  • Incident data reports can’t be customized;
  • Difficult to cross-reference with IOC phone log; and
  • Lengthy turnaround time frame of two weeks or longer before FDOT receives the Microsoft Access Database file from the Road Rangers contractors.

The illustration below shows the current, inefficient paper-based process.

Current business plan

To overcome the limitations and inefficiencies of the existing system, District 6 is introducing personal digital assistants (PDAs) and Road Rangers vehicle operators. The highlighted areas outline where the new PDA application system will improve the current business process.

The challenge of reengineering the current business process can be accomplished by placing reliance on emerging technology solutions which provide the strategic communication components necessary to effectively coordinate responses to support a multi-agency infrastructure. This solution will electronically link the responding agencies to improve the coordination of all responses including critical emergencies. This solution will also provide integration with existing legacy systems, equipment, and procedures already in use by the responding agencies.

A new project underway will provide a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system to enhance the current business process of handling incidents on South Florida’s roadways for the Regional Traffic Management Center (RTMC) and the roadside assistance provided by the Road Rangers vehicle operator.

Radiant Systems, Inc. has been contracted by FDOT District 6 to provide a CAD system to bridge the gap in communications between the Road Rangers vehicle operator and the RTMC. This project is expected to last six months and has a project cost of $188,164, which includes field hardware. The design of the new CAD system complements the current business process by providing an efficient method to capture the information at the scene of an incident with the assistance of a PDA field device, and then disseminate the information to the RTMC as an incident evolves.

The Road Rangers vehicle operator communicates directly with the RTMC to provide essential details associated with an incident and request additional support to handle the incident, as needed. With a PDA field device, the Road Rangers vehicle operator has the capability of recording the sequence of events and activities as an incident evolves.

The RTMC will also have the capability of tracing and tracking an incident and all activities occurring throughout the duration of an incident, while also recording historical details and statistics. Additionally, the RTMC will have the capability of obtaining a quick snapshot of the sequence of events and activities and how an incident is transpiring as an activity occurs.

The RTMC’s access to this information will be provided through an Intranet portal connected to a PDA field device. The CAD system will provide a central data repository for all data captured regarding an incident.

Some of the primary features of the CAD system are:

  • Record of all incident events and activities:
    o Level of severity of the incident;
    o Agencies assisting/involved;
    o Services provided; and
    o Associated support activity.
  • Ability to route messages to:
    o Agencies involved with an incident, and
    o DMS (alerting and notifying the traveling public, etc.).

The CAD system provides the RTMC with immediate access capabilities to all incident information, both current and historical, and location of information at the tip of the finger and a click of the mouse with only one place to look.

The operational system is comprised of two main technologies:

  • A browser-based application for the RTMC operator; and
  • A PDA field device for the Road Rangers vehicle operator.

PDA snychronizationThese two systems are connected with a data synchronization conduit providing timely updates to inform all agencies of incident events and activities and how they are evolving. The PDA field device is the device of choice since it lends itself more conveniently for future expandability and scalability considerations.

The CAD system will integrate both the field units and the RTMC operations, providing much-needed improvements for supporting and handling all aspects of an incident. Additional benefits are listed below:

  • Reduces time to verify and clear incidents;
  • Improves management by providing timely information on events and activities;
  • Provides dual points of data entry by RTMC operators and Road Rangers vehicle operators which provides redundancy for data integrity and quality assurance;
  • Provides capability of producing reports on many different types of performance metrics;
  • Improves equipment and personnel dispatch decisions;
  • Provides accurate incident location dissemination;
  • Enhances coordination of multi-agency response to area-wide emergencies;
  • Enhances infrastructure security;
  • Supports information sharing from an incident to the RTMC and other agencies;
  • Provides accuracy in incident information, such as location, incident status, severity, impact, etc., in order to respond effectively;
  • Provides immediate information for an appropriate and timely response, dispatch of proper equipment, and personnel resources;
  • Provides an open architecture for data sharing and exporting to other applications and agencies; and
  • Provides central storage of incident data for long-term analysis and behavior patterns.

The CAD system should be a very successful project and is expected to be fully deployed by November 2003.

This article was provided by Angel Reanos, FDOT District 6. For more information, please contact Mr. Reanos at (305) 470-5830 or email Angel.Reanos@ dot.state.fl.us, or Ms. Jay Milam, Radiant Systems, Inc. at (954) 938-2800 or email JMilam@radiants.com.

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iFlorida Update

On May 1, 2003, FDOT was awarded a $10 million grant solicited by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Leveraging central Florida’s extensive existing ITS programs, District 5 took the lead in preparing Florida’s grant proposal which was selected from among 17 other state proposals. With the District’s proven track record in deploying ITS infrastructure, District 5 was able to demonstrate to FHWA the region’s capability of deploying a highly innovative model deployment program while adhering to an aggressive four-year schedule.

The objective of the grant, known as the Surface Transportation Security and Reliability Information System Model Deployment — named iFlorida — is to provide a Transportation Information Infrastructure, sometimes called the “Infostructure,” that will demonstrate how the widespread availability of real-time information enhances security, reliability, and safety. The project will expand and integrate existing data collection and monitoring systems while demonstrating innovative, new technologies and best practices to the nation. It is a statewide project with a metropolitan focus in central Florida. iFlorida is a $21 million project (FDOT’s contribution is $3 million while public and private partners’ contribution is $8 million) that includes 24 integrated projects, which will build upon Florida’s institutional, operational, and technical foundations.

iFlorida collageA key element in the iFlorida project is the District 5’s Regional Transportation Management Center (RTMC), located in the Orlando Urban Office. The RTMC is co-located with the Florida Highway Patrol and is the regional hub for the Central Florida Regional Transportation Operations Consortium ITS systems. The RTMC monitors I-4 and I-95 with closed-circuit cameras, vehicle detector stations, and dynamic message signs to alert motorists of changing travel conditions ahead. The iFlorida project will further expand on these systems to include all the limited-access highways in the Greater Orlando area, along with 128 miles of principal arterial roads, such as SR 50, SR 436 and John Young Parkway.

The iFlorida project includes:

  • Metropolitan travel time expansion using toll transponders and/or license plate readers;
  • Expansion of the closed-circuit camera monitoring system on the arterial roads;
  • Fiber backbone expansion to connect critical infrastructure;
  • I-4 variable speed limit sign trial based on road and weather conditions;
  • Monitoring of two key evacuation routes, SR 528 and SR 520, to support evacuations from south Florida and the coastal areas;
  • Security monitoring of two bridges — Fuller Warren in Jacksonville and the Bennett Causeway which leads to the Kennedy Space Center;
  • Weather sensors that provide existing and forecasted information for better traffic control and maintenance deployment; and
  • A local project that will develop recommended practices for emergency evacuations of attractions and special event venues.

All iFlorida project elements will be deployed over a two-year period, with another two years dedicated to evaluating the systems for possible nationwide deployment.

iFlorida will expand District 5’s highly successful 511 Regional Travel Information Service to include arterial roads, airport facilities, transit, and weather information. Launched one year ago, the voice-activated 511 services have logged well over one million calls from motorists seeking traffic condition information along I-4 and I-95.

A new statewide reporting system will provide information on events, incidents, weather, and construction on the Florida Intrastate Highway System (FIHS). This information will be integrated and used to implement a Statewide 511 Traveler Information System that will fill the gaps of the existing and proposed 511 systems.

iFlorida.net Web siteiFlorida Project Status

May 2003

  • iFlorida was awarded to the FDOT;
  • Project Team Kick Off Meeting; and
  • National Evaluation Kickoff Meeting.

June 2003

  • Central Florida Field Components project was advertised;
  • Three of the eight firms that responded to the project were short-listed;
  • A pre-bid conference to review the Request For Proposal (RFP) was held with the three short-listed firms;
  • The iFlorida Web site, www.iFlorida.net, was launched to serve as an informational project tool, with procurement opportunities and dates posted, contact information for the project, and a project library that will store key meeting minutes and project documents; and
  • The iFlorida Final Work Plan was finalized.

July 2003

  • The Central Florida Field Components technical questions were received at the end of July from short-listed firms;
  • The Security Command and Control project, a sole source contract, is being developed for Boeing/Autometric, Inc.; and
  • The Weather Conditions sole-source contracts with the University of North Florida and Meteorlogix are being developed.

August 2003

  • The Central Florida Field Components bid proposals are due by the beginning of August;
  • The Conditions System/Statewide ATIS project’s scope, advertisement, RFP, and technical requirements will be finalized by mid-August;
  • The Operational Concept document will be finalized; and
  • iFlorida’s Deployment Plan will be drafted.

Near Future

  • Additional procurement opportunities will soon be available for the Weather, Security Command and Control, and Broadband Wireless projects.

A strong management team and plan ties iFlorida together. Its project components build upon, and are consistent with FDOT’s ITS Strategic Plan, FDOT’s Ten-Year ITS Cost Feasible Plan, and the plans of the Central Florida Regional Transportation Operations Consortium.

This article was provided by Anne Brewer, FDOT District 5. For more information visit the iFlorida Web site at http://www.iFlorida.net.

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Hurricane Evacuation Banner

FDOT / FDEM Hurricane Evacuation Workshop

Evacuation Route SignOn July 1 and 2, 2003, the FDOT ITS Office and the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) held a Hurricane Evacuation Workshop in Jacksonville, Florida. This workshop was a day and a half long and included a wide range of hurricane evacuation and ITS-related presentations. Attendees at the workshop included a variety of professionals from both the ITS and Emergency Management communities, with 84 attendees on the first day and 45 attendees on the second day.

Chester H. Chandler, P.E., FDOT ITS Office Manager, opened the workshop on the afternoon of July 1. Presentations began with Greg Jones, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), who spoke about the National ITS Architecture and how it can be used as an aid in hurricane evacuations and disaster planning. Harshad Desai, P.E., FDOT Statistics Office, gave a presentation entitled, “How Florida Meets Emergency Management’s Traffic Data Challenge,” and Bob Collins, FDEM, gave a presentation on “New Developments in Reverse Lane Plans.” Mr. Collins’ presentation was reinforced by comments from Captain Leroy Smith and Major Jim Howell with the Florida Highway Patrol.

Thomas Gill, Georgia Department of Transportation, presented on “Hurricane Preparedness 2003,” Georgia’s contraflow and evacuation preparedness plan. Fred Levinson, SmartRoute Systems, presented “Hurricane Evacuation and Dissemination Procedures.” Lorin Krueger, LK Consultants, presented how unmanned aerial vehicles could support emergency management decision-making during hurricane evacuations. The first day ended with a presentation given by Frank Deasy, P.E., PB Farradyne, on how center-to-center communications are necessary for accurate tracking of hurricanes, transportation of the public during evacuations, and dissemination of shelter information.

Palms in windThe second day began with a presentation from Mike Foran, Federal Aviation Administration, and Michelle Palmer and Christy Lopez, PBS&J, describing the “Evacuation Liaison Program Team and the Evacuation Traffic Information System.” Gene Glotzbach, P.E., FDOT ITS Office, presented on “FDOT’s Current and Future ITS Deployments for Hurricane Evacuations” from the FDOT Ten-Year ITS Cost Feasible Plan. A presentation on the progress of the Statewide Transportation Management Center Software Library System was given by Liang Hsia, P.E., FDOT ITS Office. Rick Schuman, P.E., PBS&J, followed with a presentation on the “iFlorida Surface Transportation Security and Reliability Information System Model Deployment Program Overview,” highlighting hurricane evacuation requirements. Dr. David Lambert, University of North Florida, presented the progress on Road Weather Information Systems. Day two ended with Bob Collins and Michelle Palmer unveiling the Hurricane Evacuation Analysis and Decision Support Utility Program, or HEADS-UP, which was funded by a grant from the FHWA.

The FDOT ITS Office would like to extend its gratitude to Bob Collins, Paul Clark, FDOT Safety Office, and Don Lewis, A.I.C.P. , PBS&J, for all of their assistance in planning this workshop. Additionally, a huge “thanks” goes out to all the presenters!

This article was provided by Gene Glotzbach, FDOT ITS Office. For more information, please contact Mr. Glotzbach at (850) 410-5616 or email Gene.Glotzbach@dot.state.fl.us.

 

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State to Clear Wrecks More Quickly

ORANGE CITY -- Interstate 4 commutes and daily interstate drives around Orlando could become shorter starting early next year under a state plan to clear the highway of accidents more quickly.
Florida’s transportation department is spending $2 million this year to hire 21 Florida Highway Patrol troopers to boost I-4 patrols along the 52-mile segment from Saxon Boulevard to the Osceola/Polk county line.

The aim is to clear traffic accidents off the interstate within 90 minutes. A state study suggests that will help reduce congestion, prevent other accidents and save money.

“We want as quickly as possible to respond to accidents, do the preliminary investigation and move the vehicles off the road to open the roads and keep traffic moving,” said Mike Snyder, head of the Florida Department of Transportation District 5 office that oversees nine Central Florida counties.

The extra troopers should be on the road by January, said FHP Capt. Robert Duncan, who commands the DeLand office.

“The goal is to reduce response times and improve safety on I-4 in the areas that are under construction and will be for a long time,” Duncan said. “We’ve been working on this for more than two years. We haven’t had staff increases in a long time and we’ve not kept up with the population growth.”

Troopers in Volusia and Seminole counties are “well equipped” to respond to an average of 800 accidents a month, Duncan said. Response times on I-4 in Orange and Osceola counties are longer as troopers deal with about 4,000 accidents a month.

The FHP will add five or six troopers and a supervising sergeant to I-4 for each shift to enforce speed limits and reduce accident rates, Duncan said.

Incident Management

Transportation officials expect to save money in the long term by reducing the number of off-duty troopers hired for traffic control duties in construction zones. The I-4 program is a test to work out the bugs before implementing it in other urban areas, said George Gilhooley, District 5 transportation operations director.

Quickly clearing roadways is a top state priority. The state’s economy loses $50,000 for each 15 minutes a major road is closed, the state study concluded. The study also found 54 percent of all congestion is a result of vehicle accidents, between 13 and 30 percent of crashes are secondary to earlier incidents and half of law enforcement injuries are suffered at accidents.

The Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority hired eight additional FHP troopers in 2000 to increase patrols on Central Florida’s toll roads.

“We’ve seen a drop in the number of violations and the roads are safer since the program started,” authority spokesman Bryan Douglas said.

The transportation department has employed Road Rangers and installed traffic cameras to help reduce the times interstates are blocked, Snyder said, but more is needed.

“Hiring FHP troopers was born out of frustration,” Snyder said. “I was giving some top brass a tour of our traffic management center in Orlando and we watched how long it took local law enforcement officers to clear an accident. It was ridiculous.”

This article was reprinted with the permission of the Daytona Beach News Journal. The article was written by Bob Koslow, Staff Writer.

 

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Word Challenge Banner

Jumbo Photo

 

We invite you to have some fun and complete the SunGuideSM Disseminator Word Challenge!
Unscramble the letters to complete the word for the clue found under the boxes.
Use the letters in the red circles to complete the final puzzle.
The answers can be found on the last page.

Enjoy and Good Luck!

 

 

Puzzle

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Moment of Humor!

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ITS Florida Banner

Inaugral ITS Florida Scholarship Announced

Many of us can reflect on our careers with joy or sadness on an opportunity taken or missed. Our reflections may occur as a result of an employment opportunity, a personnel decision, or a course of action. We may also reflect on the support we received, without which these career opportunities would not have manifested themselves. Support may have come to us through academic counseling, professional mentoring, or financial support.

ITSFL Scholarship BannerBeginning this year, ITS Florida will award two $1,500 cash scholarships (one each to a graduate and undergraduate) to enable deserving students to take advantage of the opportunities achievable through education. A stipend will also be provided to scholarship winners who attend an approved ITS Florida or ITS America event. A networking barbecue will be held during the ITS Florida Annual Meeting and the FDOT End-of-Year ITS Working Group Meeting in December to help support the ITS Florida Scholarship Program. The first scholarships will be awarded at this event at the Deerfield Beach Resort in Deerfield Beach, Florida, on December 2, 2003.

The goals of the ITS Florida Scholarship Program are to:

  • Provide the opportunity to complete academic requirements to worthy people with financial needs;
  • Promote ITS in our academic institutions; and
  • Encourage long-term ITS Florida membership development through college students.

In order to qualify for the ITS Florida Scholarship Program:

  • Candidates must be pursuing a graduate or undergraduate degree at an ITS Florida member institution; and
  • Candidates pursuing a graduate degree must be in a study program emphasizing public transportation, planning, public administration, or transportation engineering.

Preference will be given to applicants completing principal course work in transportation, engineering, planning, economics, social science, public administration, or public policy.

An application for the scholarship will be available through ITS Florida. Potential candidates will also be able to obtain this information from the ITS Florida representative at their institution.

This article was provided by Eric Hill, ITS Florida Board of Directors. For more information on the ITS Florida Scholarship Program, please contact Mr. Hill at (407) 481-5672, or email EHill@metroplanorlando.com.

For more information on ITS Florida, please check the ITS Florida Web site at www.itsflorida.org or contact Dr. Charles E. Wallace at (352) 374-6635, or email execdirector@itsflorida.org.

 

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Editorial Corner

Channeling Our Passion About ITS — Realizing Our Passion
We’re told that a picture is worth a thousand words. Recently, I found out that an experience is just as valuable in conveying an individual’s passion about something. My visit to the U.S. DOT Intelligent Vehicle Initiative demonstration in Washington, DC earlier this summer did just that — it reminded of the passion ITS inspires in us.

IVI National Meeting Banner

Please forgive me for using words to convey what I saw, because, in this case, a moving picture certainly would be better than all my words to explain how passionate transportation professionals can be about ITS, and how confident they are about its success. During a demonstration of an automatic vehicle precision docking system, Dr. Han-Shue Tan, a research engineer at California’s Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways placed his index finger flat against the outer edge of a sidewalk curb at a makeshift bus stop where a driverless bus was about to park. While explaining — with great enthusiasm — the accuracy of precision docking and its applications, Dr. Tan focused all his attention on his audience, ignoring the bus as it neared and then came to a stop perfectly parallel to the curb and within centimeters of his finger.

When I congratulated Dr. Tan on his faith in the system, he informed me that it wasn’t faith — he and the others on the design team who developed the system were convinced that it was accurate and they are confident that it will perform as intended, over and over again. And Dr. Tan was willing to back up his conviction quite dramatically as we watched.

How often do we run across someone with that level of enthusiasm in his or her work coupled with that much passion about its success? My guess is rarely, yet in the ITS field we see it time and again. Why?

ITS Florida’s President and Chairman of the Board, Dr. Hal Worrall, gave us the answer in last month’s SunGuideSM Disseminator. He wrote that “there is great optimism that ITS will revolutionize the transportation industry….based on the assumption that new and exciting technologies will be developed that consumers will value and embrace.”

Channeling Our Passion
Dr. Worrall is absolutely right — visit any ITS exhibition, whether at ITS America’s Annual Meeting and Exposition, the ITS World Congress, or a state or regional ITS conference, and you will see exciting products and services that are available now and that are bringing technology’s potential to bear to revolutionize transportation and solve current challenges. You will also see consumer products, including those on the market and in use now.

The challenge facing all of us is to deploy this technology, to bring these products to customers as quickly as possible, to raise awareness as broadly as possible about the opportunities in ITS to save time, lives, and money on a grander scale.

This is where our passion can be channeled beyond our industry — taking the excitement we all feel and spreading it far and wide, and deep. In this, we are all ITS champions in moving ITS solutions forward to improve society.

This editorial was provided by Neil Schuster, President and CEO of ITS America. Mr. Schuster can be reached at (202) 484-2890 or email NSchuster@itsa.org.

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Announcements

Look for the SunGuideSM Disseminator Supplement
The FDOT ITS District Progress Reports are located in a supplement to this newsletter.

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of the quarterly update of the FDOT ITS District Progress Reports along with the SunGuideSM Disseminator.

NFOEC LogoNFOEC 2003
The 19th Annual National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (NFOEC), hosted by Telecordia Technologies, will be held September 7-11, 2003, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

Don’t miss this opportunity to network with the most influential individuals in the fiber optics industry.

More information is avialable at www.nfoec.com.

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Welcome to NRITS

NRITS LogoThe publication of the August edition of the SunGuideSM Disseminator coincides with the National Rural ITS (NRITS) Conference and the FDOT Mid-Year ITS Working Group Meeting being held at the Westin Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida (August 10-14, 2003). And, everyone who attends the NRITS Conference will be receiving the August edition of the SunGuideSM Disseminator at the registration desk in his or her complimentary welcome bag.

FDOT would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of the NRITS Conference attendees (especially those from out of state) to Palm Harbor, Florida. We hope that you will enjoy the NRITS Conference, the FDOT Mid-Year ITS Working Group Meeting, and the many exciting extracurricular activities that the state of Florida has to offer.

FDOT is pleased to be one of the principal hosts for the NRITS Conference. We will be exhibiting in the exhibition hall with a display of rural ITS-related projects from our FDOT Ten-Year ITS Cost Feasible Plan. Our next-door neighbor in the exhibition hall, SRA Adroit-Aerosonde, will be showing their Mark 3 unmanned aerial vehicle, the same aircraft slated for flight operations in our forthcoming Airborne Traffic Surveillance Systems: Proof of Concept Study along the I-10 Corridor. Several FDOT ITS personnel are presenting at the NRITS Conference in the Safety & Operations program tracks. And, Secretary of Transportation, José Abreu, is coming to the NRITS Conference to give his observations on rural transportation during the closing session.

We look forward to this important rural ITS event and a week-long slate of interesting ITS discussions.

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SunGuideSM Disseminator Word Challenge Answers

Puzzle Answers

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ITS Contacts Banner
District 1
Chris Birosak
FDOT District 1 Traffic Operations
PO Box 1249
Bartow, FL 33831
(863) 519-2507

District 2
Peter Vega
FDOT District 2 Traffic Operations
2250 Irene Street, MS 2815
Jacksonville, FL 32204-2619
(904) 360-5463

District 3
Elizabeth McCrary
FDOT District 3 Traffic Operations
1074 Highway 90 East
Chipley, FL 32428-0607
(850) 638-0250 ext. 210

District 4
Tahira Faquir
FDOT District 4 Traffic Operations
3400 W. Commercial Blvd.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309
(954) 777-4370
District 5
Fred Ferrell
FDOT District 5 Traffic Operations
719 S. Woodland Blvd., MS 3-562
DeLand, FL 32720-6834
(386) 943-5309

District 6
Jesus Martinez
FDOT District 6
1000 NW 111th Avenue, MS 6203
Miami, FL 33172
(305) 499-2446

District 7
Bill Wilshire
FDOT District 7 Traffic Operations
11201 N. McKinley Drive
Tampa, FL 33612
(813) 975-6612 ext. 7869

Florida's Turnpike Enterprise
Ingrid Birenbaum
Florida's Turnpike Enterprise
PO Box 9828
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33310-9828
(954) 975-4855 ext. 1290

Chester Chandler
ITS Office Manager
(850) 410-5600

Gene Glotzbach
ITS Deployments
(850) 410-5616

Liang Hsia
ITS Architecture, Standards,
Research and Training
(850) 410-5615

Mike Akridge
Commercial Vehicle Operations
and Electronic Toll Collection
(850) 410-5607

Nick Adams
ITS Telecommunications
(850) 410-5608

Physical Address
Rhyne Building
2740 Centerview Dr.
Suite 3-B
Tallahassee, FL
32301
Mailing Address
Burns Building
605 Suwannee St.
MS 90
Tallahassee, FL
32399
 

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   SunGuideSM Disseminator                                             August 2003

PBS&J QCAP Document Control Panel
Created by: England
Reviewed by: England, Glotzbach, Blanton, Chandler
Date: August 2, 2003