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Florida 511 Web Site—New and Improved! The FDOT Central Office ITS Program and District 5 Traffic Operations have completed an upgrade of the Florida 511 Web site (www.fl511.com). The initial Web site was introduced as part of the iFlorida Surface Transportation Security and Reliability Information System Model Deployment. The initial Web site demonstrated the applied technology, while providing early functionality to the motoring public. During the 2006 operational period, FDOT used the knowledge and experience gained during the model deployment to begin planning enhancements to the Web site. These enhancements were needed to make the Web site more usable and to fully apply other existing and planned ITS technologies in District 5. Requirements were developed as part of SunGuide™ Software Release 3.0 in late 2006 / early 2007 and the enhancement project kicked-off in March 2007. The upgraded Web site is powered by SunGuide Software using ITS standards to implement a center-to-center-based software infrastructure. This software approach provides District 5 with further efficiencies from system integration and standardization. The new Florida 511 Web site is viewable from almost every Web browsing software and follows American Disabilities Act guidelines in an effort to reach every online transportation customer. The Web site provides an enhanced “look and feel” that includes a more user-friendly map. Google© was selected as the base map and many Google features, such as panning, zooming, satellite imagery, and locating an address, are now features of the Florida 511 Web site. Traffic congestion per roadway segment is graphically shown by color. Current messages on dynamic message signs (DMS) can be viewed on the map by hovering over the desired DMS icon. The data for speed, travel time, and delay information is transmitted from the Orlando Regional Transportation Management Center (RTMC) and the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) using the preexisting SunGuide center-to-center interface. Camera snapshots are displayed by leveraging the existing SunGuide video capture capability.
While a significant milestone has been completed with the upgrade of the Florida 511 Web site, improvements continue. Currently, the Web site relies on links to the Florida Highway Patrol and the FDOT Construction Web sites for information on traffic incidents and construction, respectively. The SunGuide Event Management subsystem is scheduled to be installed at the Orlando RTMC in December 2007. The SunGuide Event Management subsystem will allow real-time incident and construction information to be displayed on the Florida 511 Web site. This will provide the public with the most accurate information available from the FDOT and OOCEA in a timely manner.
Through this project, ITS technology continues to provide Florida’s citizens and visitors with increased transportation services. This article was provided by Trey Tillander, FDOT Traffic Engineering and Operations. For information, please contact Mr. Tillander at (850) 410-5617 or email to Trey.Tillander@dot.state.fl.us. * * * *
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FDOT Freight/Traffic Engineering/Transportation Planning/ On October 22-23, 2007, the FDOT Incident Management and Commercial Vehicle Operations Programs sponsored an interactive workshop centered on Florida’s freight operations and the important relationship freight movement and safety have with traffic engineering, transportation operations, and planning to assure Florida’s economic well being. This was the second annual workshop (held in Tampa) dedicated to assisting transportation operations and planning professionals to understand how their jobs greatly impact the freight community (positively and negatively); and how the safety of Florida’s citizens and the health of Florida’s economy can hang in the balance.
This article was provided by Michael Akridge, FDOT Traffic Engineering and Operations. For information, please contact Mr. Akridge at (850) 410-5607 or email to Michael.Akridge@dot.state.fl.us. * * * *
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Rapid Incident Scene Clearance Goes Statewide For each minute that a travel lane is blocked, it takes four minutes for traffic to recover or resume normal speeds. When one out of three travel lanes is blocked, 50 percent of the roadway’s capacity is lost. The cascading effects of the delays caused by one incident on our Interstates can be felt for many hours after the incident has been cleared. The FDOT’s Rapid Incident Scene Clearance (RISC) program is a highly innovative program to help meet the goal of clearing major incidents and truck crashes in 90 minutes or less. RISC was started by the Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) in 2004 and ensures that only highly-trained, certified wrecker and heavy-recovery equipment operators with the proper equipment respond to incidents to clear the scene quickly and efficiently.
In July 2007, the FDOT Executive Board voted to expand the RISC program as a statewide effort. This will be effective July 2008 with the first year funding set at $2,000,000 and each FDOT District initially receiving $100,000. A reserve of $1,300,000 will be held to be provided to the Districts as needed
A successfully operated statewide RISC program will relieve congestion, reduce the chance for secondary collisions, create a timely movement of goods and services, and support the Open Roads Policy between FDOT and the Florida Highway Patrol. This article was provided by Mike Akridge, FDOT Traffic Engineering and Operations. For information, please contact Mr. Akridge at (850) 410-5607 or email to Michael.Akridge@dot.state.fl.us. * * * *
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District 7 ITS Program—Evolution From Necessity In early 2007, the resignation of the District 7 Freeway Operations Manager coincided with the staffing of the new building which houses the Tampa Bay SunGuide™ Regional Transportation Management Center (RTMC). Filling the position became the catalyst for a review of District 7’s approach to ITS design and operations. Until early 2007, the District 7 ITS program was primarily focused on design and construction. With the completion of the RTMC, and several ITS roadway projects coming on line, there was a need for significantly more focus on operations. After review and discussion, management decided to restructure the ITS staff and redefine their responsibilities to compliment the evolving ITS program and deployment. The District 7 ITS Section is now structured as follows: District ITS Program Manager—Bill Wilshire, P.E. ITS Operations Manager—Terry Hensley ITS Project Manager—Rob Lopes ITS Support Manager—Romona Burke District 7 is confident that the revised structure will result in a more efficient and cohesive approach to the challenges that come with our expanding system. This article was provided by Bill Wilshire, FDOT District 7. For information, please contact Mr. Wilshire at (813) 615-8610 or email to Bill.Wilshire@dot.state.fl.us. * * * *
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FDOT District 7 Tampa Bay SunGuide™ Center Officially Opens The FDOT District 7 is proud to announce that the Tampa Bay SunGuide™ Regional Transportation Management Center (RTMC) is officially open! The grand opening ceremony was held on Friday, October 19, at the RTMC. The ceremony included comments from District 7 Secretary Don Skelton, Elizabeth Birriel (FDOT Central Office), Lt. Colonel John Czernis (Florida Highway Patrol), and Ken Haddad (Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission). Secretary Skelton officially cut the ribbon to the new facility. Elizabeth Birriel, as the current President of ITS Florida, presented Secretary Skelton with a Certificate of Outstanding Achievement plaque on the opening of the new RTMC. Tours were held for any interest guests. Members of the media in the Tampa Bay area attended and interviewed FDOT and Florida Highway Patrol regarding the purpose and benefits of the RTMC.
Currently, the RTMC is operating 41 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras on the Skyway Bridge and Interstates 4 and 275, and 18 dynamic message signs (DMS). By the end of this year, there will be another 26 fully operation CCTVs on Interstates 4, 75, and 275. Upon completion of all scheduled projects, the RTMC will be operating 136 miles of fiber optic cable, 130 CCTVs, 74 DMS, and 275 traffic detection stations throughout Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk, and Manatee Counties. This system, when completed, will cover 128 miles of roadway. FDOT District 7 would like to thank everyone that contributed in making this center a success. This article was provided by Bill Wilshire, FDOT District 7. For information, please contact Mr. Wilshire at (813) 615-8610 or email to Bill.Wilshire@dot.state.fl.us. * * * * |
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I-95 Corridor Coalition —Southern Region Incident Management Information Exchange Program The 1-95 Corridor Coalition (Coalition) is in the final development stages of a project to facilitate communications regarding traffic incidents. The Southern Region Incident Management Information Exchange program will establish regional incident notification protocols for Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina, ensuring that appropriate jurisdictions are notified during major incidents, contraflows, etc. that have potential multi-state impacts. I-95 Corridor Coalition Background
More details can be found at www.i95coalition.org/. Project Background The states in the southern region (Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida) were the most recent to join the Coalition. Florida joined in 2003. Upon the establishment of all four states as members, the Southern Region Highway Operations Group (HOGs) was established to join four other regional HOGs that already existed. The southern states currently lack the interoperability of the IEN to effectively coordinate inter-jurisdictional incident and traffic management activities. Often times, this type of inter-jurisdictional coordination is helpful for weather-related emergencies, large-scale hazardous materials incidents, or terrorist acts that may require contraflow evacuations that affect several states. This coordination would also be valuable during major traffic incidents that impact neighboring states in the southern region. To date, during these major events, the states have communicated by e-mail, fax, and telephone, but this process is cumbersome, can lead to miscommunications, and can delay critical information from reaching the appropriate officials.
The project involved the identification of stakeholders, outreach to those stakeholders to acquaint them with the project and gain their support, and tabulation of the characteristics of the ITS and transportation management centers (both existing and near future) in each state. A Concept of Operations, currently in development, will define the principles by which the Southern Region Incident Management Information Exchange Program will successfully operate, and it will address the software delivery system. Letters of agreement have been obtained from all four states to indicate their participation in this program, and this will be re-enforced at a media event at the Georgia DOT statewide NaviGAtor Transportation Management Center in Atlanta, Georgia, which has been selected as the pilot “home” for the initial deployment. The outcome of this project will be improved service to the motoring public during major emergencies. This article was provided by Capt. Henry de Vries (HDevries@dot.state.ny.us), Christine Macaulay (C.Macaulay@delcan.com), and Charles Wallace (Charles.Wallace@telvent.abengoa.com). * * * *
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Transpo2008: The Transpo Legacy Lives On!
Transpo has a proud legacy. The first, Transpo2000, was sponsored by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Florida Division of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Florida Transportation Builders Association (FTBA), Florida Section, Institute for Transportation Engineers (FSITE), the Intelligent Transportation Society of Florida (ITS Florida), and the University of Florida Transportation Research Center. Held in Orlando, with 110 exhibitors and 750 attendees, topics ranged from SuperPave, a new innovative material, to ITS applications and space travel. The event was a great success, but because several of the sponsors were concerned about competing with other statewide conferences, it was decided not to continue a broad-based Transpo series. ITS Florida offered to sponsor future Transpos biennially as ITS events. Transpo2002 was held in Orlando in association with the ITS Florida and the FSITE Annual Meetings; the latter having asked to co-sponsor the event. FDOT and FHWA were also invited back as co-sponsors. The Transpo2002 theme was “Safety Under the Sun: Technology for Safe and Secure Transportation.” Attendance exceeded 500. Two years later, Transpo2004 was held in Jacksonville and ITS Florida and FSITE invited their counterparts in Georgia to co-sponsor the first Southeast Regional Transpo. The theme was “Border Wars: Building Bridges to Overcome Barriers.” Deemed a success, a second joint state event is tentatively planned for Transpo2010 or 2012. Transpo2006 was held at the Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor with the theme of “Empowering our Mobile Society.” Every Transpo conference is an opportunity to learn, network, and view and exhibit new technologies and services. Don’t miss Transpo2008—the legacy lives on!This article was provided by Denise Bunnewith. For more information on ITS Florida, please check the ITS Florida Web site at www.itsflorida.org or email itsflorida@itsflorida.org. If you wish to contribute an article to the SunGuide Disseminator on behalf of ITS Florida, please email Mary Hamill at MaryKHamill@global-5.com. * * * *
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Editorial Corner—What Cool Hand Luke Can Teach Florida’s ITS Industry About Better Transportation
“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” Effective Communication We can and must do a much better job of communicating with the “outside world”—what I call the 3 Ps: the Public, the Press, and the Politicians. But to do so, we’ll need to:
Sell Truth & Offer Hope Floridians are a hopeful people, and we should tell them the truth about today’s transportation challenges—really “sell” them the truth—and then offer hope through the work we do to meet these transportation challenges. Seven Simple Suggestions
Time’s a wasting, and the job before us is much too important to wait. So remember to “translate” to effectively communicate, and let’s all get busy “selling truth and offering hope” so we can Keep Florida Moving Forward! This editorial was provided by Douglas J. Callaway, Floridians for Better Transportation. For more information, please contact Mr. Callaway at (850) 521-1256 or email DCallaway@bettertransportation.org. * * * * |
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The FDOT has a goal to assure that only a safe and uniform ITS and traffic control system is implemented in state of Florida. The Traffic Engineering Research Lab (TERL) plays a part in obtaining this goal by satisfying Florida Statute 316.0745 - Uniform Signals & Devices. Below is a look Inside the TERL at activities that help accomplish our goal. Product Evaluation Approved traffic control signals and signal devices can be viewed at www3.dot.state.fl.us/trafficcontrolproducts. Approved ITS devices can be viewed at www.dot.state.fl.us/TrafficOperations/Traf_Sys/ITS APL/TemporaryITSAPL.htm. Product Specifications Specifications for a generator panel and uninterruptible power supply for traffic cabinets are both near completion. These specifications will provide for easy and continued signalized intersection operation during a storm or other conditions causing power loss. Updates to FDOT specifications for light emitting dioxide (LED) internally illuminated signs, LED signals, and changeable message signs are planned for the future as well as new specifications for dynamic message signs for arterial and toll roads; master hub cabinet; core switch/hub switch for ITS cabinets; in-pavement crosswalk lights; 24/7 flashing beacon; countdown pedestrian signal; and trailer-mounted camera/detector system. APL Vendor Quality Assurance Program The vendor quality assurance evaluation was included as part of the device approval process in 2002, and has proved to be a very successful program. Feedback from end-users has been positive and, since all APL manufacturers are required to have a minimum quality system in place to stay on the APL, the quality of transportation devices has improved. In fact, many manufacturers who first saw the added requirement as just another hurdle to jump without any real benefit, have since told TERL staff that the additional quality assurance requirement has forced them to become better, more efficient, and competitive manufacturers. A list of manufacturers who have passed the FDOT’s quality assurance evaluation can be viewed at www.dot.state.fl.us/TrafficOperations/apl_vendor_qualification.htm. Qualified dynamic message signs can be viewed at www.dot.state.fl.us/TrafficOperations/fdot_dms_info.htm. For Your Information ITS Manufacturers This article was provided by Jeff Morgan, FDOT-TERL. For more information, please contact Mr. Morgan at (850) 921-7354 or email Jeffrey.Morgan@dot.state.fl.us. * * * *
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I-10 and I-95 Named “Corridors of the Future” The Corridors of the Future program is aimed at developing innovative national and regional approaches to reduce congestion and improve the efficiency of freight delivery. US DOT also indicated that they wanted to sign a long-term commitment with each corridor where the states agree to continue working together for the good of the corridor and US DOT agrees to work toward procuring additional funding for the corridors. The I-10 Freight Corridor second round “Corridor of the Future” application can be found at www.i10freightstudy.org/download/I-10_CFP_Application_Final_Complete.pdf and the I-95 application can be found at www.i95coalition.org/travinfo_corridors-of-the-future.html. * * * *
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SunGuide Disseminator December 2007
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