Saratoga Springs, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/14/2010 -- ITS-NY has announced the 2010 Project-of-the-Year Winners at its Seventeenth Annual Meeting in Saratoga Springs, NY.
The winning projects highlight the use of ITS technologies to improve the mobility and safety of NYS travelers, enhance the efficiency of NYS transportation network and modes including public transportation, and provide positive environmental and energy benefits to NYS. These outstanding projects also have a high degree of multiagency coordination and collaboration. Winning Projects were announced in the following ITS award categories:
TRAVELER INFORMATION SYSTEMS – MYNITTEC
Project Partners: NITTEC and the University at Buffalo Project Overview: In 2009, the Niagara International Transportation Technology Coalition (NITTEC) released MYNITTEC, a real-time traveler information subscription system. MYNITTEC provides personalized information to travelers through the region and across the international border. MYNITTEC was jointly developed by NITTEC and the University at Buffalo (UB). The system provides realtime traveler information directly to users email and mobile devices. MYNITTEC is a public service provided free of charge to assist regional travelers in improving mobility, making travel more reliable and avoiding incidents and congestion on the regional expressway network and border crossings. The MYNITTEC system allows users to customize traveler information received through email and text message. Users have the ability to select individual routes by direction and segment of expressway or specific border crossings to reflect the individuals travel patterns. Notifications will only be received during the timeframes selected by the user. By advancing this system, NITTEC has provided the public with a comprehensive source of traveler information delivered directly to the user.
TRAFFIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS – TRANSMIT AW-39/52
Project Partners: MTA Bridges & Tunnels, Dunn Engineering Associates, P.C., E-Transit, Inc. JHK Engineering, P.C., TRANSCOM, Mark IV IVHS Inc., Kleinberg Electric, Inc., and the Liro Group Project Overview: The TRANSMIT system is a regional traffic monitoring system that uses RFID tag readers to read E-ZPass tags at strategic locations throughout New York City. This project expands the TRANSMIT network to the MTA B&T crossings, thus providing more data collection points to TRANSCOM (operators of TRANSMIT). It also provides the MTA B&T with valuable live travel time data from its facilities. This data is used for multiple purposes, including traffic pattern analysis and real-time travel time information provision via VMS signs and the agency’s website (http://traveltime.mta.info). The travel time data is stored and aggregated in five-minute and one-hour intervals in the database, allowing the generation of various web reports for the performance measurement of facility operations. The TRANSMIT project provided the new collection points and substantially increased the density of the TRANSMIT System with more accurate and detailed travel time information.
TRANSIT INFORMATION SYSTEMS - TROY ITS SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS – PHASE II
Project Partners: City of Troy, Federal Highway Administration, New York State Department of Transportation , and Creighton Manning Engineering Project Overview: Troy ITS Signal Improvements Phase II is a $3 million locally administered Federal aid project. The project involves the rehabilitation of 22 traffic signals in an historic downtown. The new system is multi-modal, accommodating passenger vehicles, transit vehicles, pedestrians, transit stops and shelters, and on-street parking. The NTCIP compliant signal system was designed to provide multiple coordination plans all controlled by a central computer system. An ITS Systems Engineering Analysis was prepared to ensure compatibility with the Capital District Regional ITS Architecture to facilitate future integration into the regional transportation management system. The public perception of the project is very favorable. The project has had significant quantifiable benefits to traffic operations including a 24% reduction in total vehicle delay, a 22% reduction in the average seconds of delay, and a 23% reduction in total stops during the peak hour. The reduction in stops results in a 15% reduction in vehicle emissions and a corresponding air quality improvement. In addition, research has shown a 36% reduction in accident rates when roadside mount traffic signals are replaced with overhead mast arms.
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT – NYS TRAFFIC INCIDENT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
Project Partners: NYS Department of Transportation, NYS Thruway Authority, NYS Police, NYS Department of Health, NYS Association of Chiefs of Police, NYS Association of Fire Chiefs, NYS Emergency Management Office, NYS Office of Fire Prevention and Control, NYS Sheriff’s Association, Empire State Towing and Recovery Association, Federal Highway Administration, NYS Fire Coordinator’s Association, and Eng-Wong Taub & Associates Project Overview: The NYS Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Program is being developed and implemented by a coalition of agencies involved in traffic incident response and management, and the effort has been ongoing for about one year. A Steering Committee composed of the public agencies listed above was formed to provide program guidance and participate in implementation. Elements of the program and their status are: Program Charter – completed and approved by the Steering Committee; Commitment of Cooperation - completed and approved by the Steering Committee; Statewide TIM Program Action Plan – in final draft; and TIM Training Courses -- one for NYSDOT and for one for all responders – in final draft. This project advances the state of the practice of TIM in NYS. The establishment of the Steering Committee provides the foundation for multi-agency buy in and implementation, and the TIM Action Plan identifies program goals and roles and responsibilities as well as a prioritized list of needed actions. The NYSDOT TIM training course will provide detail training to NYSDOT employees involved in incident response. The All Responder training course is a standard TIM awareness workshop that can be presented in NYS to any responders with the goal of identifying best practices; better understanding agency roles, responsibilities and capabilities; improve consistency, time and safety of response; and fostering face to face communications and familiarity among responders.
ITS-NY, a non-lobbying, non-profit 501(c)3 organization, is dedicated to the advancement of ITS within NYS.
Visit http://www.ITS-NY.org for more information.