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By Heather Navarra, ITS Canada
Changing priorities for all levels of government include promoting sustainable transportation options. The importance of maintaining a balance between economic requirements and environmental issues has become a top priority. Fortunately, intelligent transportation systems (ITS Canada) can help in the planning, delivery and ongoing management of transit, travel and transport, improving outcomes in
all areas.
Understanding the potential role of intelligent transportation systems is crucial for municipalities. Transportation management began in the days of traffic control systems, but those who have not
kept abreast of this industry may be surprised at the wide variety of solutions now available. Positive contributions allow reductions in congestion and associated travel time for motorists and transport trucks, lowering delivery costs and providing side-benefits in improving our quality of life. Reducing journey time also provides reductions in emissions, a significant benefit that helps with climate change. Many of these initiatives are well suited to larger, urban areas, where a focus on key corridors and networks provides large paybacks.
In smaller municipalities, there are also a wide range of intelligent transportation solutions that can provide benefits. Development of a strategic plan for local transportation systems ensures better use of existing networks, allowing for interoperability over the long term. Traffic signal coordination is valuable on any scale, ensuring traffic flow continues unabated and travellers are not unnecessarily delayed. Coordinated signals reduce travel time, and that efficiency is proven to remove the equivalent in emissions from hundreds or even thousands of vehicles, while reducing fuel consumption. The associated decrease in both primary and secondary accidents provides safety benefits as well as reducing stress for drivers.
For transit, signal priority increases transit operation efficiency and reliability. Today’s customers also want information wherever they are – GPS on transit vehicles, with data linked to real-time arrival information, can be made available at main stops. Dynamic message signs also provide valuable feedback on route closures and delays. Incident detection can send advisories to the traffic office and subsequently to message signs. Traffic cameras at key locations provide traffic centres with live feedback on routes, providing zoom capability to determine what action is appropriate; the feed can also be made available online or to the media.
The benefit of intelligence is in connecting these technologies to work together, rather than independently. Integration into one network provides increasing benefits. The incorporation of ITS strategies leads to the optimization of the transportation infrastructure on a number of platforms,
from transit to weigh-in-motion for trucks to traffic management, ensuring both economic and environmental goals can be reached. Emergency signal pre-emption technology can even assist fire trucks to arrive at the scene quicker.
ITS Canada’s role is to facilitate exchanges of ideas between all levels of government and with industry experts, to develop optimal solutions for municipalities’ needs. We not only advise our members about ITS initiatives here in Canada but, through our extensive industry connections in other countries, we are able to provide information on international ITS developments, keeping members abreast of the latest technology advances. Federal and provincial funding is also available
to assist with Canadian ITS-related deployments.
Every municipality, small or large, is encouraged to join the Society to participate in valuable networking opportunities, education and training, workshops, monthly newsletters, an Annual Conference (being held in Edmonton on May 10-13, 2009), and more.
Visit the ITS Canada website for details on the wide range of benefits and opportunities associated with membership, or call ITS Canada at (905) 471-2970. Membership provides the best opportunity to stay abreast of changing technologies in the world of intelligent transportation systems.
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