Intelligent Highway System
In July 1995, Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena formally
opened the control center of the Transportation Guidance System
(TransGuide) at San Antonio, Texas, the 10th largest city in
the U.S. The ceremony marking the initial operation of the first
and most advanced intelligent Transportation System (ITS) in
the U.S. was attended by officials of the Texas Department of
Transportation (TxDOT), the Federal Highway Administration, the
Texas state government and the City of San Antonio.
From a control center, workers monitor and manage the road
system in San Antonio.
Also in attendance were representatives of some 60 companies
that teamed to support the project theme of "Technology
in Motion," which refers to the creation of "smart"
roadways through application of a number of technological innovations,
many of them derived from NASA technology. The contractor team
was headed by AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation, Columbia,
Maryland, a leading NASA contractor since the earliest days of
space flight.
The TransGuide project began in 1990 when TxDOT began an assessment
of advanced technologies applicable to traffic management. The
major conclusion of the study effort was that adding lanes to
San Antonio's highways was not the answer to efficient expansion;
rather, the road network had to be made intelligent by the application
of advanced video, sensor, computer and communications technologies.
After a competition among several major high tech firms, TxDOT
selected AlliedSignal as prime contractor and overseer of the
60-plus specialized companies. AlliedSignal's assignment called
for completing the design; procuring, installing and integrating
the equipment; testing the system; and training the personnel
to manage traffic on what would eventually be a 191-mile freeway
network. The initial 26 miles became operational in 1995.
The traffic system operator selects the cameras monitoring
a particular area.
The comprehensive deployment of advanced technologies provides
San Antonio with a safer, more efficient highway system, enables
expedited traffic flow, cuts auto fuel consumption and emissions,
and allows quicker detection of the response to "incidents"
(a traffic engineering term for accidents). The system includes
pairs of inductive-loop vehicle detectors in each highway lane
at half-mile intervals; full motion, full color video cameras
at one-mile intervals; 50 fiber optic changeable message signs;
358 overhead lane control signals; and computerized control of
traffic signals.
At the core of TransGuide is a command and control system
similar to one of NASA's major control centers. Inside the 48,000-square-foot
center, video and computer images are displayed on console monitors
and on a 60-foot video wall. Each operator also has four video
monitors on which to display images from the roadside cameras.
The system monitors the passage of traffic over the sensors
embedded in the roadways and-based on traffic speed and flow
rates-detects likely incidents. Control center operators are
alerted to the occurrence of an accident and the area of the
occurrence is highlighted on the map display.
Simultaneously, the system activates video cameras on the
roadway to enable the operator to investigate the accident. The
operator answers three questions posed by the computer and the
system returns a recommended response to minimize the traffic
impact of the accident. The system is designed to detect any
accident within two minutes (as compared with 20 minutes by manual
detection) and to prepare and implement a response in as little
as 15 seconds.
Mounted on poles, the cameras can be manipulated remotely.
The TransGuide ITS incorporates multiple NASA technologies
stemming from AlliedSignal's broad experience as a NASA contractor.
AlliedSignal Technical Services is NASA's primary services contractor
at Goddard Space Flight Center, a subcontractor for mission operations
and support to Rockwell International at Johnson Space Center,
and a contractor to Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The company also
provides services to Ames and Lewis Research Centers and three
stations of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.
Allied Signal continues to support the TransGuide software
as the system expands and to perform complementary transportation
management functions.
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