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About This Site - ITS Benefits Database

The Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) has developed this ITS Benefits Database.

Major objectives are:

• Document findings from the evaluation of ITS deployments pertaining to the effect of ITS on transportation systems performance.
• Provide transportation professionals with convenient access to the benefits of ITS deployment so that they can make informed planning and investment decisions.

Findings from ITS evaluations are presented in a concise summary format. Each benefit summary includes items such as a title in the form of a short statement of the evaluation finding, context narrative, and identifying information such as date, location, and source, as well as the evaluation details that describe how the identified ITS benefit was determined.

Topic Areas

ITS benefits presented on this Web site are organized by various topics of interest to transportation professionals. Table 1, below, provides a list of major classification schemes and topic areas.

Table 1 - Benefit Classification Scheme and Topic Areas

Each database entry is presented in the ITS application categories according to the type of ITS evaluated. This organization scheme will provide insight to the project managers, planners, and designers considering deployment of or responsible for a particular ITS application. This will allow, for example, a manager or planner seeking to improve transit system operations to search for example outcomes for the variety of ITS improvements intended to improve transit management (e.g., automatic vehicle location, transit signal priority, electronic fare payment).

Each benefit entry is also categorized by the ITS goal areas affected by the system. Browsing by goal area is helpful to executives, researchers, and planners, interested in learning more about successful approaches to maximizing benefits in key ITS goal areas ranging from safety to customer satisfaction. This categorization enables refined searching for experiences with ITS that, for example, improve safety through freeway management applications.

ITS Integration enables sharing of information among various systems as well as among agencies. Benefits presented in the integration links classifications show the impact that such sharing of information can have on transportation system performance.

Database entries are also organized by location. Entries are categorized by the country or U.S. state where the subject ITS was deployed.

Acknowledgement

In the continuing development of the ITS Benefits Database, the ITS JPO periodically receives guidance from many ITS professionals representing various local, regional, state and federal transportation agencies; planning and research organizations; as well as private sector consulting firms. They represent a wide spectrum of ITS decision makers involved in the planning, design, management, operation, and evaluation of ITS throughout the nation. Their input has been crucial and invaluable in defining the user needs, knowledge content, and the Web site interface. We acknowledge and appreciate their guidance.

Many users have been providing comments and suggestions through the online link on this Web site. We appreciate your comments in our quest to continuously improve this knowledge resource to best serve your needs.

For more information, see the Help and FAQs pages or Contact Us.

Last Modified: 10/16/2007