| Featured Resources |
 | ITS Joint Program Office Website |
| This site is the official website of the U.S. Department of Transportation's ITS Joint Program Office. The website links to pages relating to all aspects of the National ITS Program, including ten major ITS initiatives. Sections of the website cover special topics, such as architecture, standards, and telecommunications. Technical assistance is available from the ITS Benefits Database, ITS Costs Database, ITS Lessons Learned Knowledge Resource (LLKR), and ITS Deployment Statistics Database, as well as the ITS Learning Center. The website also includes a list of contacts (in the area titled "About Us") and related links, including the ITS Library and National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC). Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Access the website address http://www.its.dot.gov. | |
| National Transportation Operations Coalition Website |
| This website is a compilation of resources provided by the National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC). The Coalition is a partnership among traditional stakeholders, such as transportation professionals, and nontraditional stakeholders, such as public safety agencies. This alliance of national associations, practitioners, and private sector groups allows stakeholders to work collectively to identify barriers and opportunities for improving the management and operations of the nation's transportation system. The site contains the history of the Coalition, current action plan, vision, and mission. The site also contains resource documents that present a number of transportation operations issues and improvement strategies, links to other operations and ITS resources (including electronic forums for transportation operations, and the Talking Operations webcast series), proceedings from Coalition events, and a list of Coalition members and key partner organizations. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Access the website address http://www.ntoctalks.com. | |
| NTOC Talks E-Newsletter |
| NTOC Talks, a newsletter of the National Transportation Operation Coalition (NTOC), is a repository of up-to-date news, insight, and resources related to ITS deployment. The newsletter contains brief summaries of news articles and is updated every few days. The database-driven newsletter features a search engine that allows users to find relevant articles by topic, category, or date going back to 1998. Every month, all articles posted over the past month are compiled into a newsletter that is sent via e-mail to newsletter subscribers. Readers can also have back issues e-mailed to them using a convenient online form. Subscription to the monthly newsletter is free, and the website features online sign-up. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Access the website address http://www.ntoctalks.com/icdn/index.php3. | |
| Moving the American Economy: National Strategy to Reduce Congestion Website |
| This website is a compilation of resources related to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Congestion Initiative, a six-part national strategy to reduce congestion on the country's roads, in its airspace and at its intermodal ports. The website contains the current status of U.S. DOT solicitations related to the Congestion Initiative, including those for urban partnership agreements, participation in a value pricing pilot program, and an ITS operational test. The website also contains helpful resources, including documents, presentations and related links. Documents posted on the site include the May 2006 report National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America's Transportation Network, which outlines the U.S. DOT's six-part congestion reduction plan. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Access the website address http://www.fightgridlocknow.gov. | |
| National VII Coalition Website |
| The Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) Initiative is a research program for improving safety and mobility through technology applications that rely on high-speed, real-time communications between vehicles and roadside. VII focuses on enabling development of a common communications platform and developing applications for public safety and traffic management. This website contains program-related documents, announcements, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and information about related initiatives and VII partners. A companion website hosted by the U.S. DOT (http://www.its.dot.gov/vii/index.htm) presents the goal, background, approach, milestones, and points-of-contact for the initiative. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Access the website address http://www.vehicle-infrastructure.org. | |
| University Transportation Research Centers (UTC) Website |
| This site is the official website of the University Transportation Centers (UTC) program. The UTC program was created in 1987 to advance state-of-the-art in transportation research and develop the next generation of transportation professionals. Currently, about 60 universities have been designated as participants in the program, each of which has a defined research theme. With funding from the UTC program, these universities offer multidisciplinary coursework, conduct basic and applied research, and make the research results available to potential users through technology transfer activities. The website presents the history, vision, mission and goals of the UTC program, as well as lists the participating universities, their research themes, contact information, and Web links. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Access the website address http://utc.dot.gov. | |
 | Operations/ITS HelpLine |
| The Operations/ITS HelpLine provides reliable, personalized assistance, helping members of the transportation community quickly identify appropriate resources or other technical assistance. The HelpLine functions as a telephone-based gateway to the U.S. DOT National ITS Program, offering callers access to documents, information on the status of research and development programs, and the ability to identify U.S. DOT personnel with the capabilities to provide additional technical assistance. The HelpLine is also the gateway to the ITS Peer-to-Peer Program that provides public sector transportation stakeholders with a convenient way to tap into the growing knowledge base of ITS experience. Through the program, public sector staff can request short-term assistance to address specific technical issues. The program matches callers with the appropriate individual from a pool of more than 100 "peers" – experts in various topic areas of ITS. The program is free and confidential. For more information about the program, access the website address http://www.its.dot.gov/peer/index.htm or call (888) 700-PEER, (888) 700-7337. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Call the HelpLine at (866) 367-7487. | |
 | ITS Library |
| The Electronic Document Library (EDL) is a repository of documents produced under the sponsorship of the National ITS Program, as well as contributions from outside sources. Types of documents posted on the website include technical reports, policy reports, presentations, conference proceedings, brochures, and legislation. The library currently contains almost 2,000 documents. Users can search the EDL by document number, title, publication number, author, or state, as well as conduct a full text search of selected documents. Users can also see what documents have been added to the EDL during a certain period of time, as well as download instructions for contributing documents to the library. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Access the website address http://www.its.dot.gov/welcome.htm. | |
| National Transportation Library |
| The National Transportation Library (NTL) is a repository of materials – documents, statistics, current research activities, technical terms, and legislative and regulatory resources – accessible using several interactive search tools. The NTL Integrated Search searches both NTL's own catalog as well as the Transportation Research Board's Transportation Research Information Service (TRIS Online). The NTL website links to the departments of transportation in all 50 states, as well as dozens of transportation libraries, trade unions and professional associations. NTL's extensive legislative and regulatory resources include Federal Register notices, the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the U.S. Code (USC), U.S. DOT Docket Management System, U.S. DOT Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reports, and the THOMAS Federal Legislative Information system. Technical support is available from the NTL librarians by e-mail or by telephone during business hours Eastern Time. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Access the website address http://ntl.bts.gov. | |
 | SafeTrip-21 Field Test Sites and ITS Applications (2008) |
| This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) solicits organizations to participate in a project called SafeTrip-21, i.e., field tests of various vehicle infrastructure integration (VII) technologies. Such VII technologies include in-vehicle alerts, crash avoidance systems, traveler information systems, navigation systems, transit signal priority systems, commercial vehicle applications, and e-payment applications. Selected systems will be demonstrated at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems in New York City, New York in November 2008. Other field tests and demonstrations will continue throughout 2010. The viability of the technologies' business models will also be assessed. The BAA consists of a synopsis issued prior to the solicitation, the solicitation itself, five modifications that answer questions about the solicitation, and other materials. The BAA was issued in February 2008 and responses were due in March. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Access the website address https://www.fbo.gov/ ?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=b2c55271335a4ca6df9623f7b96b998a. For more information about SAFE TRIP-21, contact Gary Ritter of the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, (617) 494-2716, Ritter@volpe.dot.gov. | |
| Five-Year ITS Program Plan (FHWA-JPO-07-015) (2006) |
| This program plan documents history, structure, and goals of the national ITS program. This plan describes current activities (as of 2006) and maps out investments planned for the next five years (2006-2010). Last updated in 2000, the 2006 edition outlines the significant changes that will be made to the direction for the ITS program to give greater emphasis to ITS technologies that address the Congestion Initiative. ITS technologies that facilitate congestion pricing, speed traffic flows on arterials and enhance the value of transit will receive particular attention and resources. A new edition is scheduled for publication fall 2008. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: To order a hardcopy, contact the Operations/ITS HelpLine, (866) 367-7487 or itspubs@dot.gov. For the online version, access the following website addresses:
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| National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America's Transportation Network (2006) |
| This white paper discusses the common causes, severity of impacts, and current trends regarding transportation congestion in the U.S. Congestion, both in surface transportation and in air travel, is a severe and growing problem in the U.S., but a problem that can be addressed. The paper outlines a six-point plan that the U.S. DOT will follow to reduce air and surface transportation congestion. Publication of this white paper initiated the U.S. DOT Secretary's Congestion Initiative. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Access the website address http://isddc.dot.gov/OLPFiles/OST/012988.pdf. | |
| Intelligent Transportation Systems Benefits, Costs, and Lessons Learned: 2005 Update (FHWA-JPO-05-002) (2005) |
| This report is the latest in a biannual series that provides a synthesis of the information collected by U.S. DOT on the impact of ITS projects on the operation of the surface transportation network. The report presents ITS impacts according to program areas within the intelligent infrastructure and intelligent vehicle applications. ITS benefits are classified by performance measures associated with National ITS Program goals, i.e., the improvement of safety, efficiency, mobility, productivity, and energy/environmental impacts. The report also presents unit cost figures for selected ITS deployments, as well as sample system cost information. New in the 2005 edition is a discussion of the ITS Lessons Learned Knowledge Resource, a repository of experience on how to plan, design, deploy, operate, and maintain ITS. Information in the report is drawn from the ITS Benefits and Costs Databases, available online at http://www.benefitcost.its.dot.gov. A new edition, which will include data on the extent of U.S. deployment of ITS technologies, is scheduled for publication fall 2008. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: To order a hardcopy, contact the Operations/ITS HelpLine, (866) 367-7487 or itspubs@dot.gov. For the online version, access the following website addresses:
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| Traffic Congestion and Reliability: Trends and Advanced Strategies for Congestion Mitigation (2005) |
| This document is the second in a series of annual reports that provide a snapshot of congestion in the U.S. The report summarizes recent trends in congestion and analyzes the sources of congestion and other unreliable travel. In particular, the report examines travel time and travel time reliability as measures of congestion. The report concludes that available solutions – adding capacity, operating capacity more efficiently, and reducing demand – must be used in concert to achieve realistic results. The 2004 report Traffic Congestion and Reliability: Linking Solutions to Problems is also available. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Access the following website addresses:
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| AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan (2004) |
| In 2003, the Association of American State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the U.S. Department of Transportation and several other organizations set a shared goal to reduce the U.S. highway fatality rate by 2008 of not more than one fatality per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). As a first step in achieving this goal, AASHTO worked in concert with the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and many other stakeholders to update its Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP). This plan sets 22 specific goals, each organized into one of six core elements of fatal highway crashes: drivers, special users (including non-motorized users), vehicles, highways, emergency medical response, and management. First published in 1997, the 2004 edition uses fatal crash data from 2003 and discusses the Lead States program and the levels of funding that would be needed to implement the plan. Through the TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 17-18(03), a series of guides is being developed to assist state and local agencies in reducing injuries and fatalities in each of the SHSP's targeted emphasis areas. Published as volumes of NCHRP Report# 500 Guidance for Implementation of the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan, each guide contains a general description of the problem, strategies and countermeasures to address the problem, and a model implementation process; 18 guides have been published as of January 1, 2008. Taking a broader view, NCHRP Report# 501 Integrated Management Process to Reduce Highway Injuries and Fatalities Statewide provides an overall framework for coordinating a safety program at the state level. Cost: Free To Access This Resource: Accesses the website addresses:
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