ITS Master Plan
ITS Master Plan
The ADOT Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) Division has developed an Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Master Plan to relieve congestion, optimize infrastructure investments, and develop strategies that promote a safe and reliable transportation system with a particular emphasis on actions that are recommended over the next 3-5 years. The purpose of the ITS Master Plan is to serve as a plan that creates consensus on what items are to be integrated and what ITS Strategies are to be implemented to facilitate future TSMO goals throughout the state; grouped as infrastructure and processes, respectively.
A brief summary of the work done as part of the Plan as well as a high-level overview of the recommendations can be found in the Executive Summary.
The ITS Master Plan involves various stakeholders touching a variety of functions. Recently, policy and technology have undergone significant changes that are poised to transform transportation in the future. Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs), artificial intelligence and big data, and the emergence of transportation network providers are a few examples. The ITS Master Plan will include activities that support these priority areas in a strategic and implementable way through the 10 System Layer Plans (SLPs) below.
The System Layer Plan Executive Summary briefly touches on the key points for each layer including existing conditions, goals, challenges and gaps, near-term priorities, performance measures, and future vision for the layer.
Each SLP also has an individual document that dives deeper into information introduced in the System Layer Plan Executive Summary. In particular, the more comprehensive tables of recommendations go into detail of what each recommendation is, the steps required and outcomes expected, the context of the recommendation, champions and stakeholders, and funding requirements. The SLPs cover:
Traffic Management
Ongoing traffic operations of freeways and arterials under normal or long-term conditions, which may include coordination with other agencies.
Active Transportation Demand Management
Management of altered traffic demands during congestion, incidents, and events.
Safety Applications
Projects, initiatives, and infrastructure that address a specific safety concern.
Work Zone Management
Management of work zone activities and other planned events involving non-permanent installations that affect the traveling public.
Road Weather Management
Operations and management of the transportation system in response to weather/environmental-related conditions.
Traffic Incident Management
Management of specific incident-related activities, mostly unplanned events, that require coordination between transportation and public safety agencies.
Traveler Information Systems
Communications of real time information to travelers for awareness and response.
Connected/Autonomous Vehicles and Smart Cities
Communications between vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructure and other evolving programs.
ITS Communication Structure*
Systems required for field devices to communicate which each other and central systems.
Data and Performance Management*
Data feeds from various systems to allow evaluation and assessment of program/operational performance.
* These SLPs (with blue icons) provide support for the layers above
Stakeholder input, current planning documents, and existing plans resulted in over a thousand recommended ITS devices. A prioritization process was developed to quantitatively score proposed device locations. Each device type has a unique methodology depending on factors relating to its purpose and operations such as AADT, crash history, detour routes, and/or congestion.
While the main development of this project is completed, it is anticipated that this will be a living plan that evolves over time as infrastructure and processes are implemented.