Chapter 1: Introduction

Intelligent transportation technologies and systems are the application of integrated information and communications technologies to infrastructure and vehicles in order to improve safety and to better manage travel and travel choices. Over the past 20 years, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) have transformed transportation safety, infrastructure, operational performance, and service delivery. ITS facilitates a connected, integrated transportation system that is information-intensive in order to better serve the interests of users, be responsive to the needs of travelers and system operators, and, above all, improve safety.

The ITS Joint Program Office (JPO), part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's (US DOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), is charged with researching and fostering the development and evolution of ITS and facilitating deployment and use of these technologies across the Nation. The ITS Program delivers on this charge by leveraging public, private, and academic research, testing, and commercialization efforts.

Since the inception of the ITS Program in 1991, Congress has viewed ITS as an important use of Federal research funds. As such, Congress has required periodic updates on the Program's activities and future initiatives. The most recent surface transportation legislation, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), passed by Congress on August 9, 2005, not only provided continued guidance to the ITS Program but als o directed US DOT to submit to Congress a five-year program plan with an update every two years. The ITS Program delivered its first Five-Year ITS Program Plan (2006 Five-Year Plan)¹ to Congress in February 2007.² A follow-up report (this report) is due in 2008.

This report, the ITS Research Results: ITS Program Plan 2008 will describe the progress and changes in the ITS Program over the past two years. The ITS Program Plan 2008, builds on the previous 2006 Five-Year Plan to report on:

• The status of the ITS Program and research initiatives in 2008.
• Progress, accomplishments, and changes to the ITS Program since 2006.
• How the ITS Program has and will fulfill the requirements of SAFETEA-LU (see textbox for an example of SAFETEA-LU priorities for the ITS Program).

The 2006 Five-Year Plan provided Congress with:

• A history of and update on the ITS Program since the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). The 2006 Five-Year Plan also documents for Congress the ITS-Program's major accomplishments over a 15-year period since its inception.
• A description of the ITS Program's focus on high-risk, high-reward, collaborative research.
• A detailed review of each ITS Program research initiative:
  • The critical transportation problem that the initiatives address.
  • A description of how each specific ITS application under development will address the problem.
  • An understanding of why and how ITS is a critical part of the solution to the problem.
  • The expected outcomes from deployment.
  • A five-year roadmap outlining activities and key decision points to the track initiative's development.

In its conclusion, the 2006 Five-Year Plan provided Congress with a detailed description of the ITS Program's status as of August 2006. This plan noted that ITS will play a major role in addressing future transportation challenges, introduced US DOT's focus on congestion, and described several anticipated changes to the ITS Program.

Contents and Organization of This Report

The ITS Program Plan 2008 is divided into six chapters that provide a snapshot of the ITS Program in 2008, an update of changes to the overall ITS Program since 2006, and a summary of the Program's fulfillment of SAFETEA-LU legislative requirements.

• CHAPTER 1 introduces the ITS Program Plan 2008.
• CHAPTER 2 describes the history of the ITS Program's direction and agenda and the changes that have occurred since 2006. At the end of chapter two, this report presents examples of advances in ITS with respect to:
  • Success stories—significant positive changes brought about by ITS deployments.
  • Deployment progess since 1997.
  • Proof-of-concept, real-world testing by current ITS research initiatives
• CHAPTER 3 describes the research elements of the ITS Program and how they are fulfilling the intent and requirements of SAFETEA-LU. These include:
  • Major research initiatives nearing completion
  • Major research initiatives underway and moving into real-world testing
  • New research initiatives since 2006
  • Continuing research initiatives
• CHAPTER 4 describes the critical role played by deployment-support programs in introducing and facilitating the use of technologies by State and local agencies. Collectively, these programs are cross-cutting, interconnected efforts that form the ITS Program's knowledge base and that foster integration, interoperability, and technology transfer.
• CHAPTER 5 reviews changes in the administration and management structure of the ITS Program since the 2006 Five-Year Plan to support rigorous monitoring of research investments and delivery of value.
• CHAPTER 6 provides the conclusion to this report and summarizes the key research accomplishments of the last two years.

The following appendices complete this report:

• Appendix A: Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Appendix B: ITS Deployment Program Appropriations by State, 1998-2005
• Appendix C: Websites and 511 System Coverage Areas
• Appendix D: Alignment of ITS Program Activities with SAFETEA-LU
• Appendix E: Endnotes

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