NATIONAL ITS ARCHITECTURE

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has launched a major effort to inform the transportation community about the National Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Architecture, a framework designed to help ensure that ITS systems operate as efficiently as possible through integration and interconnection. The goal is to encourage the development of solutions that are good investments now and that will continue to pay dividends well into the future. Simply described, the architecture is a master blueprint for the development of an integrated, multimodal ITS to be used by all transportation agencies that develop and operate federally funded ITS projects. The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) requires such projects to be consistent with the architecture. DOT has identified nine ITS infrastructure components that can currently be integrated to become a platform for managing travel in metropolitan areas: traffic control, freeway management, transit management, regional multimodal traveler information, emergency management, electronic fare payment, electronic toll collection, incident management, and railroad grade-crossing warning. The architecture does not tell transportation planners what technology to select, only what functions to consider in making their own design decisions. It thus preserves planners' flexibility to respond to local needs and circumstances, but can save time when defining requirements for a project. By planning for interfaces with other ITS components ahead of time, the risk of adding incompatible systems at a later date is reduced.