Advanced Traveler Information System in Santa Clarita, CA

The relatively small city of Santa Clarita, California, is situated in-between Interstate 5 and State Route 14. A large portion of the traffic in Santa Clarita uses arterials as alternate routes to the Interstate 5 and State Route 14, given the road network configuration that has numerous parallel arterials to the freeways. This paper describes how the City of Santa Clarita identified and evaluated the implementation of an Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) locally to provide travelers with detailed information about traffic incidents, the weather, construction, and special events. In the future, this system could be linked with other ATIS through California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Los Angeles County, and other local agencies. The authors discuss how the concept of using ATIS for the City is unique because of the scale of the system required to be implemented compared to larger public agencies such as the nearby City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles. The City of Santa Clarita received funding for an Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Phase 2 project as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) call for projects. This project calls for the installation of traveler information data collection, integration and dissemination systems in the City. The authors outline step-by-step the Phase 2 project that will install system detection at 16 locations, Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) at 10 locations, 3 portable Changeable Message Signs (PCMS), Fiber Optic Interconnect Gap Closure and a Traveler Information Web site to disseminate information about the city streets and the adjacent freeways to the travelers in the city. The web service intends to provide real time traffic information such as travel time, incidents, and construction information to the travelers via internet and radio.