Rural Advanced Traveler Information System
Department of Transportation
Web site
Contact: Bill Boyton
Tel: 603-271-6495
BEST OF BREED SUMMARY
Coordination across three states was done by creating a steering committee, organizing meetings, conducting video teleconferences, and sending e-mail information.
Tourists and business travelers in the states of New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine will soon have the most advanced travel information at their fingertips. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation hired private consulting firm Castle Rock to help plan and implement its Rural Advanced Traveler Information System initiative, a project that includes the participation of Vermont and Maine. Castle Rock specialists are helping the state develop an Information Technology Systems (ITS) data integration plan that will work in accordance with national ITS architecture standards.
All of the planning went into coordinating efforts to launch the tri-state initiative, which recently got under way at an estimated cost that will begin between $1 to $2 million. The phase currently in progress includes several modules:
1) Foretell weather forecasting will enable the department to make better roadway maintenance decisions especially during the winter months;
2) Acceptance testing where maintenance personnel are trained to use the software and understand how it would be utilized for maintenance purposes;
3) A tri-state incident reporting and management system; and
4) A Web-based module that will make information available to the public through the state's websites so that travelers will be better informed about incidents and weather forecasting.
Other modules the states intend to roll out include:
1) Tourism information systems that provide Web-based data that is integrated with the transportation modules;
2) Communications features that include: a) Verbal message boards, b) Devices in the pavement to record and identify traffic congestion, c) Intelligent transportation devices to link to other delivery systems such as low-power FM radio, d) 511 services (call-in traveler information) and e) Possibly a pager, cell phone or e-mail system to alert travelers of incidents or weather conditions.
Additionally, the state is examining the feasibility of developing several more systems, such as:
1) A rural advanced traveler information system;
2) A regional truck management system to provide permitting for oversize and overweight trucks;
3) Traveler operations centers set up in different parts of the region to integrate travel information especially in high-congestion areas; and
4) A remote weather system with sensors in the pavement to provide roadway freezing-point information and help with decisions about spreading salt or sand.
While Castle Rock will be working on most of these projects with the states, subcontractors may be brought in to help develop field devices, and gather and collect information. "We hope to find someone who specializes in some of the [transportation-related] technology out there," said Dane Prescott, senior information systems manager with the Department of Transportation.
The effort to plan a three-state initiative required extraordinary management skills on the behalf of all the state representatives. One of the first things officials did to handle communication was to set up a seven-person steering committee comprising three levels of representation from departments of transportation, tourism and public-private groups. They also communicated with participants at lower planning levels through regional meetings, video teleconferencing and e-mail to share meeting notes, planning documents, etc.
Funding issues are currently an issue. "We're trying to figure out how we're going to go forward on limited funds," said Prescott. "Especially when there are a number of good ideas we would like to implement."
Regardless of whether or not the project receives more funding, what's already being done is sure to achieve its overall goal - to provide information and keep travelers better informed. "We want to help people make wise travel plans and take advantage of alternative travel routes when conditions aren't that great," said Prescott. "We hope all of this effort will make our tri-state region a place where people plan to take their vacations or conduct business."
