Intelligent Transport System (ITS) projects are critically dependent on the long-term reliability and upgradability of their software. Too often, their software packages have been designed for specific operating systems in such a way that the state and local government agencies using them have always depended on their original suppliers. During the 1970s and 1980s, the US Federal Government aimed to create a de facto standard for traffic control system software, but proprietary traffic systems then proliferated. Since 1988, Kimley-Horn has been a partner with the Arizona Department of Transportation in planning, designing, constructing and implementing the Freeway Management System (FMS), a sophisticated and comprehensive traffic surveillance and control system and multimodal traveller information system for the motorways in metropolitan Phoenix. Kimley-Horn challenged its design team to develop its software on an industry-standard specification for the UNIX operating system. In Florida, Kimley-Horn is developing an Intelligent Corridor System using a modular open design based on national standards. In North Carolina, the CARAT project will be the first US traffic management system to be implemented using the design/build/warrant process. Kimley-Horn's design philosophy allows ITS systems to share information.
Abstract