This paper describes recent activities of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) to understand, use, and contribute to national and international ITS standards. These initiatives are being conducted in accordance with Orion, Mn/DOT's project to deploy the intelligent transportation infrastructure within the Twin Cities metropolitan area. This deployment project grew from the Minnesota Guidestar program, a statewide initiative to establish and promote ITS research, operational testing and deployment. Within Minnesota, numerous activities are taking place which are designed to ensure that Mn/DOT's operational experience and needs are taken into account by the appropriate Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) wherever possible. The paper describes these activities, and some of the early successes in educating Mn/DOT project managers about the benefits of standards and about the status of standards development.
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