Developing freeway and incident management systems using the national ITS architecture.

This is one of a series of documents providing support for deploying Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). This series addresses Traffic Signal Control Systems, Freeway and Incident Management Systems, Transit Management Systems, and Traveler Information Systems. The National ITS Architecture provides a common structure for deploying these systems. An important point of these documents is that you can reap operational benefits while saving staff hours and design costs by using the National ITS Architecture as a deployment guide. This document focuses on freeway and incident management systems, a component of ITS. It aims to provide practical help for the transportation community with deploying freeway and incident management systems in an integrated, multimodal environment using the National ITS Architecture. ITS is the application of management strategies and technologies to increase the efficiency and safety of national, regional, and local surface transportation systems. This document covers the basics of freeway and incident management ITS applications, the role the National ITS Architecture can play in freeway and incident management system project development, the development process for a regional architecture, some challenges faced by transportation management agencies, and some best practices and lessons learned for developing and deploying advanced freeway and incident management systems. The regional architecture will indicate how current and future systems in the region may be integrated to obtain the added benefits available through integration of these systems. (Author/publisher)