The ITS benefits special studies effort at the U.S. DOT.

When brought into existence by passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) in 1991, the National ITS Program was initially characterized as a research program. Scientific research is typically designed to answer questions, adding to the body of knowledge in a certain subject. The ITS Field Operational Test program established in the early 1990s was designed to answer questions about a number of ITS technology applications. With passage of the Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) eight years later, the emphasis shifted from adding to the body of knowledge to communicating those lessons learned to a wide variety of audiences. Research continues for ITS technology applications that are relatively new to the National ITS Program, such as the use of ITS technologies in rural areas. The ITS Joint Program Office (JPO) at the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) has put several programs in place both to research what is not yet known and to communicate what is known about ITS technologies. This paper presents both a comprehensive description of that communication effort and a sample of evaluation results. For the covering abstract see ITRD E114174.