· Ten-Year ITS Cost Feasible Plan, the statewide funding mechanism of approximately $883 million for ITS deployments between 2002 and 2019, including the SunGuide® Software, the Traffic Engineering Research Lab (TERL) ITS lab, commercial vehicle operations, and incident management.
· License plate readers/probe data collection using global positioning systems-based technology, which enables travel time posting to dynamic message signs—a key to the expansion of ITS deployments on rural roadways
· Arterial ITS Plan, initial phase concentrating on arterial advanced traffic management systems deployment and the benefits of signal retiming
· ITS specifications development and maintenance, ensuring device interoperability and interchangeability with other equipment
· TERL with quality assurance and support of the ITS lab to test ITS equipment operability using the SunGuide® Software
With the recent launch of the new, bilingual statewide 511 Traveler Information System, Mr. Glotzbach has significantly contributed to ITS in the state of Florida. Mr. Glotzbach has been the FDOT project manager for this “next generation” 511 system—a multi-million dollar project—from its inception.
The next generation statewide 511 advanced Traveler Information System replaced five regional 511 systems and allows travelers to call 511 anywhere in the state and hear the same voice and call menu options. Along with the calling feature, the new system Web site replaced the regional Web sites providing Florida with detailed traffic and travel information, including camera views and links to airports, seaports, and transit agencies.
Florida’s new 511 phone and Web system gives real-time traffic reports on Florida interstate highways; toll roads, including Florida’s Turnpike, Miami-Dade Expressway Authority roads, and Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority roads; and other major metropolitan roadways. The statewide system provides information on roadway conditions, such as commuter travel times, construction, lane closures, crashes, congestion, and severe weather affecting traffic. Travelers have access to traffic, transit, travel times, airports, and seaports, or they can request information for a specific roadway, city, or county. This system is also updated with public safety alerts, including AMBER, Silver, and Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) alerts.
ITS FLORIDA ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBER OF THE YEAR AWARD
The ITS FLORIDA ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBER OF THE YEAR AWARD recognizes an ITS program, project, or other accomplishment that is of significant benefit to the transportation industry and to the traveling public. The recipient can be any public- or private-sector member of ITS Florida. The primary criterion for award consideration is that the work provides improved transportation for Floridians.
FDOT District Six ITS Office
Phase 1 A of the Interstate 95 Ramp Signaling System was implemented in February 2009 in Miami-Dade County. It is the first system of its kind in the State of Florida that utilizes Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies, such as roadway detectors and Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Cameras to meter the rate of traffic entering the mainline from the adjacent city streets. The system is reducing the problem of ‘bottlenecking’ caused by merging traffic, which leads to congestion and reduced safety conditions for all motorists along the highway. Ramp signals regulate the rate vehicles enter from the ramps based on the spaces available on the mainline to improve mobility and regulate traffic flow.
Even though ramp signals have been successfully deployed in other areas of the Country, this project marks the first time the concept was implemented in Florida. The District Six ITS team took careful measures to introduce the system and ensure its operational effectiveness. They researched solutions, and allocated the necessary resources to bring this system on-line and within schedule. The Ramp Signals have served to improve mobility and increase the flow of traffic on the mainline along the project limits of the 95 Express Lanes. Travel speeds have increased from 38 mph to 43 mph on the general purpose lanes during the typically congested evening rush-hour period. This increase in speeds has saved motorists more than $1 million in travel time delays since implementation, with values projected to increase as additional ramp signals are activated along the I-95 corridor.
In addition to the Ramp Signaling System, the 95 Express Lanes project has significantly improved, the project has garnered laudable attention and has served to put Florida’s ITS Program at the forefront of the national arena. Recently winning America’s Transportation Award in the category of innovative management, the project is also a top contender for the American Association of State Highways & Transportation Officials (ASSTO) America’s Best Transportation Project as well. More importantly than the accolades received however, are the daily benefits the project is providing to the motoring public of our community.
Interstate 95 in southeast Florida is one of the most highly congested roadways in the country, and usually serves as a main point of access for cross-county commuters traveling between Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. Introducing variable congestion pricing and transportation demand management practices along the project’s limits has allowed Phase 1A of the 95 Express Lanes to increase travel speeds from approximately 18 mph to 43 mph on the general purpose lanes and 57 mph on the express lanes during the evening rush-hour period (compared to before and after implementation reports). The 95 Express Lanes operate above 45 mph or higher 99.5% of the time, increasing the vehicle throughput and providing motorists with more options along the facility.
A contributing factor to the overall success of the 95 Express Lanes, is the development of the State of Florida’s first dynamic toll collection pricing system. The District Six ITS Team developed an electronic software application that automates the variable toll collection algorithm, and recommends price changes every 15 minutes to maintain free flowing conditions along the managed lanes. The team expedited the automation of this feature 1 ½ years ahead of schedule, offsetting operational costs by $2.1 million as a result (compared to a non-automated system of toll collection operations).
In addition, the project also counts with an enhanced, multidisciplinary incident management plan that has increased the operational effectiveness of the managed lanes facility. The plan has reduced travel lane blocking duration times by approximately 15 minutes, saving motorists more than $18.5 million dollars in added value during the first six months of implementation, with benefits expected to continue. 95 Express utilizes ITS components to manage daily operations.
ITS Florida Awards 2008
ITS Florida provides awards to recognize the outstanding achievements of people and organizations in ITS Florida. At Transpo2008 on September 24th, the following received much deserved recognition.
Outstanding Achievement Awards.
The Outstanding Achievement award is an “open-ended” class of award that is given by ITS Florida for outstanding service by individuals or organizational units. At Transpo2008 on September 24th, ITS Florida presented three Outstanding Achievement Awards for 2007.
Mr. Justin Begley is the Project Manager for Hillsborough Area Regional Transit’s $10 million ITS project. He was responsible for managing the Systems Integrator from contract negotiations through design and project implementation over a 24 month contract term. The project is a bundled procurement for CAD/AVL, radio communications, mobile and fixed camera security, automated on board next stop announcements, automated passenger counting and advanced traveler information system.
Mr. Steven Corbin is the FDOT District 4 ITS Operations Manager. He single handedly conceptualized and organized a joint, four (4) day conference between the TRB Freeway Operations Committee and IBTTA with over 300 delegates from all over the world, over 150 speakers and moderators, several key speakers including 2 retired U.S. Army Generals and the President of ITS America, 26 exhibitor/vendor booths, networking events, technical tours and other activities. Mr. Corbin’s actions and leadership were key to this conference being held in Florida in June 2008.
Mr. Julio Orozco of FDOT District 6, has led the effort to provide redundant fiber access for FDOT into and out of the Network Access Point (NAP) of the Americas through a public-public communication agreement with Miami-Dade County. The NAP of the Americas is a 750,000 square foot, Category 5 hurricane rated, data center access point for over 59 telecommunication carriers providing the majority of communication switching traffic to and from 148 Nations. Julio’s activities included engineering a co-location within the Miami-Dade County suite and implementing servers with SunGuidetm software to act as the District’s disaster recovery site. The NAP implementation allows District 6 or any FDOT TMC with SunGuidetm software the ability to provide disaster recovery services from any location within the state.
ITS Professional of the Year Award
The ITS Professional of the Year award recognizes a person, or persons who has contributed significantly to the Intelligent Transportation System community during the past year. The person nominated significantly contributes to the ITS mission and goals of ITS Florida.
The criteria for the ITS Professional of the Year Award include:
1) the person has contributed to ITS mission;
2) the person has been instrumental in project management, project completion, project planning, development of planning, financial or other strategies; and
3) the person has had a key role in some significant program or project, which may include activities of ITS Florida itself.
The 2007 ITS Professional of the Year Award recipient is Javier Rodriguez – FDOT – District 6 ITS Operations Engineer.
Javier Rodriguez has transformed the Traffic Management Center (TMC) operations in District 6 from a reactive to a proactive style of operations. Significant improvements in both quality control and high frequency of Dynamic Messaging Systems (DMS) messaging have been achieved. This is especially important as District 6 embarks on two major new initiatives: ramp metering and variable toll managed lanes. The improved efficiency in TMC operations will enable operations staff to take on the new challenges and provide best practices to other TMCs in the state and nation.
ITS Champion Award
The ITS Champion award is given to an individual who has made significant contributions to advance the cause of ITS in Florida. This award is given only for rare and conspicuous service.
The 2007 ITS Champion Award recipient is John Easterling, P.E., Traffic Operations Engineer Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise.
Mr. Easterling has been instrumental in the promotion of ITS through the area of Rapid Incident Scene Clearance Program (RISC). He has been involved with the Operations Academy and other organizations and has made many presentations to ITS groups in Florida and other states. He has demonstrated very effective leadership in deploying a vast ITS System throughout the 460 miles of the Turnpike System and participated in other outstanding programs that promote ITS throughout the State and Nation.