Bluetooth Applications
Climate Change
thinking
For many years, I have identified the absence of ade- However, we may be on the verge of a traffic surveil-
quate traffic information as being an obstacle to lance breakthrough. As a result of new business oppor-
effective ITS implementation. tunities and the availability of new technology both of
It is unreasonable to develop traveler information and which offer the potential for enhancing ITS effective-
traffic management systems, without the installation of ness, it appears that the surveillance stalemate may
adequate traffic surveillance equipment to support their have been broken. It is now possible for transportation
operation. There are many analogies to this shortcom- agencies to acquire traffic flow data for nearly 100 per
ing; the installation of a home heating system without a cent of their urban freeways, and implement surveil-
thermostat, or the fabrication of a commode without a lance systems that will efficiently capture arterial data.
float with which to measure the water level in its tank. The possibility of pervasive traffic monitoring offers the
It should be obvious to any engineer that the current opportunity for the dissemination of reliable traveler
levels of surveillance for urban freeways (approximately information and effective traffic management; a para-
40 per cent of mileage with detection) and urban arteri- digm shift for our current processes.
als (6 per cent of mileage with detection) seriously
degrades the value of ITS technologies intended for Emerging business models
dissemination of traffic information or management of Many companies have recognized the emerging busi-
traffic flow. This situation is displayed graphically in ness potential of travel time information. At least in part,
Figure 1 (overleaf), which indicates that after 20 years of this demand has been stimulated by the popularity of
tracking these installations for urban freeways very lit- the navigation devices offered both as original equip-
tle progress has been made with the installation of sys- ment and aftermarket devices.
tems intended for measuring traffic conditions on the The ubiquitous availability of travel time information
facilities being managed. for navigation applications, improves the utility (and
www.thinkinghighways.com Thinking Highways Vol 4 No 1 35
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