Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

Traffic congestion cuts into worker productivity, delays deliveries, wastes gasoline and adds to air pollution.  According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the transportation sector accounted for 27 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2003.  Fortunately, employing cutting edge technologies to help address congestion on our nation’s roads, transit systems and airports is a challenge that many cities and communities are dealing with across the nation.  Access to real-time traffic data whether on the roads, runways, or rails empowers commuters with information they can use to avoid a particular travel route or know when the next train or bus is scheduled to arrive at their stop.  A faster, more reliable commute will greatly enhance our quality of life which means less time in traffic, greater productivity and more time at home with family or friends.

Examples of successfully deployed ITS technologies that have assisted in reducing traffic congestion include intelligent traffic signals, electronic tolling, real time traffic navigation systems, active traffic management and incident response systems, ramp metering, high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, and Bus Rapid Transit. 

Continued development and deployment of cutting edge technologies to ease our daily commutes and promote greater efficiency and reliability on our transportation systems are critical.  Traffic congestion in major metropolitan areas alone costs our economy more than $78 billion each year.  In 2009, over $115 billion and 3.9 billion gallons of fuel was wasted due to congestion (Texas Transportation Institute). In these challenging economic times, those are dollars we can afford to waste.  Smart investments in ITS will continue to result is higher productivity and better quality of life for all Americans and that is a goal worth achieving.