Intelligent Transportation Systems

Current ITS Applications in San Bernardino County

Current ITS Applications Intelligent Transportation Systems encompass a broad array of techniques and approaches that can make highways, roadways, and transit systems operate more safely and efficiently. San Bernardino County already has a number of working ITS applications, including:

• 511 telephone line, which provides information on traffic conditions, transit services, rideshare, park’n’ride lots and many other commute alternatives; information is also available at www.IE511.org;
• Closed-circuit TV cameras to help identify and respond to accidents more quickly;
• Electronic sensors in freeways, which transmit vehicle counts to a traffic management center and provide up-to-the-minute traffic conditions;
• Computerized traffic signal control systems to better monitor and respond to local traffic congestion;
• Changeable message signs on the freeways to alert motorists to accidents or route changes and provides travel times between major intersections; and
• Traffic signals at freeway entrance ramps to help traffic merge more safely and attempt to keep the freeways moving.

Because congestion is projected to become worse and because it is not possible to expand or widen the roadways enough to keep up with congestion, it is important to make the available transportation infrastructure operate as efficiently as possible. ITS offers one of the ways this can be done.
For more information on S http://www.caats.org/tatewide ITS efforts, please go to the California Alliance for Advanced Transportation (hyperlink) http://www.caats.org/ *

*SANBAG cannot guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of information presented by other organizations.

Inland ITS Strategic Plan

To begin implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems strategies in the Inland Empire, SANBAG joined with other area stakeholders to develop a Regional ITS Strategic Plan. Since these strategies are implemented through not one mode but several modes, coordination between many stakeholders is imperative.

Stakeholders in the ITS implementation process includes:

• SANBAG
• Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC)
• Key jurisdictions involved in ITS applications, including all of the cities/towns in the County of San Bernardino and County of Riverside
• Caltrans District 8
• California Highway Patrol
• Coachella Valley Association of Governments
• Omnitrans
• Riverside Transit Agency
• Southern California Association of Governments
• Sunline Transit Agency (in the Coachella Valley)
• Western Riverside Council of Governments

ITS Benefits

ITS strategies have a variety of benefits, including:

• Trip times can be up to 20 percent more reliable with more efficient operations, expanded system and connectivity, and accurate real-time information about system conditions.
• Travel time can be up to 25 percent safer because of smoother traffic flows, collision warning and avoidance systems, and personal security technologies.
• The road system could accommodate up to 40 percent more vehicles through operational improvements alone.
• Vehicle emissions could be reduced up to 10 percent, and fuel economy could be increased up to 10 percent by more efficient operations and operational support for a flexible and balanced transportation system.
• Transportation users have broad access to all informational services needed to make and execute efficient travel and transport choices, both before and during trips.

San Bernardino County Future ITS Strategies

Caltrans is currently constructing an Inland Empire Transportation Management Center and will open in early 2011.  This center will house all Caltrans operation and maintenance functions, as well as the California Highway Patrol dispatch center. This center will house all highway ITS elements and will manage all highway incidents and responses.