Advancing Intelligent Transportation Systems in Small and Medium Sized Areas Through the ITS Service Plan Program

Since 1998, the ITS Service Plan Program has been the primary mechanism that the United States Department of Transportation has employed to fund training, assistance and scanning trips relating to Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The objective of the ITS Service Plan Program is to facilitate ITS deployment. The ITS Service Plan process involves the setting of ITS deployment and integration goals, the development of bundles of activities to help achieve those goals, and an evaluation of the impacts of the selected activities. An ITS Service Plan is written by a Federal Highway Administration Division Office ITS Specialist after consultation with the Federal Transit Administration and state and local stakeholders. There are currently four components to the ITS Service Plan Program. They are Targeted-Top 78 Metropolitan, Targeted-Non-78 Metropolitan, Targeted-Statewide, and Non-Targeted. The Targeted-Top 78 Metropolitan category provides funding to the 78 metropolitan areas with the highest population. The Targeted-Non-78 Metropolitan category provides funding to small and medium sized MPOs. The Targeted-Statewide category provides funding to assist Statewide and Multi-state initiatives, such as a Statewide incident management program or a Multi-state Advanced Traveler Information System. The Non-Targeted funds are distributed evenly to the Federal Highway Administration Division Offices that are located in every state. The Non-Targeted funding can be used to facilitate ITS deployments in any part of a state. In Fiscal Year 2001, $375,000 is projected to be spent on ITS Service Plan activities in Targeted- Non-78 Metropolitan Areas. This is the first year that ITS Service Plan funding will be dedicated to small and medium sized MPOs.