ADVANTAGES OF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE SITE VISITS IN THE DESIGN OF AN ADVANCED TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The City of Tallahassee, Florida, was one of the pioneers in the area-wide computerization of traffic signals in the State of Florida, having installed their existing system in 1980. Recognizing the significant changes in technology since that time, and faced with increasing system maintenance demands and the phenomenal population growth of the area, the City developed a project to design and implement a replacement system utilizing the latest technology to provide the greatest benefits to the City and the motoring public. The feasibility study that identified the need for a replacement system for the City recommended the implementaton of an intermediate or hybrid system - a full-featured system that combined the best features of the early central control systems (such as the existing system) and the distributed closed loop systems. In addition, the City, through the development of the scope of services for the project, wanted to include a thorough investigation into the incorporation of Intelligent Transportation System functions into the new system. A key element of the design process was the creation of a Technical Committee to provide guidance and review functions to the design team. The committee was comprised of five members - four representatives from the City's Traffic Engineering Division (the City Traffic Engineer, the Assistant City Traffic Engineer, the Signal Systems Engineer, and the Senior Traffic Signal Systems Technician) and the District Traffic Operations Engineer from the Florida Department of Transportation. As part of the pre-design investigation into system features, the Technical Committee wanted to visit a number of state-of-the-art systems that utilized technology comparable to that envisioned for the new Tallahassee system. After researching a wide range of systems throughout North America, the committee selected 16 systems in five geographic areas - central Florida, southern California, Arizona, Maryland, and Toronto, Canada. Arrangements were made with each of these systems operators, and committee members traveled to each area over a three month period in late 1995 to early 1996. This paper traces the Tallahassee Technical Committee, staff systems operations, lessons learned from the survey, and trends identified in traffic management tools, system configurations, and operator interface. In addition, the paper provides significant input into the architectural design and functionality of the City's Transportation Management Center.