Intelligent Transportation System

A system of advanced technologies, known as the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), is being used to develop strategies to help reduce traffic congestion and increase safety on our roadways. ITS includes methods such as the use of highway message signs, video cameras, on-line communications, traffic signal systems, and automated toll booths. To be successful, ITS must prove itself beneficial in the lives of the traveling public. Daily commuters, residents, military personnel, tourists, and commercial transporters throughout Hampton Roads are being informed, assisted and influenced by the broad range of services now possible through ITS.

The Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Organization's (MPO) vision for the region includes the establishment of a multi-jurisdictional transportation system unified by ITS technologies. Over the long-term, this progressive vision includes full-scale communication through Smart Traffic Centers in every city and county that will tie into the existing Smart Traffic Center of Hampton Roads. The HRPDC provides support to local communities in ITS endeavors and coordinates the Hampton Roads ITS Committee, a formal committee of the MPO.

The Hampton Roads ITS Committee is one of the first cooperative, inter-agency, multi-jurisdictional transportation groups in the nation. The accomplishments of the Hampton Roads ITS Committee serve as a model for the advancement of ITS throughout the country. The ITS Committee consists primarily of traffic engineers and traffic operations staff from all sixteen local jurisdictions, the local transit agencies, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the Virginia State Police, the Virginia Port Authority, the Department of Navy, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC).

Strategic Plan Revision 2004

Hampton Roads first ITS plan was developed in 1995, and was modified in 2000 to reflect the experience of the previous five years, ITS Strategic Deployment Plan 2000 (Report) .  Since 2000, the region’s transportation needs and demands have changed, and funding for many planned projects have been frozen, reduced or removed.  As such, the Hampton Roads ITS Committee felt another strategic plan revision was needed to reflect the current transportation environment.  This revision was submitted to the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Organization for approval in May. The new plan, Hampton Roads Intelligent Transportation System Strategic Plan, 2004 (Report) seeks to expand Hampton Roads ITS program from a jurisdictional approach towards an integrated regional program.

Regional Concept of Transportation Operations

As resources for new highway construction have become scarcer, and as highways have become more congested, attention has been focused on strategies to more effectively move traffic on a daily basis. In 2004, the ITS Committee initiated the development of a Regional Concept of Transportation Operations (RCTO), with strong support and input from agencies throughout the region.

A regional training session was organized in May 2005 with representatives from Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) presenting to the region’s stakeholders on the various components and benefits of RCTO. Incident management was selected as the first operational objective shared among the participating stakeholders. Work is currently underway to enhance the existing regional incident management plan by expanding the current first responders and on scene activities to include other key players for a more quick clearance time and a more efficient traffic flow movement. It is anticipated the RCTO will be complete in the spring of 2008. The RCTO project is funded with Regional Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Funds.

The HR RCTO project has been selected by the FHWA as one of four Demonstration Sites in the country.

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