Advanced Rural Transportation Systems Strategic Plan; Request for Information

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

Advanced Rural Transportation Systems Strategic Plan; Request for

Information

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice; request for information.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Highway Administration is seeking comments from

all sources (public, private, governmental, academia, professional

groups, public interest groups, etc.) on the Strategic Plan for

Advanced Rural Transportation Systems (ARTS) portion of the Intelligent

Transportation Systems (ITS) Program. The ARTS Strategic Plan defines

the vision, mission and goals from the Federal perspective for

achieving the benefits of the ITS program in rural areas. This is not a

request for proposals or an invitation for bids.

DATES: Your comments on this announcement should be submitted no later

than April 17, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Your comment on these important issues are greatly

appreciated, but responses will not be acknowledged. Responses should

be mailed to FHWA, Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program

Office, HVH-1, Rm 3400, Washington, DC 20590. However, E-mail responses

are encouraged, and should be addressed to

[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ray Resendes, ITS Joint Program

Office, (202)366-2182, Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 7:15 a.m. to

4:15 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: ITS uses advanced communications, computer

and surveillance technologies to address surface transportation

problems. When effectively deployed, ITS services can provide safer and

more secure travel, improve traffic flow in congested areas, reduce the

harmful environmental impacts of traffic congestion, and help travelers

and businesses achieve improved levels of productivity. The national

ITS program is being advanced as a partnership between the private

sector, academia and all levels of State

[[Page 12875]]

and local government. A complete description of the ITS program is

contained in the March 1995, National ITS Program Plan, developed

jointly by the US DOT and ITS AMERICA. The National ITS Program Plan is

available from ITS AMERICA, 400 Virginia Avenue SW., Suite 800,

Washington, DC. 20024-2730, phone (202) 484-4847.

This is a request for comment on the Strategic Plan for Advanced

Rural Transportation Systems portion of the ITS program. The ARTS

Strategic Plan defines the vision, mission and goals from the federal

perspective for achieving the benefits of the ITS program in rural

areas.

Advanced Rural Transportation Systems (ARTS) Strategic Plan

1. Executive Summary

The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) created the

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office (JPO) to

manage the ITS program. JPO is housed within the FHWA, but has liaisons

with each modal Administration (except the Federal Aviation

Administration) within the U.S. DOT. The JPO also receives policy

guidance directly from the ITS Management Council which is chaired by

the Deputy Secretary of Transportation. Although this document will be

issued by the FHWA, that agency will hereinafter be referred to as the

U.S. DOT in order to reflect the variant roles of each modal

Administration in the ITS program.

This Strategic Plan has been developed for the Advanced Rural

Transportation Systems (ARTS) portion of the ITS Program. The plan

focuses on the Federal Government's role in developing rural ITS

options and prudently managing emerging ITS technologies within rural

settings from conception to viable options for implementation. The

Strategic Plan meets the needs of the US DOT by providing a basis for

sound decision-making for program development, as well as being

consistent with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993

(GPRA). Items in italics are references from, ``Strategic Planning, An

Overview for Complying with GPRA,'' by Philip Blackerby.

The plan also looks at the ARTS program's role in developing and

fostering the application of ITS in rural areas over the next twelve

years. It describes the program's vision, mission, goals, objectives,

and measures. Because of the diversity of needs and varied settings in

rural America, this plan also developed seven critical program areas

(clusters) which provide areas of common interest and focus within the

overall program. A companion program plan (which will be available in

February 1997), sets the strategic priorities, and lays out the program

projects by year for the next five years. Together, both plans provide

the road map for the ARTS Program.

Note: For Purposes of this report, rural America is defined as

communities or areas with less than 50,000 residents.

2. Introduction

The GPRA requires each Federal agency to prepare:

(1) Strategic plans that define an agency's mission and long-term

goals; (2) annual performance plans containing specific targets; and

(3) annual reports comparing actual performance to the targets set in

the annual performance plans.

US DOT has already put forth significant efforts to assure that the

overall ITS program is consistent with the GPRA, including the

preparation of the ITS Strategic Plan and the development of a set of

measures for evaluating the program's progress 1. While every

element in the ITS program should respond to the overall goals and

objectives provided in the overall ITS program, it is recognized that

conditions and needs vary greatly across the United States and, as a

result, the focus of the ITS program and its elements may vary from

area to area. Accordingly, the ITS Architecture identified the

following three separate scenarios to aid in thinking about and

analyzing the different needs and required focus:

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\1\ These ``Few Good Measures'' include measures to meet goals

in the following categories: Time savings; Reductions in crashes;

Reductions in fatalities; Increased throughput; Cost savings; and

Improved customer satisfaction. (``Implementation of the National

Intelligent Transportation System Program: 1996 Report to

Congress'').

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1. Urban;

2. Inter-Urban;

3. Rural.

Each has its own set of needs, priorities and concerns. For

example, the major initiative for urban areas focuses on the mitigation

of congestion and improvement in traffic flow that ITS technologies can

offer.

On the other hand, the ARTS Program is concerned with travel within

and through rural America. The conditions found in rural travel

(including inter-urban travel through rural areas), the characteristics

of the travelers, and the costs of maintaining the rural system all

point to the need for a focused program for developing advanced

technology solutions for transportation in rural America. Some of the

attributes found in rural environments that make this need critical

are:

1. Mix of users (rural and urban travelers);

2. Secondary roads with less frequent maintenance;

3. Steep grades/blind corners/curves/few passing lanes;

4. Large variance in travel speeds (frequent passing);

5. Long distance travel;

6. Fewer convenient detour options;

7. Adverse road surface and weather conditions;

8. Few navigational signs;

9. Less existing infrastructure (per square mile);

10. Light usage/large geographical areas impeding rapid emergency

detection and response;

11. More motor vehicle deaths with higher frequency of accidents/

vehicle mile traveled and more severe accidents than found in urban

areas;

12. Recreational travelers needing traveler information services;

13. Limited or non-existent public transportation services;

14. Many, often uncoordinated, providers of transportation services

to meet health and human services needs; and

15. Very dispersed systems with high unit costs for service

delivery, maintenance, and operations.

This document is the Strategic Plan for the US ARTS Program. It is

important to note that this Strategic Plan represents the US DOT

perspective on rural ITS, and the US DOT's roles and responsibilities

for improving the rural transportation system through advanced

technologies. In this role, the US DOT program will work to bring rural

ITS technologies to maturity and examine institutional arrangements for

their deployment, providing feasible options to rural areas. In this

context, the role of the ARTS Program is not to provide long term

operational funding to rural ITS systems (though Federal funds may be

available from other programs). Rather, the role of the ARTS Program is

to work in partnership with those responsible for the implementation of

ITS in rural areas--States and local agencies, and the private sector--

to provide appropriate and sustainable (i.e., Can be operated using

existing and projected funding and resources) ITS solutions to rural

problems and needs. Consequently, others will need to develop their own

plans to compliment and coincide with this one.

The latter portion of this document identifies the goals and

objectives that are the priority of the ARTS Program. It outlines the

Federal role in advanced rural transportation systems and is

[[Page 12876]]

consistent with the guidelines provided by the GPRA.

The companion ARTS Program Plan is also under development as

described in the final section of this document. The program plan

includes the setting of strategic priorities, another key follow up

element in strategic planning, as well as specifying candidate projects

by year to address the uncertainties and ultimately lead to the

deployment of rural ITS.

3. Potential Barriers

There are three potential barriers to the development and

acceptance of the ARTS Strategic Plan. These are:

1. Acceptance of the role of the US DOT and participation by others

critical to the process;

2. The focus of the Strategic Plan on the US DOT role in rural ITS

in lieu of a ``National'' plan; and

3. The degree of variability within the rural transportation

system.

The development and implementation of the Strategic Plan depends

upon its acceptance by the key partners required for its

implementation. Throughout the strategic planning process, a critical

guidance has been provided from the field offices of the US DOT as well

as representatives of State and local agencies directly responsible for

implementing rural ITS in their areas and independent consultants.

However, there may also be some dissatisfaction with the ARTS program's

focus on finding the answers to what is not known about rural ITS

through research, development, field tests, and targeted deployments at

the expense of direct funding of deployment alone. This may become an

issue during the comment period prior to the final version of the plan.

Given this, it is important to emphasize that reducing the gaps in

knowledge is the focus of the ARTS program. Funds for transit

operations and other activities may still be provided through

traditional Federal funding sources not part of the ARTS program.

The second issue concerns the Strategic Plan's focus on the US

DOT's roles and responsibilities, rather than the development of an all

encompassing National Plan. As stated in the Introduction, the US DOT

is only one partner in the ultimate development and implementation of a

sustainable mix of ITS Services in rural America. Other participants

include the State and local agencies and other providers of ITS, the

private sector, and the public. A concerted effort was made to ensure

that the ARTS Program incorporate the interests of all of the

participants; however, the Strategic and Program Plans are still

designed to reflect the US DOT role and activities in advanced rural

transportation systems. Given the diverse nature of the participants

and interests across rural America, it was not feasible to develop a

``National'' plan encompassing the views, roles, and responsibilities

of each participant. Development of a National rural ITS vision and

plan may, however, be a worthy exercise to carry out in the future in

coordination with ITS America's ARTS Committee and other organizations.

The last issue is a more difficult problem to solve. The wide

variety of needs found in rural settings across the US has made it

difficult for participants to recognize similarities and agree to

program goals, objectives, or program elements. For example, at first

glance, people often perceive few similarities between the very

disparate rural areas of Death Valley, The Upper Peninsula in Michigan,

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, or Cape Cod. It was found, however, that many of

the perceived differences are really associated with the differences in

the mix of needs within each rural area. Thus, US DOT has spent

substantial effort in developing a set of Critical Program Areas, or

Clusters, to provide a common identifiable set of views of rural

America, its needs, and how ITS can respond. These Critical Programs

Areas have become key elements in developing the specific approaches

for the rural ITS program described later, and in minimizing the debate

and confusion over ``What is Rural?''

4. Vision and Mission

The Vision statement describes a future that management envisions.

It provides a description of what rural America will be like when the

rural ITS program is fulfilled. The Mission describes the

organization's purpose or changes that the organization intends to

directly effect. These two statements provide the direction and purpose

upon which the ARTS program is based.

Vision

An enhanced quality of life for rural residents through safer, more

secure, available and efficient movement of people and goods in rural

America through the judicious application of advanced ITS technologies.

Rural America accounts for a small and dispersed portion of our

nation's population, yet it encompasses a significant portion of the

transportation system. Rural areas account for 80 percent of the total

US road mileage and 40 percent of the vehicle miles traveled, and they

have a unique set of characteristics associated with the travel upon

them and their operations and maintenance. Consequently, the rural

traveler has a different set of priorities and needs than does his/her

urban counterpart. These differences reflect the rural environment of

long distances, relatively low traffic volumes, relatively rare traffic

congestion, travelers unfamiliar with the surroundings, and rugged

terrain in remote areas. Furthermore, rural characteristics that

solicit ITS solutions include an over representation of fatal crashes

(About 60 percent of traffic fatalities and 55 percent of work zone

fatalities occur in rural areas), safety problems related to high

speeds on non-interstate rural roads and increased response time for

Emergency Medical Services. Many rural communities now have excellent

all-weather road systems, but many rural residents remain isolated

because of their inability to travel. Presently, 38 percent of the

nation's rural residents live in areas without any public transit

service and another 28 percent live in areas in which the level of

transit service is negligible 2.

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\2\ Compiled from Various tables in Highway Statistics 1994.

Federal Highway Administration, October 1995.

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The vision aims to improve the safety and security of the rural

traveler, especially given the differences with the urban environment.

Similarly, isolation is a factor that impacts both the transportation

disadvantaged and the economic vitality of the communities in rural

America; therefore, reducing isolation is important. Additionally, as

resources continue to become more scarce, using advanced technologies

to improve the efficiency and productivity of operating and maintaining

transportation services is crucial, especially given the high costs

associated with rural transportation operations and maintenance.

Mission

To ensure the development and application of Advanced Rural

Transportation Systems through research, demonstrations, evaluations,

and the promotion of cost-effective technologies ready for

implementation, and including the provision of training and technical

assistance to transportation providers planning or implementing ITS

technologies.

The US DOT will work with a wide range of constituents to identify

potential technological solutions to rural problems, and to study these

potential solutions to determine cost-effective ways to implement them.

As stated earlier, the role of the ARTS Program is to develop rural ITS

options

[[Page 12877]]

and husband emerging ITS technologies within rural settings from

conception to viable options for implementation. This effort will focus

on developing the options for ITS in rural America and reducing the

uncertainty surrounding their implementation. It includes examining

technological, political/institutional, and planning issues. Note, that

the program may entail research, field operations tests, or targeted

model deployments designed to reduce the uncertainty associated with

particular rural ITS services. The specific elements in the program

will be described in the companion ARTS Program Plan.

Initially they may be stand-alone subsystems, however in later

years, these subsystems may be coordinated and integrated as necessary.

Once these systems and subsystems are defined, the US DOT will assist

others in the implementation of these solutions through a variety of

outreach activities. Ultimately, these systems will be mainstreamed

into participating agencies' long-range plans and capital improvement

programs.

4. Values and Philosophies

The Values describe things that are important to an organization

that will impact how the Vision and Mission are fulfilled, and yet may

not be directly addressed in their statements. These are the underlying

principles of the organization. The Philosophy Statements either

describe the underlying philosophy that governs the organization, or

state management commitments describing the promises management may

make to its customers, employees, or other stakeholders. It is the

values and philosophies that provide the underlying assumptions upon

which the program is built to meet the vision and mission.

Values

Building upon the values each administration may have already

defined, the values that are considered important to the organization

in developing successful Advanced Rural Transportation Systems are:

Equity--The improvements made via this program will be distributed

in a fair and non-discriminatory manner;

Decision making--Balanced and appropriate decisions should be made

reflecting the issues and concerns of those impacted and considering

all feasible alternatives (their costs, benefits, and outcomes);

Collaboration--Achieving the vision requires many people from a

variety of disciplines to work together. This value is at the heart of

the US DOT staff, and has been clearly demonstrated through the cross-

cutting Rural Action Team; and

Leadership--A strong and enthusiastic proponent is needed to lead

the program.

Philosophies

The following philosophies, or guiding principles, underlie the

Strategic Plan for Advanced Rural Transportation Systems. Collectively,

they provide the assumptions and foundation for the goals, objectives,

and program elements.

The Federal role for rural ITS is one of support and fostering the

implementation of advanced ITS technologies in rural America by others.

It is an enabling program designed to bring rural ITS technologies to

maturity and explore institutional arrangements that provide feasible

options to rural areas wanting to implement ITS.

The ARTS must be sustainable.

They must be developed through public/public and public/private

partnering initiatives involving both the highway community and the

public transportation community, business interests, etc. They must be

seamlessly connected to the rest of ITS (i.e., urban, suburban-rural

connectivity, and highway-transit-ridesharing connectivity) and also

compatible with non-ITS facilities and systems and should employ

innovative financing principles.

5. Goals and Strategic Objectives

The Goals describe the general results or outcomes the organization

intends to achieve. They are measurable but usually not measured. For

each goal, strategic objectives are defined. Strategic Objectives are

written statements that describe an intended outcome. Strategic

Objectives clearly describe measurable targets of achievement.

As opposed to the abstract nature of the vision and mission, the

goals and strategic objectives are definable in real and measurable

terms. The six characteristics of Strategic Objectives include: (1) An

external focus, (2) measurable, (3) achievable, (4) clear, (5)

comprehensive, and (6) supporting the mission and goal statements.

Strategic objectives can also be defined for both outputs of the

program and outcomes of the program. Outputs are the services and

products that the program provides. Outcomes are measures of their

impact in the rural environments.

The goals for the ARTS Program and their strategic objectives are

provided below.

There are three types of objectives: Administrative outputs,

program outputs and outcomes. The administrative output objectives

describe measurable internal or administrative actions that the US DOT

will take, hence they are not externally focused. Program output

objectives measure the extent to which the US DOT has achieved its role

as facilitator--including the extent to which others have been made

aware of the solutions, and the extent to which these systems have been

deployed. Outcome objectives are measures of the impact that the

implementation of the rural ITS systems has on rural America. Outcomes

capture the achievement of the overall goals. For example, developing

and providing rural ITS awareness seminars would meet an administrative

objective. Deploying a safety information system would be an

achievement of a program output objective, and reducing the rate and

frequency of crashes due to the implementation of this system would be

an achievement of an outcome objective.

The long-term outcome objectives are shown as part of this

Strategic Plan. The administrative and program objectives are by

necessity tied to the specific elements of the companion Program Plan.

Therefore, they will be specified as part of that document.

Goals

The goals of the Rural ARTS Program are closely tied to those of

the overall ITS program. Priority is given to those goals that will

meet the more critical needs of travelers and transporters of goods in

rural areas. Consequently, the primary goals of the ARTS program are

safety and efficient mobility, versus those of urban systems which are

congestion relief and increased throughput. The five goals of the

program are: (1) Safety and security; (2) mobility, convenience and

comfort; (3) efficiency, economic vitality and productivity; and and

environmental conservation.

Safety and Security--Improve the safety and security of users of

the rural transportation system.

Improving safety and security are continually identified as

critical goals for rural transportation and ITS. Rural crashes tend to

be more severe, and have longer response times due to the long

distances and isolated settings. The characteristics of rural crashes

mirror the diverse nature of the system, having a wide variety of

causal factors. In some cases, trip fatigue takes its toll, while in

other cases poor visibility or unsafe road conditions lead to crashes.

ITS can play a major role in reducing the rate and frequency of crashes

through a wide variety of safety advisory systems. ITS can also help

reduce the consequences

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of the crashes once they occur by enabling emergency responders to

reduce response time and provide improved care. Automatic vehicle

location systems can expedite the response to emergency situations on

board transit vehicles. ITS can also create a more secure rural

transportation system by reducing the exposure to unsafe situations.

This consists of systems that provide immediate assistance to travelers

in rural areas that experience problems, such as, getting lost or

having a car breakdown. In addition, law enforcement agencies can apply

advanced technologies to meet their needs, including enhanced officer

safety, improved dispatching, and simplified reporting.

Safety and Security Strategic Objectives.

1. Reduce the frequency of crashes (via pre-crash warning systems);

2. Reduce the rate of crashes (via pre-crash warning and advisory

systems);

3. Reduce the severity and fatality level per incident from current

levels (via improved response time and care); and

4. Reduce exposure to unsafe situations (e.g., getting lost, car

breaking down, etc.) (via emergency notification system).

Mobility and Convenience--Enhance personal mobility and

accessibility to services, and enhance the convenience and comfort of

all users of the transportation system.

One of the major characteristics across all of rural America is

isolation and the relatively fewer available transportation options.

People should have access to transportation, especially to enable them

to meet basic life needs such as getting health care or buying staples.

This goal consists of reducing isolation by increasing accessibility to

services. This is especially true given the aging of America, and the

increasing likelihood that rural Americans will be older with

additional transportation needs in the years ahead. In some cases,

there may be opportunities to implement technologies that enable older

drivers to extend the period that they are able to drive. For those

unable to drive, this increase in accessibility consists of advanced

rural transit systems. Another important aspect of this goal includes

providing alternative means of transportation to tourists in areas that

cannot accommodate a large number of vehicles. It also addresses the

need for convenient and comfortable travel through the development of

information systems that help people get the services they need (gas

stations, lodging, restaurants, hospitals, etc.).

The advances in communications and computing have created an

alternative to transportation. Improving the ability of rural America

to carry out their desired activities through telecommuting and remote

computing is also an important aspect of enhancing mobility. Therefore,

this goal must also address the evaluation and advancement of

communications options for rural America as substitutes for desired

travel. Examples of how transportation and ITS may help improve the

connectivity of rural areas include: providing connectivity through

sharing communications trunk lines used for ITS services; and making

public right of ways available for communications link installation.

Mobility and Convenience Strategic Objectives

1. Increase the percentage of population with available and

convenient transportation services to meet its mobility needs;

2. Improve access to services and tourist areas, and expand the

availability of information about services; and

3. Improve the communications connectivity of rural areas and the

ability to trade off communications with desired travel.

Efficiency--Increase operational efficiency and productivity of the

transportation system, focusing on system providers.

In rural America this goal addresses the needs of rural

transportation system providers, enabling them to carry out their

services in a safe, efficient and productive manner. To some extent,

this is a shift from the metropolitan ITS program whose primary goal is

to reduce congestion. The long distances and sparse network often make

operations and maintenance very expensive on a cost per unit basis, and

the seasonally harsh nature of the rural environment can put providers,

such as snow plow and transit operators, at risk. Also, the manpower

and equipment per road mile, or transit vehicle is often much higher

than in urban settings. Finally, weekend or seasonal peaks in traffic,

severe weather conditions, backups due to crashes, or road construction

with limited alternate routing all create congestion problems. Thus,

improving the safety, efficiency, and productivity of operations and

maintenance activities of the transportation providers, meet critical

needs, especially through the application of coordinated advanced wide-

area traffic management and traffic signal systems.

Efficiency Strategic Objectives

1. Reduce congestion and delay (e.g., in work zones, at events and

tourist areas, etc.);

2. Improve incident management and response time;

3. Improve vehicle routing and diversion (e.g. trip coordination,

pre-trip route selection, en-route delay and road condition

information, and en-route notification of detour options); and

4. Improve operations and maintenance resource management and

allocation.

Economic Vitality and Productivity--Enhance economic productivity

of individuals, businesses, and organizations.

Many rural areas are economically depressed and their economic

viability is limited by their isolation.3 Rural ITS can improve

their ability to compete by reducing their isolation, improving the

efficiency of transportation services to businesses in the area, and

letting the public know of their attributes. Likewise, tourist areas

need to be able to provide information to their visitors and provide

them mobility if they are to continue to attract visitors. The focus of

rural ITS in meeting this goal is therefore, to keep rural areas viable

and helping to provide the services needed to function competitively.

Another aspect of this goal addresses the desires of small communities

that want to maintain their communities as they are, and limit the

amount of growth (e.g., Aspen, CO). The rural ITS program will identify

opportunities to address their transportation needs, while also

respecting their desire to control growth.

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\3\ Understanding Rural America, Economic Research Service, US

Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 710,

Washington, DC, February 1995.

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As discussed within the Mobility and Convenience Goal, isolation

can also be reduced by improving the communications connectivity of an

area. As rural areas become more connected, they become more viable

areas for living and working. This goal, therefore, also addresses the

evaluation and advancement of telecommuting from rural America as a

means of reducing isolation and making the rural environment more

livable.

Economic Vitality and Productivity Strategic Objectives

1. Improve access to and from rural communities for travel, goods

and services, and information;

2. Improve knowledge of goods, services, and opportunities in rural

communities (e.g. en-route information,

[[Page 12879]]

transportation service information, etc.); and

3. Improve transportation and communication facilities in and

around rural communities.

Environmental Conservation--Reduce energy consumption and

environmental costs and negative impacts.

While rural areas may not have air quality problems of the same

magnitude as urban areas, there are still areas where there is a need

to maintain good air quality and address other environmental problems.

Consequently, opportunities to reduce the number of single occupant

vehicles, vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and increase public

transportation and ridesharing alternatives are essential. Many tourist

attractions, such as National Parks, also suffer from the negative

environmental impacts of large numbers of visitors. This goal includes

opportunities to minimize the effects of large influxes of people into

these sensitive areas. In addition, in rural areas there is a need to

address the impacts of the transportation infrastructure, operations,

and maintenance on the environment, including the reduction of impacts

due to hazardous material spills, and the tracking of hazardous

materials through the rural transportation system.

Environmental Conservation Strategic Objectives

1. Reduce Single Occupant Vehicles;

2. Reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled;

3. Improve hazardous material response (minimize environmental

impacts); and

4. Reduce emissions per trip.

External Factors Assessment

External factors are key outside forces that may influence the

success of the rural ITS program in achieving the above mission and

goals; or have other impacts on the delivery of the program, and yet

are outside the control of the agency.

One set of external factors with a focus on changes in legislation

and the environment in Washington, D.C. can have a profound effect on

the delivery of a long-term program. Of particular interest are the

current hearings concerning Intermodal Surface Transportation

Efficiency Act and its re-authorization in the next year. If the major

priorities or funding mechanisms change as a result of the new

legislation, the strategic plan may have to be modified and updated

accordingly.

Likewise, shifts in the Federal and State Departments of

Transportation roles and responsibilities may impact the fulfillment of

the program. However, these shifts may not be due to specific changes

in legislation, but can also be caused by changes in administration.

Another important set of external factors are changes in the

economy, fuel prices, or concerns of the nation brought about by unique

events. Terrorist acts can raise the importance of security throughout

the transportation system. Another energy crisis will impact the amount

and type of rural travel.

Equally important are watershed changes in technology that can

totally change the costs and potential applications within the rural

environment. Twenty years ago, no one could have predicted the rapid

adoption of facsimile machines throughout the business world, or even

the use of cellular phone technology that now makes many ITS

applications possible. Significant developments of new communications

systems by private industry, such as satellite communications networks,

could greatly impact the cost-effectiveness of advanced rural

transportation systems. Yet, the US DOT has little control over these

types of developments.

The last factor is the ability of local rural communities to adopt

new technologies and systems. However, the rapid infusion of new

technologies in rural settings is hampered in a number of ways. First,

rural areas are often some of the most fiscally constrained in America.

There are large resource requirements for maintaining the current

systems, and little additional funds for implementing new systems over

the miles of rural network. Likewise, the staff resources are often

limited in rural environments with one person taking on the roles and

responsibilities typically filled by many specialists in denser areas,

or even whole departments. ``Mainstreaming'' the consideration and

evaluation of ITS strategies into multimodal transportation planning

processes is also important if transportation planners and decision

makers are to understand the costs and benefits of implementing certain

technologies, particularly in comparison with more traditional or

conventional improvements. Staffs must have the time and energy to plan

and adopt the new systems to their current environments.

Recognizing these external factors and updating the strategic plan

as conditions change over the life of the program will keep it aligned

with the overall mission and goals described above.

7. Strategies

A Strategy is an approach, or an implementation methodology, that

will lead to achieving a specific objective. It includes a description

of how the goals and objectives are to be achieved, including a

description of the operational processes, skills and technology, and

the human, capital, information, and other resources required to meet

those goals and objectives.

Achieving the strategic objectives of the program means recognizing

the extremely diverse nature of the rural transportation system.

Diversity is exhibited in the system's wide range of motorists,

managers, maintenance staff, operators, road types, terrain, climates,

jurisdictions, land use, and seasonal characteristics. These diverse

characteristics translate into a wide variety of needs, problems, and

opportunities for improvement. Consequently, the ARTS solutions, i.e.,

the application of advanced technologies to meet these disparate needs,

problems and opportunities, must be diverse as well. The strategies to

identify these solutions must also recognize this diversity.

Given this diversity of the rural transportation system, and the

wide breadth of the program (i.e., encompassing a large number of needs

of a large number of users), the ARTS program has been organized into

seven Critical Program Areas (CPA's). A major effort of the Rural

Action Team during the development of the Strategic Plan, was the

investigation of different cluster concepts and ways to find common

areas of interest across rural America. It was found that while rural

settings differ greatly (Jackson Hole, WY, vs. Death Valley, CA, vs.

Cape Cod, MA), there was general agreement on the classes of needs that

exist within each setting and the principal users of ITS. The clusters

were therefore developed around major needs and service groupings. They

are:

1. Traveler Safety and Security;

2. Emergency Services;

3. Tourism and Traveler Information Services;

4. Public Traveler Services and Public Mobility Services;

5. Infrastructure Operations and Maintenance;

6. Fleet Operations and Maintenance; and

7. Commercial Vehicle Operations.

The above division is the primary dimension for this cluster

concept and focuses on identifiable needs and services categories. The

Tourism and Traveler Information Services CPA, for example, refers to

the needs and services that a visitor (both driver and passenger)

unfamiliar with a rural area may require, as well as the Visitors and

Tourism Bureaus, transit service

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providers, information providers, etc., that provide the services to

meet their needs. In a tourist resort area, this may be the main focus

of the ITS program. In other areas, it may exist but plays a smaller

role. Likewise, the Public Traveler and Public Mobility Services focus

on reducing the isolation of the transportation disadvantaged and

increasing the mobility for all of the public. Its constituents also

include both the potential travelers and service providers. The

maintenance and operations activities may also form their own divisions

because of the costs of the provision of these services in rural areas.

As ITS services are shown to reduce their costs, improve their

efficiency, etc., these areas and the organizations responsible for

them become natural constituents and advocates for the programs.

The clusters are not necessarily mutually exclusive and will

overlap in their deployment in a specific region or rural setting. For

example, services developed around a ``safety information cluster'' may

also exist in the same area with services developed to meet the

mobility needs. Similarly, clusters are ``fuzzy'' and the boundary

between two related clusters may be difficult to discern at times

(infrastructure versus fleet operations and maintenance).

Each rural area will have its own environmental conditions and

constraints, frequency of needs, institutional settings, etc. These

factors determine the importance and priority placed upon each cluster

within an area, and the mix of ITS services that may be considered for

implementation.

The clusters provide common areas of understanding and focus and,

thus, make the ARTS Plan implementation more manageable. The Program

Plan describes the user services, functional requirements, and

knowledge gaps that apply to each CPA. Aspects of a program element may

address more than one CPA. Consequently, The activities associated with

some CPA's may consist of a number of research and field test

activities, while activities associated with another will focus on

deployment.

Though much needs to be done to determine exactly which projects

will be initiated within each CPA, some generalizations can still be

made. The research and field testing efforts that take place within

this program will be building upon the wealth of knowledge and proven

solutions that have been developed under other parts of the ITS

program. It is not expected that the rural advanced technologies will

be significantly different from their urban counterparts, rather the

difference between the two will be characterized through the

implementation methods. Consequently, the bulk of the program will

probably not consist of basic research, but rather will focus on

overcoming the rural barriers that hamper cost-effective

implementation. While such a focus will ensure that the seamless

connectivity between urban and rural systems is achieved, care must be

taken to avoid attempts to fit urban solutions into rural problems.

Traveler Safety and Security

The rates and severity of accidents have been repeatedly identified

as one of the most serious problems associated with rural

transportation. Accidents per-vehicle-mile traveled are higher than in

urban areas, and tend to be more sever due to higher operating speeds.

Once an accident occurs, the time to notify and respond are also on the

average longer, and trauma centers are located further away.

Consequently, improving safety and security has been identified as a

key cluster or critical program area.

The needs in this cluster center around improving the driver's

ability to operate the vehicle in a safe and responsible way and in

reducing the influence of other factors that may help cause an

accident, such as, poor road conditions, visibility, etc. This cluster

focuses on the prevention of accidents before they occur and in

reducing the severity of the accident if it does take place.

Another aspect of this cluster is increasing the security (both

actual and perceived) of the traveler along his/her trip. Providers of

transportation services have a responsibility to provide a safe and

secure environment in which to travel. A traveler may be injured while

traveling even though he/she has not been involved in a vehicular

accident (i.e., a transit patron is assaulted while waiting for a

vehicle, or someone using a rural rest stop is robbed). Thus, providing

a secure environment through remote monitoring, silent alarms, etc., is

an important ITS function within this cluster.

Some of the advanced systems that may be explored and developed

under this cluster are:

1. Wide area information dissemination systems (via radio,

computer, TV, etc.) both pre-trip and en-route of safety information,

such as weather and road conditions;

2. Site-specific safety advisories and warnings (e.g., the enhanced

radar detector for hazard warning, visibility sensors, variable speed

limits, collision avoidance, work zone detection/intrusion alarms, rail

crossing alerts, shoulder detection, etc.) to alert motorists of

imminent problems;

3. Safety surveillance and monitoring (e.g., on transit vehicles

(for malcontents and for ill riders), at park-and-ride lots, rest

areas, etc.); and

4. In-Vehicle monitoring and detection systems including such items

as driver monitoring (alertness, status), vision enhancement, perimeter

detection, shoulder detection, etc.

Emergency Services

Once an incident (accident or emergency situation) occurs, there is

a need for emergency services. These can be in the form of ambulances

and medical care, police, fire, tow trucks, and other vehicle

assistance, etc. The isolation of rural areas, extensive time from the

incident to detection, and response once the incident is detected all

contribute to notifications and response times much longer than found

in denser areas, often of an hour or more. This leads to much more

severe consequences than would occur with rapid response. Given an

incident, the Emergency Management Team must be notified, a decision on

how to address the emergency must be made, services dispatched and the

location of the incident found and reached. In addition, the care

givers are constantly having to make critical decisions about the type

and extent of care to provide, both on the scene and at the hospital or

trauma center.

This cluster focuses on the ITS services required to provide this

emergency assistance. It includes both the provision of communications,

the management of the emergency services fleets, and the transmission

of critical information to better prepare the care givers, both at the

scene and in the hospital or trauma center. Assisting the emergency

vehicle in reaching the incident through vehicle routing,

identification, and warning systems, is also an important aspect. A

large number of this cluster's needs also deals with the coordination

of different services and the need to share the critical and

appropriate information on the emergency as rapidly as possible in real

time.

Some of the advanced systems that may be explored and developed

under this cluster are:

1. Mayday systems to alert dispatchers of location and nature and

extent of a problem (e.g., crash, breakdown, etc.); and

2. Advanced dispatching and vehicle-based response systems (e.g.,

on emergency medical services & law enforcement vehicles, tow trucks,

etc.) to get to the scene quickly, and provide

[[Page 12881]]

appropriate care (perhaps for the judicious enforcement of traffic laws

as well).

Tourism and Traveler Information Services

This cluster focuses on the needs of a visitor or traveler that is

unfamiliar with the rural area they are in or traveling through. It

includes both information services and the unique aspects of providing

mobility services to tourists and resorts, since many times visitors

have little choice of mode (no auto) and require special services. It

addresses aspects of both the ``Mobility and Convenience'' and

``Economic Vitality and Productivity'' goals for the ARTS program.

Knowing where desired destinations are, how to get to them, and

conditions along the way adds to the mobility and convenience of an

area. Likewise, travelers must be aware of destinations before they can

visit them and providing services to tourists and others unfamiliar

with the rural surroundings enhances the economic vitality of the area.

The needs and services that may be bundled in this cluster include

such activities as electronic yellow pages, weather and condition

forecasting, route advisory information, information dissemination in

hotels, roadside, wide band radio, etc. Once in a resort area, tourists

often are hindered due to lack of a vehicle, or knowledge of the area.

Providing mobility through transit, paratransit, and Global Positioning

Systems (for rental cars) may also be an important function. This

cluster would also be of primary interest to the Tourism and Visitors

Centers, Economic Development Bureaus, as well as the local service

providers (departments of street and traffic, transit authorities,

State Department of Transportation, and Park Agencies).

Tourism may also be a concern in any rural setting during major

events and festivals. At these events the traffic, local population,

and transportation problems of the participants, local residents, and

emergency services swell to many times their average levels. Event

logistics, traffic and parking management, provision of emergency

communications, etc., are crucial to the success of these events and

yet must be temporary in nature, and in most cases understandable to

volunteers.

Some of the advanced systems that may be explored and developed

under this cluster are:

1. Information services (electronic yellow pages, route guidance,

etc.) provided at fixed locations (e.g., in hotels, at rest areas, at

modal transfer stations, etc.), and en-route;

2. Mobility services (transit, paratransit, parking systems, etc.);

3. Smart card payment/transaction systems for transit and tourist

transactions; and

4. Portable event management systems that include such services as

traffic management, variable message signs, hotel and service

availability and directions on how to reach services when they are

available.

Public Traveler Services/Public Mobility Services

Isolation and accessibility to key services are critical concerns

to many rural inhabitants. Providing transit, paratransit, rural

addressing, and other services associated with ability to make a

desired trip fall within the Mobility Services cluster. As the nation

ages, and becomes more transportation disadvantaged the need for

Mobility Services and the safety net of accessibility will become more

extreme. This is especially true for rural areas where neighbors are

often miles apart, trip distances are long, and travel to common

origins and destinations infrequent. All rural residents, visitors to

tourist areas, and human service providers are constituents of this

cluster.

The first major need associated with this cluster is finding those

who need services and providing the mobility safety net to them.

Secondly, determining how to provide the services in an efficient and

effective manner, since often those providing the service have very

high operating expenses. This includes the sharing of information among

providers which can be used to help optimize routing, coordinate

delivery, and reduce fraud in claiming subsidies from service

providers. Lastly, addressing the need for coordination and

communication between the many providers of services that may be

involved including transit agencies and social service providers. The

cluster includes not only providing mobility to the travelers from

their homes and origins and destinations, but also increasing the

ability of people to reach them in provision of other services

(nursing, meals on wheels, hospital out patient, etc.).

Some of the advanced systems that may be explored and developed

under this cluster are:

1. Advanced transit, paratransit systems, etc., using AVL and

improved dispatching (e.g., taking advantage of improved rural

addressing (i.e., using Global Positioning Satellites), etc.);

2. Smart card payment/transaction systems for rider payment and

tracking (beat fraud); and

3. Advanced ride sharing and ride matching systems.

Infrastructure Operations and Maintenance

Due to the isolation, distances, and sheer amount of rural road

miles the provision of infra-structure maintenance and operation

services are both costly, and often inefficient. Low volumes on the

roads make the detection of problems and conditions a concern. This

cluster's focus is on improving the efficiency of the maintenance and

operations activities for the transportation systems within rural

areas. Improving and automating the highway pavement management

systems, providing early detection and deployment of services to meet

severe conditions (snow removal, salting, etc.), maintaining,

operating, and linking local and statewide traffic operations centers,

managing work zones are examples of the ITS elements that would fall in

this cluster. It is closely related to the next cluster which focuses

on the fleet operations in rural areas.

The maintenance of roads and the road system for safe operation

falls under the maintenance organization activities. Because of the

nature of rural settings, the cost per mile, and simply knowing the

condition of the system that is out there, is very high and often

inefficient. This cluster would focus on the provision of services to

help maintenance organizations perform their functions more efficiently

and safely. Pavement management, and normal road condition detection to

reduce the costs of tracking and planning the system upkeep is

critical. Some of the other needs and services that fall within this

cluster include: Management of road crews and work zone location; road

striping systems; weather information systems, detection of road

conditions; coordination of maintenance activities; and flood control

and detection.

Also general operations of the physical infrastructure has a set of

needs that can be met by rural ITS. These include traffic management,

traffic signal systems, tracking of use of the system, assisting in the

safety and management of work zone areas, etc. This cluster would also

focus on how the needs and desires of the operation managers of the

road and other infrastructure systems can be provided for using ITS.

Again, the overall focus would be to provide services to help reduce

the costs of operations and maintenance activities and improve the

performance and efficiency in rural settings.

[[Page 12882]]

Some of the advanced systems that may be explored and developed

under this cluster are:

1. Appropriate traffic signal and traffic management systems for

small urban areas, ultimately linked together (as well as with large

metropolitan TMCs) as part of a statewide, distributed information

system;

2. Automated management systems (e.g., bridge, pavement, roadside

hardware, etc.); and

3. Advanced work zone management and traffic control.

Fleet Operations and Maintenance

The cost of providing services for mobility and managing the fleets

used in rural settings is often extremely high for the same reasons as

found in the last cluster. The distances are long, and the ability to

combine destinations and provide efficient routing often poor. The

potential for ITS to improve the coordination of fleets, routing, and

communications is especially high in rural areas.

Fleet operations of both transit and other rural fleets has a

different focus than infrastructure operations. The vehicles must be

scheduled, routed, located, and maintained. Management of rural fleets

takes on new significance due to the cost and low use per mile of

operations. This cluster would focus on the coordination and provision

of services for rural fleet operations and management. It includes

services to transit operators and paratransit providers, as well as the

fleets of maintenance and other areas. Vehicle location and routing,

maintenance scheduling, rural addressing, coordination of services and

billing between providers, etc. all would fall within this cluster.

Some of the advanced systems that may be explored and developed

under this cluster are:

1. Advanced dispatching and routing systems (e.g., for snow plows,

transit operators, etc.) (includes central processing systems and

vehicle-based systems such as Automatic Vehicle Location);

2. Advanced vehicle tracking systems (e.g., guidance for snow plow

operators to track through dangerous areas covered in snow); and

3. Fleet maintenance and management systems.

Commercial Vehicle Operations

Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO) and ITS development and support

is carried out through the parallel ITS CVO program under the direction

of the FHWA Office of Motor Carriers. The Vision Statement for the ITS

CVO program is stated as ``Assisted by technology, trucks and buses

will move safely and freely throughout North America.'' It is a

voluntary effort consisting of public and private organizations working

together to improve highway safety and motor carrier productivity

through the development and application of the CVO User Services

(Commercial Vehicle Electronic Clearance, Automated Roadside Safety

Inspections, On-board Safety Monitoring, Commercial Vehicle

Administrative Processes, Hazardous Materials Incident Response, and

Freight Mobility).

Since many of the activities associated with commercial vehicle

operations take place in rural environments there are a number of

topics and services of mutual interest between the Rural and CVO ITS

programs. The rural ITS program focuses on the overall ITS services and

general users found throughout rural America which may impact, but not

be tailored to, CVO operations. Many of these, such as, emergency

response and Mayday systems, may fall into other clusters. The Rural

CVO cluster's primary function would be to provide a CVO perspective to

these other clusters to ensure that CVO needs and requirements are also

considered in the development of the overall ITS applications. The

Rural CVO cluster may also supplement the main CVO ITS Program in

uniquely rural commercial operations such as services to agricultural

harvesting and migration operations or small rural commercial

activities.

As stated, an important aspect of this cluster would be to ensure

that systems designed to meet the other critical program areas also

included the elements and perspectives of the commercial vehicle

operators (collecting and tracking CVO specific data, monitoring and

tracking specific vehicles, meeting unique CVO information needs,

etc.). How can CVO operations take advantage of these clusters? Can CVO

and general backbone systems be combined? What additional requirements

are necessary to meet CVO needs? These are questions that may be

addressed in fulfilling this aspect of the CVO cluster.

Another major component of this cluster centers around the

agricultural harvesting and roundups found in rural areas. The annual

migration of the harvesting combines in the Midwest, the sugar beet

harvest in Minnesota, the roundups in ranch and sheep country, etc. all

require focused transportation activities in often a very narrow window

of opportunity. People need to know the location of the combines.

Logistics and the movement of the trucks in and out of the area is

critical; The road maintenance organizations may have special

requirements before and after the event. All of these concerns point to

a unique set of needs possibly overlooked under the provision of normal

day-to-day services.

Some of the advanced systems that may be explored and developed

under this cluster are:

1. CVO-specific requirements/needs within the other critical

program areas (e.g., rural addressing, logistics, vehicle and driver

monitoring), vehicle location systems for alerts to other travelers as

well as for other tracking needs, assistance for agricultural

harvesting, collecting and tracking CVO specific information needs

(e.g., CVO-enhanced weather advisories);

2. Services to assist Agricultural Harvesting and Migration; and

3. Other services in support of small rural commercial enterprises.

On the road communications and paging, low cost vehicle location for

employees in the field, etc., to help make rural commercial activities

more viable and cost-effective.

8. Next Steps: The Program Plan

This Strategic Plan for the ARTS program has described the vision,

mission, objectives, and measures upon which the ARTS program is built.

Because of the diversity of needs and settings in rural America, it

also developed seven critical program areas, or clusters, which provide

areas of common interest and focus within the overall program. The ARTS

Program Plan has been defined using the Strategic Plan and its critical

program areas as a foundation. Strategic Planning is also a continuing

process. As the implementation of the program moves forward, a key

element is the ongoing evaluation and adjustment of the plan to account

for new knowledge gained by the early research, shifting priorities,

etc. This ``Performance Feed Forward'' step of strategic planning will

be carried out as part of each budget cycle.

As stated, the ARTS Program Plan will be developed around the

clusters, or critical program areas. The tasks associated with the

development of the Program Plan are underway and include:

1. Continue assessment and evaluation of current rural ITS

projects;

2. Determine what is known and not known for each cluster;

3. Identify potential projects and costs associated with answering

the unknowns within each cluster;

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4. Set strategic priorities within and between each cluster;

5. Select projects (research, field operational tests, targeted

model deployments) to reduce the unknowns within each cluster, meet the

goals, objectives and strategic priorities, and stay within budget

allocations for each fiscal year; and

6. Evaluate progress and update both the Strategic Plan and Program

Plan during each budget cycle (Performance Feed Forward).

(23 U.S.C. 315; 49 CFR 1.48)

Issued on: March 7, 1997.

Jane F. Garvey,

Acting Administrator, Federal Highway Administration.

[FR Doc. 97-6738 Filed 3-17-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910-22-P