WTI

Rural Traveler Information (One Stop Shop) Phase 1

Primary Investigator Contact Information

External Project Contact(s)

Report(s)

There are no reports associated with this project.

Project Objective

The objective of this project is to put a variety of real-time information together in a single web-based location in a user-friendly format. This will provide travelers making a trip in or through rural areas access to current travel information on a route-specific basis, customized for a specific origin and destination, enabling drivers to travel more safely and with a minimum of delay.

Project Abstract

Real-time traveler information is a valuable tool in protecting and enhancing both traveler safety and mobility, even in rural areas. From a safety perspective, it is important for rural travelers to know before a trip about potential challenges that may impact their trip, including snow, ice, high winds, fires and other hazards. These same challenges may degrade mobility, as may challenges such as vehicle crashes and work zones. While such information may currently be available through a variety of sources, there is inconsistency in the types and quality of information available. In addition, information is generally scattered over numerous web-based (and sometimes non-web-based) sources, meaning travelers must spend significant amounts of time assembling this information before making a trip. As a result of the effort involved with putting this information together, many rural travelers do not seek out all the information they need, if they even choose to at all. This may result in increased delays and potentially degraded safety. The proposed research project will focus on a limited geographic area (e.g. Caltrans District 2) to provide a proof-of-concept of providing route-based traveler information in one location and to evaluate its effectiveness. While this scale of implementation will yield some direct benefits for the selected area, the research team believes that the principal value of this research is in demonstrating the feasibility and attractiveness of a one-stop shop for real-time route-specific traveler information for rural areas. The proof-of-concept will be designed in a scalable fashion, so that the concept may be expanded to other routes and states. Ultimately, as larger geographic areas are covered, this could become an umbrella traveler information web site, which could be used as a primary point of reference for longer distance trips, with travelers interested in shorter trips looking at other web sites for information. This could revolutionize traveler information, improving safety and mobility for all highway system users.

Task Descriptions

1. Project Management
   1. This task covers all activities related to project management, including quarterly progress reports, and teleconferences as needed to keep the Caltrans project manager and the project technical panel apprised of current progress.
2. Attend COATS Steering Committee Meeting
   1. This task will provide funds for one WTI student to attend a regularly scheduled meeting of the COATS Steering Committee. Attendance at this meeting will help to provide direction for the research team, regarding the types of information that are available and should be included, as well as considerations on structuring the traveler survey.
3. Assess Traveler Needs
   1. This task will use a variety of investigative techniques, including a literature review, an inventory of traveler information web sites, and traveler surveys, to discern the travel information needs of rural travelers. Through these techniques, the research team expects to develop a reasonable understanding of the expectations of rural travelers with respect to travel information.
4. Develop Concept of Operations Document
   1. This task will produce a concept of operations document, presenting a high-level, user-oriented perspective on how the one-stop shop will work. The concept of operations serves as an important guiding piece of documentation, because it will help the research team to prioritize which data elements are most important to include, and how the user interface should be structured to maximize user convenience.
5. Develop Requirements Document
   1. This task continues the systems engineering process for the one-stop shop by producing a requirements document. The requirements document translates the narrative developed for the concept of operations (Task 3) into a series of statements describing what the system shall do, and indicating what are optional features that may be added in subsequent phases. Because of the varying levels of data availability in different jurisdictions, the requirements document will focus first on the user interface: how the one-stop shop will appear to the user, what information is expected from the user, how it is to be input, and how the results are presented. The requirements document will also define an initial set of data feeds that should be included in the traveler information. This will likely include whatever information sources are currently available as an electronic, geo-located (route/milepost) data set.
6. Develop Prototype Information Delivery Mechanism
   1. The purpose of this task is to develop a rudimentary prototype of an information delivery mechanism that could be used for the one-stop shop. The purpose of this basic prototype is to ensure that the research team is tracking well with expectations of both the traveling public and the project technical panel. This prototype will be hosted on an existing server maintained by the research team, and will focus on information for select routes within Caltrans District 2.
7. Submit Final Report
   1. At the conclusion of the project, the research team will deliver a final project report. The final report will summarize the technical memoranda, provide some documentation (e.g. schematics or screen captures) of the limited prototype, and list next steps. Under this task, the team will also present the project results to Caltrans in a workshop forum.

Milestones, Dates, Schedule

Student Involvement

True

Relationship to Other Research Projects

True

Technology Transfer Activities

False

Transportation Research Board Keywords

Web-based, route specific, traveler information

Partners

California Department of Transportation