Traffic Operations Aspects of the ITS Strategic Plans for Edmonton and Calgary

The ring roads located in the Transportation and Utility Corridors surrounding both Edmonton and Calgary are in various states of planning, development and construction. Guiding Principle No. 3 from Alberta’s Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Strategic Plan calls for ITS to be “well integrated in the planning, design, construction and maintenance of the transportation infrastructure”. There is currently an opportunity to establish a coordinated plan for the deployment of ITS solutions within both corridors, and potentially fast-tracking any high-priority ITS solutions by taking advantage of current civil projects underway in these corridors. Guiding Principle No. 1 in Alberta’s ITS Strategic Plan calls for ITS to be “developed and deployed in a coordinated, systematic and cost-effective manner”. Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation and the Cities of Edmonton and Calgary are in various stages of planning and deployment of ITS. The development of a plan specific to the ring roads will provide the opportunity for coordination between the cities and Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation. A well thought out plan would give Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation the tools required to assist the travelling public, Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation and the Cities of Edmonton and Calgary, with managing traffic within and around these corridors. Building on previous studies and strategic plans, the specific objectives of this study are to: • Assess the immediate and future needs for traffic monitoring, and safety and operation improvements that can be addressed through ITS technologies; • Analyze costs and benefits in adopting particular ITS systems that are relevant to the ring roads; • Integrate ITS solutions with the planning and design of the ring roads; • Develop a need and technology-based strategy for monitoring and managing commercial vehicle operations on the ring roads; and • Based on the above, develop an ITS plan for the Edmonton and Calgary ring roads that will address the immediate and long-term needs, and the staging options of ITS applications. This paper reports on a study that is currently underway and will be completed in early 2005. The particular results of the study that focus on traffic operations and management (i.e., dynamic or variable messaging and traveler information) will be presented in detail.