ExtendingtheuseofarchivedITSdataasapotentialmanagementtooltoevaluatetravelerinformationonDynamicMessageSigns.docVIP

Extending the Use of Archived ITS Data As a Potential Management Tool to Evaluate Traveler Information on Dynamic Message Signs Priya Chavan Department of Computer Science Portland State University Post Office Box 751 Portland Oregon 97207 Phone: 503-725- 4285, Fax: 503-725-5950 Email:priyac@ Kristin Tufte Department of Computer Science Department of Civil Environmental Engineering Portland State University Post Office Box 751 Portland Oregon 97207 Phone:503-725-2419, Fax: 503-725-5950 Email:tufte@ Christopher M. Monsere Department of Civil Environmental Engineering Portland State University P.O. Box 751 Portland, OR 97207-0751 Phone: 503-725-9746, Fax: 503-725-5950 Email: monsere@ Max Stephens Department of Civil Environmental Engineering Portland State University P.O. Box 751 Portland, OR, 97207 USA Phone: 503-725- 4285, Fax: 503-725-5950 Email:mts@ Robert L. Bertini Department of Civil Environmental Engineering Portland State University P.O. Box 751 Portland, OR 97207-0751Phone: 503-725-4249, Fax: 503-725-5950Email: bertini@ July 30, 2007 Submitted for presentation and publication to the 87th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board January 13–17, 2008 Word Count = 5,866 words [3,616 words + 5 tables and 4 figures] ABSTRACT Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) on freeways are often used to provide a variety of information to motorists including incident and construction information, travel time estimates and public service announcements such as Amber Alerts. The display of accurate travel time messages is currently of high importance to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and state departments of transportation. The objective of this paper is to describe the development of an automated system for superimposing DMS messages on top of three-dimensional (contour) speed plots within an ITS data archive system. In order to aid operations personnel in the assessment of travel time message accuracy, they are displayed as boxes that graphically repre