Session4C–ITSExtendingtheUseofArchivedITSDataAsaPotentialManagementTooltoEvaluateTravelerInformationonDynamicMessageSigns.docVIP

Session 4C – ITS Extending the Use of Archived ITS Data As a Potential Management Tool to Evaluate Traveler Information on Dynamic Message Signs Robert L. Bertini, Christopher M. Monsere and Max Stephens, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Portland State University, Portland, OR USA, Kristin Tufte, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of Computer Science, Portland State University, Portland, OR USA, and Priya Chavan Department of Computer Science, Portland State University, Portland, OR USA 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 contour speed plots within an ITS data archive system. In order to aid operations personnel in the assessment of travel time message accuracy, the DMS messages are displayed as boxes that graphically represent the time, location and content of the message. Such a display can be used by traffic managers to visually assess the accuracy of DMS travel time messages. The new plotting system has been developed as an addition to the Portland Oregon Regional Transportation Archive Listing (PORTAL). PORTAL is the transportation data archive for the Portland metropolitan region and consists of a database of transportation data and a web-based interface providing graphical tools and data access for transportation managers, engineers and researchers. This paper describes how the DMS messages are processed, analyzed and interpreted. The addition of the DMS display to PORTAL will allow traffic engineers to quickly verify the validity of D