Justification for and Nature of Changes. As this procurement has several different aspects, there are a number of different goals and justifications for the various elements of the deployment. Travel time / speed monitoring data collection – An overall goal for travel time / speed monitoring on limited access roadways is to achieve 100% coverage in the Metropolitan Orlando area. There is also a need to acquire travel time / speed data on arterials in order to provide information on alternatives to limited access highway routes, as well as facilitate system performance monitoring. Arterial roadways selected for deployment as part of this project are part of the Consortium’s top priorities. (The Consortium’s 5-year plan calls for 50% of arterials in the Orlando Metropolitan area to be covered.) Arterial CCTV cameras – There is a need to provide cost effective visual coverage of key arterial intersections/interchanges. This will support verification of incidents as well as weather, pavement, and traffic congestion conditions. SR 528 Corridor Monitoring System –As part of this project, there is a desire to increase roadway sensor and CCTV coverage along SR 528 and SR 520. This increased coverage is needed to support hurricane evacuations, incident management, and special events. Telecommunications Network Enhancements and Brevard County Agency Integration – With the expansion of several systems to provide increased data sensor and CCTV coverage, additional fiber-based communications infrastructure is needed. Additionally, part of the purpose of the iFlorida project is to facilitate increased coordination between various local agencies. To support this increased coordination, the involved agencies need to be interconnected via a common communications infrastructure. Both the LYNX and Brevard 911 Center need to be connected to the fiber trunk system in order to allow them to gain access to RTMC data and video information. Moreover, additional communications infrastructure is needed to provide redundancy for the existing communications system. Variable speed limits – There is a desire to test a variable speed limit (VSL) system in order to determine its effectiveness in increasing safety and roadway capacity. A number of VSL signs will be deployed and tested along I-4 in the Orlando Metropolitan area to accomplish this desire.
Justification for and Nature of Changes. The goal of the project is to relocate the City of Orlando TMC in order to ensure that all City of Orlando Traffic Management and OEM operations occur within the Orlando Operations Center. This will provide the City of Orlando with an integrated Operations Center and enable the City of Orlando Traffic Management staff to provide a more coordinated response to traffic incidents and events. The net effect of having an integrated Operations Center will be a reduction in incident and event response times. As a result, congestion associated with these incidents and events will be reduced, thus possibly saving time, lives, and money.
Justification for and Nature of Changes. Current RWIS capabilities do not exist in Central Florida. As a result, the goal of this iFlorida project is to augment existing and planned RWIS capabilities by expanding current capabilities in the Central Florida region. The addition of Central Florida weather sites will provide more specific data on road weather conditions, which will in turn support a more comprehensive management of the roadways. Expanded RWIS sensor coverage is desired in order to achieve a larger coverage area and a finer, more precise level of weather information for use in decision-making and the provision of information to travelers. Specific data on road weather conditions is needed by highway operators to provide comprehensive management of the roadways. Expanded RWIS sensor coverage is desired in order to achieve a larger coverage area and a finer level of detail for use in decision-making and the provision of information to travelers. Specific data required includes: • Relative humidity • Air temperature • Precipitation rate and amount • Wind speed and direction • Barometric pressure
Justification for and Nature of Changes. Road Weather Forecasting is the prediction of how weather conditions will affect road surface travel conditions. It requires the production of accurate forecasts of temperature, humidity and precipitation at the road surface in order to produce correct warnings on road conditions.
Justification for and Nature of Changes. Several needs exist that warrant the development/deployment of an infrastructure- oriented security monitoring system. These include: • Need to develop cost-effective methods for security-related monitoring of bridges; • Need to identify vulnerabilities associated with the state of Florida’s transportation assets; and • Need to protect key transportation assets.
Justification for and Nature of Changes. Several needs exist which warrant the integration of existing sub-systems into a single Conditions System. These include the need for: • A single comprehensive, integrated picture of current system status. For this project, “system” is defined as including the Florida Intrastate Roadway System (FIHS), other covered roadways, LYNX, and the Orlando and the Xxxxxxx- Xxxxxxx International Airports. • A single system to support both FDOT transportation management and traveler information needs. • The capability to accept and integrate data from multiple sources. • Real-time, accurate, reliable information for individual road segments (Data Collection Links) to facilitate improved transportation decision-making by users. • The capability to have current and forecasted road weather information embedded into available traveler information. • The capability for RTMC operators to use relevant system-provided transportation and road weather information as a decision-support tool to assist in regional traffic management.
Justification for and Nature of Changes. Specific roadway-oriented information is required to support emergency operations. The State of Florida Office of Emergency Operations has stated that they require data and images from each of the 54 sites in real-time or near real-time.
Justification for and Nature of Changes. The goal of this project is to provide a repository for data that can subsequently be used for a variety of purposes, including: data analysis, trend analysis, system performance and benefit assessment, and system diagnostics. The Data Warehouse’s website will also provide users with roadway Data Collection Link forecasting, produced from the Data Warehouse’s predictive modeling, for pre-defined roadway Data Collection Links along the I-4 corridor. The addition of new data sources and types of data will expand the number of opportunities available to develop improved forecasts – with regard to both accuracy and geographic scope.
Justification for and Nature of Changes. The existing Orlando Metropolitan area 511 system currently covers I-4. It is desired to expand this system, both in geographic coverage, as well as the type and resolution of the information provided. Additional types of information would include transit information and special event information, such as that related to hurricanes. Expansion of the system to cover all limited access highways in the Orlando Metropolitan area is also desired. This expanded system would utilize data made available through other iFlorida procurements. For areas outside of Central Florida and other metro areas having a regional 511 system, a statewide system is needed to provide information on major freeway segments. This system could also provide 511information in urban regions until a regional system is in place. The ultimate goal is to support each of the state’s major urban regions with separate 511 systems that utilize local data, integrating and supplementing these systems with a statewide system. The strategy for achieving this goal is being developed as part of the Florida Statewide 511 Conceptual Design Plan.
Justification for and Nature of Changes. Great advancements have been made over the last several years in the area of wireless communication. Advanced WiFi and comparable technologies are emerging that are cost effective, provide adequate bandwidth, and have sufficient stability and robustness to support transportation-oriented applications. Such technologies are bringing us closer to having the ability to provide data to and collect data from mobile units (vehicles) traveling the roadway in real-time; a concept that has been desired, but unobtainable, for quite some time. In addition, there is a need to provide real-time video surveillance on transit vehicles using wireless communications technology. Video surveillance such as this will assist police in responding to transit incidents, as well as in conducting post- incident analyses.
