
DATE: Sunday, May 4, 1997                   TAG: 9705040059

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  132 lines

PAVING THE WAY TO SAFE, SMOOTH DRIVING NEW $13 MILLION TECHNOLOGY SET FOR TESTING THIS SUMMER

Before leaving the house or office, motorists will be able to tap into instant traffic reports on line, by phone and on television.

For those already in their cars, an all-traffic radio station and computerized roadside signs will warn of trouble spots. And at malls, hotels and other public places, electronic kiosks will pinpoint congestion.

Most anywhere, with a stroke of a key or a push of a button, a guide to gridlock will be yours.

These high-tech advances will begin unfolding in the next few months as the first phase of the region's ``smart'' roads program nears completion. Testing of the new system begins this summer.

Using surveillance cameras, road sensors, fiber optics and a vast computer network, traffic controllers will monitor accidents, breakdowns and congestion on 21 miles of interstate.

The system will deliver instant information to motorists about road conditions and will ease congestion by improving emergency response time.

The $13 million network will be highlighted in a statewide Smart Travel conference Monday and Tuesday in Virginia Beach as Virginia's newest and most advanced Traffic Management System, also known as an Intelligent Transportation System. A similar, less sophisticated system in Northern Virginia has been in use for more than 10 years. ``One of the core functions is getting the information out to the public so they can make good decisions about travel plans,'' said William J. Cannell, Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman.

For example, starting this summer, motorists can click on VDOT's web site on the Internet and examine a map of area tunnels that will be color-coded based on levels of congestion. Later this year, interstates will be added to the map.

Next year, VDOT hopes to have its radio frequency, 530 AM, upgraded to cover the entire region with continuous traffic updates.

``Our hope is people will look at this information and decide to use alternate routes, delay their trip or not go at all,'' Cannell said.

Across the country, intelligent systems are being substituted for the construction of additional highway lanes.

As traffic volumes swell, money and available land are shrinking for building new roads. Plus, polluted air, static economies, deteriorating safety and an anxious society have forced transportation planners to look for better solutions.

``We cannot build our way out of this problem,'' said Para M. Jayasinghe, chief traffic engineer for Norfolk, which is embarking on an urban smart roads system. ``We need to use technology to increase the efficiency and safety of the existing system.''

Eventually, the new technology could radically change the way people travel. In the not-so-distant future, cars and trucks will be equipped with on-board computers that map congestion and suggest alternate routes.

While informing drivers is one goal, smart road systems are also designed to reduce travel delays.

With cameras perched on towers and sensors imbedded in roadways, slowdowns and stoppages are detected instantly so emergency crews can be sent more swiftly. And by clearing the roadway quicker, the odds of secondary accidents, which compound delays, drop.

For every five minutes a road lane is blocked, there's a resulting 15 minutes of congestion, traffic studies show. ``We can cut in half the response times . . . so we have less traffic stacking up,'' said Stephany D. Hanshaw, TMS engineer who heads the Smart Traffic Center.

While our traffic ills will not evaporate when the system comes on line, Hanshaw said, there will be less congestion, fewer accidents and improved air quality.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the systems shrink travel time 20 to 48 percent, increase travel speed 16 to 62 percent and increase freeway capacity 17 to 25 percent.

The federal government is so committed to smart highways that it is paying most of the costs for installing systems in the 75 largest metropolitan areas.

Federal funds covered 90 percent of the $13 million first phase of South Hampton Road's system. Federal money will pay for the entire second phase, $30 million for another 33 miles of highway. That phase will begin next year and will take three years to complete.

Eventually, 120 miles of road will be connected to the system.

For now though, 38 video cameras, more than 600 road sensors and 58 electronic message signs will monitor traffic on a segment of the interstates.

Video cameras can zoom and pan to view every inch of highway on I-64 from the Virginia Beach/Chesapeake line to Bay Avenue and on I-264/Route 44 from the Broad Creek Bridge to Rosemont Road.

The images are projected on a bank of television screens that line the wall of the Smart Traffic Center, the TMS nerve center off Indian River Road in Virginia Beach. The center is manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week by traffic controllers.

The road sensors, or loop detectors, located every 1/2 mile, will count vehicles, and determine their speeds and even types whether they be cars, trucks or buses. Computers automatically alert traffic controllers when the sensors detect a change in normal traffic conditions.

From the center, message signs that dot the highways will be programmed to warn motorists of problems and suggest detours based on computer models.

To keep pace with travel demand across the United States, the Department of Transportation estimated that 34 percent more highway capacity needs to be built. For 50 cities, the cost would be $150 billion.

For the same 50 cities, implementing intelligent transportation systems would cost $10 billion and buy more than two-thirds of the needed capacity.

``What sets Smart Travel apart from past traffic management strategies is that we are now empowering the public - by providing real-time information - so that people can make better travel choices, and by doing so, become a part of the solution,'' said Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner David Gehr. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

A highway camera tracks traffic flow.

A VDOT website tracks tunnel tie-ups by color.

Graphic

HOW SMART ROADS WORK

ON THE HIGHWAY: Road sensors detect slowdowns and stoppages, count

vehicles and gauge speeds.

AT THE HELM: Images and sensors are transmitted back to a manned

24-hour control center.

WHAT IT MEANS TO MOTORISTS

AT HOME: Track traffic on the Web, by phone and on TV.

IN THE CAR: All-traffic radio, 530 AM and computerized roadside

signs warn of trouble spots.