US Congressmen Garret Graves and Salud Carbajal have introduced H.R. 1500, the Intelligent Transportation Integration Act, bipartisan legislation to bring traffic management and planning into the 21st Century.
The legislation would create a federal program that will allow the use of anonymized, aggregated, secure data to inform both planning decisions and real-time traffic flow management decisions on the federal highway system.
The bill mentions the data could be used for the following purposes:
■ optimizing traffic management and reducing congestion
■ decreasing miles traveled
■ increasing safety
■ improving freight efficiency
■ enhancing environmental conditions
■ enhancing traveler notification of service conditions
■ prioritizing high-priority vehicles such as emergency response and law enforcement within the transportation system
■ responding to severe weather events or conducting emergency evacuations.
"We are using traffic light technology from the 1800s to manage traffic in 2023. Thankfully, our horses are now faster, and we've paved roads since then," Graves said. "Folks shouldn't be sitting and waiting for the stop light when they are the only car at the signal. Traffic needs to be managed as a network-- dynamically juggling freight and commuter demands so folks can get from Point A to Point B faster, safer, and more efficiently. Our bill will deploy smarter technologies to meet these demands and ensure that data is available to our transportation planners who can build a more efficient system for the future."
"Efficient and safe transportation corridors are not only critical to local commerce and our national economy, but they are also one of the most bedrock parts of a working family's quality of life. The time that it takes to get to work or school, the grocery store, the next town or county over – these are major factors that drive daily decisions on the Central Coast of California," Carbajal added. "I'm proud to join my colleague Rep. Graves from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to demonstrate that there is bipartisan interest in combating traffic, making our roadways more efficient, and leveraging data we already have to raise our constituent's quality of life behind the wheel."
"The implementation of this bill will help save lives, manage congestion, reduce emissions, improve freight and supply chain efficiencies, integrate traffic management systems, provide better travel information, support emergency response and public safety, and promote a safe systems approach, all while increasing American competitiveness on the global stage," concluded Laura Chace, President and CEO of ITS America.
