Advancing ITS to the Next Level

My interest in transportation began three decades ago when as Mayor of San Jose, California, found that the policy tool that made the most difference in my community was transportation. Nothing else had as great an impact on our economic development, on the pattern of growth, or on the quality of life.  I have found in the years since that this is true both locally and nationally.

Congestion and delay not only waste our time as individuals, they burden our businesses and our entire economy with inefficiency and higher costs.  Today, providing the public with timely transportation information and alternatives is a key to both our economic success and to our quality of life.  Another essential ingredient for providing the public with meaningful and tangible transportation options is true intermodal integration. 

This integration is important not only within the Department of Transportation, but for all aspects of transportation in both the public and private sectors.  This means that railroads can’t any longer just think about railroads, but must also think highways and airways.  We have the technology to bring our separate transportation infrastructures together to create true intermodalism.

This is where Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are so important.

Having chaired the House Public Works and Transportation Committee during the creation of the Intelligent Vehicle-Highway System (IVHS) program in ISTEA and as a former Board Member of ITS America, I am no stranger to ITS.  I was glad to see that the innovations we built into ISTEA, including ITS, were reaffirmed in TEA-21. 

ITS has an important role to play not only in bringing technologies from other modes to the vehicle and to the highway, but also to all modes of transportation.  ITS means powerful benefits in managing congestion, reducing crashes, and improving the efficiency of the trucking and transit industries as seen in North America, Europe and Asia.

These successes, and our vision for ITS’s greater potential, led to the Department of Transportation’s decision to invest $253 million, a 32 percent increase over 2001, for Intelligent Transportation Systems in FY 2002.  During my tenure as Secretary of Transportation, the benchmark of success for ITS will be the deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems.  In order for our efforts to be truly successful, we are investing tax dollars in programs that work.  Research and development remain essential to building the future of ITS.  However, we cannot limit our focus to R&D efforts.  We must deliver the practical and usable transportation systems that can benefit the public today.

We need to develop practical applications that will provide the public with real transportation alternatives.  Let me give you an example.  When you’re driving down the highway, and you see a flashing sign that tells you: “Congestion Ahead” how much does that really help you, when you’ve already slowed to 5 miles an hour?  You know there’s congestion; you’re sitting in it!  Wouldn’t it be great, if instead, that electronic sign told you:  “Take exit 34, Left on Main, Go Three miles, Re-enter highway at Exit 37.” Now, that’s an intelligent transportation solution. 

Some of these solutions can mean saving real lives by way of greater public safety in transportation and emergency response systems.  For example, we all know that telecommunications companies are working to improve emergency notification systems — specifically E-911and we must support this important work.  We must work collectively — with the private sector, with other federal agencies, and with state and local governments — to deploy an intelligent system to save more lives.

This must be a comprehensive, end-to-end system of emergency notification, and response.  It should indicate the location of a crash, provide data about its severity, and notify the necessary responders.  Such a system will not only help to save lives at the time of a crash, but also help to prevent others in the future by providing data that will allow us to build safer cars and roadways.  These systems are just a few examples of the countless important and innovative solutions that we can bring to fruition.

Norman Y. Mineta was sworn in as the nation’s 14th Transportation Secretary this February.  At his January confirmation hearing, Secretary Mineta described his top priorities for the transportation department as improving safety on highways and other parts of the transportation system, eliminating bottlenecks on highways, and reducing congestion at airports. 

He brings to the U.S. Department of Transportation more than 25 years of public service experience as Mayor of San Jose, CA, Secretary of Commerce during the Clinton Administration, and Member of the House of Representatives from California, where he served as Chairman of the House Transportation and Public Works Committee and played a key role in writing ISTEA.