AE-2: Intelligent Transportation Systems

Post by JanB Aug 17th, 2010
at 8:59 am

AE-2
GENERAL
With a goal to “Meet economic and social needs and improve mobility without adding capacity, or improve the efficiency of transportation systems,” Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) may have more limited value within many National Park Service (NPS) managed areas when compared to other transportation systems such as the Interstate Highway System. Most roadways managed by the NPS primarily serve park visitors while fewer are roadways primarily serving commuters. The management goals associated with these two user groups can be very different. For the roadway primarily serving the commuter, ITS (if sensitively applied) may help the NPS meet its management goals. However, for a roadway that primarily serves park visitors, the management goals are less likely to include improved mobility or improved efficiency. In fact, improved mobility or improved efficiency may hinder the NPS in achieving management goals such as the provision of a visitor experience that is unhurried, and unplanned. And whereas “Increases Awareness” is listed as a Benefit, the increased awareness a national park visitor is likely to experience because of ITS is likely to be related (one would assume) to transportation. But rarely is transportation the subject for which the NPS seeks to make visitors more aware. More often it is the environment through which one is passing (including scenery). Applications such as Dynamic Message Signs (page 2) – although they have been used before – are often not appropriate within a national park setting. “On-time performance” (page 4) should not be used as a standard indicator of success in a national park setting. The “Perceived and Measured Benefits of ITS” (page 5) cannot be applied equally across the variety of transportation systems that exist and are biased. In conclusion, because of its limited applicability, it may be appropriate for “Intelligent Transportation Systems” to provide fewer points.
NPS-WTA