ITS New Mexico is building a healthy and helpful ITS web resource list that all ITS professionals should syndicate (along with the GHS ITS blog, of course).

Well, it's not quite a 101, more like a 50.5. But this article does provide the base information to drivers who complain about traffic signal timing before considering other factors. The article does not mention that Vancouver has very very few protected lefts and most of the ones they do have are under four years old. Noting the new protected lefts on Granville and Oak, among other streets, might have been a good addition to the story.

Maine Today reports on efforts to improve I-295. There is a brief mention of ITS in the article, which is again hinted as a low-cost panacea. The reader comments at the end are interesting in that only one person mentions an ITS solution (electronic passes) and then it's to comment on their exclusive nature.

In a symposium at the University of Michigan celebrating the 40th anniversary of the school's Transportation Research Institute, NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey Runge noted that "There are technologies out there that can help the driver, no matter how lame, to avoid making mistakes."

Well, we might have put it more diplomatically, but we can see where he's coming from...

The Houston Chronicle describes Houston Metro's new and glitzy on-board tech. This article includes two videos of the mustachioed and photogenic Glen Krol of H Metro. He describes the system and then demonstrates it. He provides a very quick description of what they've got on board, how it works and how it will help the agency, riders and Houston.

"The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is considering funding projects using commercially-available technologies to provide real-time parking availability to truck drivers on the road."

Now, truth be told, it had never occurred to us that parking at truck stops might be a problem. And one might be tempted to think, "Who cares? So buddy's gonna get inconvenienced when he can't find a parking spot. Why should my taxes go to that?" But, in our experience, a happy driver is a safer driver. If you think about the number of truckers on today's highways, the sheer volume of time they're on the road, and the rigors of driving, giving truckers a little aid and comfort seems to us a pretty good investment, seeing that the funding already exists anyway.

ITS - when you really need that cup of coffee...

Never thought that schlepping up poles to place cameras in the hot sun would pay off? Now it's time to move into cushy academia. Relax in air conditioned splendor and bask in the admiration of your wide-eyed students as you tell them, "Back in the day we called it IVHS...." The University of California at Irvine wants you!

In the Bay Area, congestion and intermodal confusion reign supreme. CC Times presents an article describing the continuing discussion of how to expand BART without spending money. BART proposes a more robust BRT-lite system (or rapid bus at the Bay Area calls it) to serve the Livermore area, rather than a full-on BART extension.

This is no-doubt largely based on AC Transit's successful rapid bus implementations throughout their service area. AC Transit has seen significant decreases in travel time and increases in ridership since implemeting their Rapid service.

Despite that funding mechanisms are far from being solved in the BART / LAVTA concept, it is important to note that no one in the article denies the viability of or need for such a system. Cost sharing arrangements where BART is a primary contracting agency and LAVTA is an operator is a proven means of interagency collaboration. Since political will for the concept is there and a need has certainly been established, it should be possible to solve any funding issues.

As we scan the news for the latest and greatest in ITS, one thing that sometimes strikes us is the assumption (almost certainly justified) that the news audience will not actually know what ITS is, if they've even heard of it. Pretty much every article contains a sentence something like "Townsville highways will soon be clearer thanks to something called ITS," or "ITS, which means Intelligent Transportation Systems, consists of [insert understandably but unfortunately oversimplified description here]...".

This is of course a normal state of affairs for a relatively new field of endeavor; but we look forward to the time when people actually know what it is that's saving them hundreds of hours a year in commuting time.

The Manitoba portion of Canada's National Highway System is about to be enhanced (through a mix of federal and provincial funds) with weather sensors in eight locations (if you're unfamiliar with Manitoba, think Minnesota, but cold). This is good news, as it will allow both drivers and work crews to make better decisions on a daily basis.

The even-better news is, the federal government is looking to undertake similar cooperative projects throughout the country. In return, the provinces are expected to share data with the feds. So, lemme get this straight: the feds are going to pay for my province to get new ITS systems, and in return, the levels of government will stop guarding their fiefdoms and act cooperatively. Sounds like a plan, eh?

The Albuquerque Tribune reports on the growing use of ITS in New Mexico. This article mentions the key to working ITS: coordination and cooperation. Governor Richardson appears to be unique in his ability to get various agencies to cooperate on transportation issues. His vanity-titled GRIP joins together far-flug regions of the state and adds identifiable coherence to their statewide transportation funding strategy.

Previous high-profile model deployment initiatives also did this. With names like SmartTrek and AzTech, kitchy though they were, they had marketing appeal. They were something that people could point to and say "Oh, that's because of SmartTrek." MDIs enjoyed a great deal of positive press.

This is increasingly important as people feel more and more isolated from Government in general and defeatist about transportation in particular. Plus, creating identifiable transportation consortiums like this can greatly improve chances for increased federal funding. In short, look serious and people will take you seriously.