Skip to main content

ITS awards for Montana university projects

The One-Stop Shop for Traveller Information (OSS), a website that integrates weather and road information from multiple western states, developed at Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute (WTI), has been awarded an international award from the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America). The OSS provides travellers with current road information that does not stop at jurisdictional boundaries. Combined with real-time weather information, the OSS provides motorists with
September 26, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The One-Stop Shop for Traveller Information (OSS), a website that integrates weather and road information from multiple western states, developed at Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute (WTI), has been awarded an international award from the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (560 ITS America).

The OSS provides travellers with current road information that does not stop at jurisdictional boundaries. Combined with real-time weather information, the OSS provides motorists with a seamless decision-making tool for maintaining and enhancing traveller safety and mobility.

One of two WTI projects to be nominated as finalists for the ITS America Best New Innovative Practice awards, OSS won in the Research, Design and Innovation category. The other WTI nominee, the Automated Safety Warning System Controller (ASWSC) project, was a finalist in the Rural ITS Project category.

The ASWSC is a general-purpose system that warns drivers of hazards such as icy curves and high winds. Prior to the ASWSC, warning systems were unique implementations that used one-of-a-kind software for control. Designed from the beginning as an open system, the ASWSC greatly expands the capability of transportation warning systems.

According to Doug Galarus, senior research scientist and manager of WTI’s Systems Engineering, Integration and Development Program, both projects represent the best of what is possible at WTI. A university transportation centre focused on rural transportation issues, WTI is a collaborative research partnership involving MSU’s College of Engineering, the 7318 Montana Department of Transportation and California’s 3879 Caltrans.

“The recognition from ITS on both of these projects is a welcome honour for all the hard work from everyone involved at MSU, as well as all those at the Caltrans Division of Research, Innovation and System Information, Caltrans District 2 and the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium,” Galarus said. “I give full credit for these systems to our partners at Caltrans – they envisioned the ASWSC and OSS and set us up for successful development and implementation. This was critical to making these systems work properly and to ensuring and enhancing the safety of the travelling public.”

Related Content

  • November 22, 2023
    ITS Australia Awards: finalists announced
    'Impressive mix of individuals and teams' represented across 35 finalists in seven categories
  • September 20, 2012
    Developing integrated transport networks
    A major initiative in managing numerous transport networks as a single system has moved into a significant phase with design of sophisticated new ITS systems. Jon Masters reports. Detailed design work is under way on two pilot projects pursuing a common principle – that transportation can be made more efficient or effective if the various networks and modes of travel are managed as a whole system. This is the central tenet of the US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Integrated Corridor Management (ICM)
  • February 27, 2013
    Project of the year win for TransCore Silicon Valley project
    Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) State Route (SR) 237 Express Lanes, for which TransCore serves as lead integrator, received the 2012 Transportation Project of the Year Award from the San Francisco Bay Area Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). VTA is implementing the Silicon Valley Express Lanes Program to provide congestion relief in one of its major Bay Area commuter corridors. As part of the program, the SR 237, US 101, SR 85 and parts of I-680 corridor will convert the existin
  • January 24, 2024
    TRB 2024 challenge spurs smart transportation innovation
    The Center for Urban Informatics and Progress at UTC, Amazon Web Services, the National Science Foundation, the City of Chattanooga and ITS America sponsored the Transportation Forecasting Competition at TRB 2024: and the challenge threw up some fascinating projects