Skip to main content

Oregon DOT wins Best of ITS 2015 award

The Oregon Department of Transportation improved safety on OR 217 by implementing a variety of signage and roadway enhancements. OR 217 currently experiences traffic congestion during peak commute times because of high-density traffic and crashes. The project focused on reducing crashes, helping to clear crashes quickly when they do occur, and giving motorists the ability to make informed travel decisions about traffic flow and roadway conditions. Since collisions on a busy highway can bring traffic to a h
August 14, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The 5837 Oregon Department of Transportation improved safety on OR 217 by implementing a variety of signage and roadway enhancements.  OR 217 currently experiences traffic congestion during peak commute times because of high-density traffic and crashes. The project focused on reducing crashes, helping to clear crashes quickly when they do occur, and giving motorists the ability to make informed travel decisions about traffic flow and roadway conditions. Since collisions on a busy highway can bring traffic to a halt, the improvements will also decrease crash-related congestion.  

Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has received the Intelligent Transportation Systems’ Best of ITS 2015 Award for project OR 217, which aimed to improve safety on the highway by implementing a variety of signage and roadway enhancements.
 
In 2013, ODOT replaced previous state-wide control system software with 32 Daktronics Vanguard professional software, along with Daktronics VF-2020 and VX-2420 dynamic message signs to establish a more automated advanced traffic management system (ATMS). The VX-2420s display advisory speed limits based on traffic congestion to achieve speed harmonisation, while the VF-2020s provide travel time information, crash and congestion data, road conditions and closures.

OR 217 experienced traffic congestion during peak commute times because of high-density traffic and crashes. The project focused on reducing crashes, helping to clear crashes quickly when they occur and giving motorists the ability to make informed travel decisions about traffic flow and roadway conditions.

Related Content

  • November 18, 2016
    ODOT implements weather-activated speed signs
    Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has implemented digital variable speed limit signs over a thirty-mile stretch of Interstate 84 between Baker City and La Grande, replacing the standard speed signs in that area. The new signs will use traffic, road, weather and visibility sensors to lower the legal speed limit when ice, snow, fog or a wreck ahead requires drivers to slow down. Along with identifying the current legal speed limit, the digital displays can also show the reason for a reduced speed,
  • March 17, 2014
    Proposed system to take guesswork out of choosing a freeway lane
    A fledgling advanced lane management assist system can take the guesswork out of selecting the right lane on a congested freeway, as its inventor Robert Gordon explains. As drivers we’ve all done it and control room staff see it all the time – motorists on congested freeways switching into what they perceive is a faster lane, only to come to a halt a few moments later and watch vehicles in the other lanes continue to move past. Now, by re-analysing readily available data in an advanced lane management as
  • April 16, 2013
    A sharper message from Daktronics
    Daktronics comes to the ITS America Annual Meeting with an offer to help agencies ‘Sharpen the Image’ of their dynamic messages signs with the introduction of its new 20mm full-colour Vanguard product line. As the company points out, the dissemination of critical information to drivers is a leading priority for transportation agencies across the United States. Enabling this effort is the recent evolution of NTCIP and MUTCD standards encouraging the use of colour and legible graphics. These efforts allow age
  • July 17, 2012
    Real time active traffic management improves travel times
    Traffic management centres (TMC) have traditionally served to provide surveillance and responses to traffic incidents and recurring and non-recurring changes in road networks. Typically, a TMC collected field data from the roadway and transit infrastructure and provided the integration necessary for operators to see what was happening and then coordinate a response. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) guided operators on how to respond to a given situation. It eventually became impractical for TMC operat