Smart cars, smart roads - traffic-management systems - includes related article on an upcoming Intelligent Transportation Society of American conference

Nation's Business, Feb, 1996 by Julie Candler

The system has been a boon for Crescent Paper Tube Co., Inc., which uses a truck to deliver some of the products it manufactures in Florence, Ky. We started using the transponder in midsummer," says Stuart Seltman, president of the 75-employee firm. "It saves a lot of time, especially on days when the scales get backed up. It also saves wear and tear on the truck by cutting down on stopping, starting, and idling."

To be sure, not everyone has bought into the idea of the Intelligent Transportation System as the answer to America's impending traffic crisis. Clifford Winston, an economist with the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank, says: "Economists are not enthusiastic about intelligent transportation. I support a system of tolls that would charge people for the congestion they cause on the road."

Proponents of intelligent transportation counter that Winston's solution would be one way to build more concrete highways, but that would not address the larger issues of land use, construction and fuel costs, safety, and the environment, and it would perpetually increase the number of vehicles on the road.

In any case, the move to intelligent transportaton is gaining momentum. Maryland in August became the first state to cover its entire network of major roadways with a full-time traffic-management system. An operations center in Hanover can monitor traffic flow and keep motorists informed along 16,000 lane miles of interstate highways and major arteries.

Other states will soon follow suit. Meanwhile, Maryland and nearby states have formed the Interstate-95 Northeast Coalition, planning to bring the congested I-95 corridor, from Virginia to Maine, under the umbrella of ITS technology.

To Join The High-Tech Road Show

Companies with products, services, or skills that they believe could help the Intelligent Transportation Society of America get traffic flowing can attend the society's sixth annual exposition and meeting, April 15-18 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

The cost for ITS America members is $425 if they register by March 15, or $575 thereafter. The costs for nonmembers are $575 by March 15 and $675 thereafter. Information and registration forms are available from Sandra Fitzgerald, the conference registrar, at (202) 484-2902, or by fax at (202) 484-3483.

An all-day seminar, "The ITS Market: Profiting From Deployment," will precede the expo on April 14. The seminar fee is $50 for members and $60 for nonmembers registering by March 15; both pay $75 after that date.

Information about joining ITS America can be obtained from the society's membership director, Paul Gannon, at (202) 484-2894. Memberships, which are priced according to a firm's gross annual revenues, range from $500 to $15,000. However, small businesses in 22 states can join their state ITS chapters for $245.

Information about the state chapters can be obtained from Josie Plachta, chapter coordinator, at (202) 484-4669. The states that have chapters are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.