Texas A&M ITS Research Center of Excellence Narrative Summary Report: Fiscal Year 1996-97 (1439-4)

This report summarizes the accomplishments of the Texas A&M Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Research Center of Excellence (RCE) during Fiscal Year 1996-97. The research program targets the intelligent transportation infrastructure. It focuses on three technical thrusts¿public transportation, transportation management, and international border transportation¿and two crosscutting concerns¿institutional and nontechnical issues, and technology integration. Key accomplishments in the public transportation area include testing an automatic vehicle location (AVL) system with a rural transit provider, completing the Houston case study Integrating Transit with TranStar, and publishing the proceedings from the First National Workshop on Integrating Transit with ATMS. Key accomplishments in the transportation management services area include additional hardware and software improvements to the field demonstration of the Smart Diamond control concept, developmental work on a prototype intelligent controller for highway-railroad grade crossings, consolidation and expansion of capabilites of the law enforcement vehicle technologies, testing of equipment and communications technologies for real-time commercial vehicle weigh-in-motion, and development of logic and a system architecture for an intelligent bus priority system at traffic signals. Key accomplishments in the international border area include publication of the "Effect of Telecommunications Deregulation on the Deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems in Texas and at the Texas-Mexico Border," the "Texas-Mexico Border ITS Assessment," and the "Mexican Presence on U.S. Highways After the 17th of December 1995: Workshop Proceedings."