Texas A&M ITS Research Center of Excellence Narrative Summary Report: Fiscal Year 1995-96 (1439-3)

This report summarizes the accomplishments of the Texas A&M Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Research Center of Excellence (RCE) during Fiscal Year 1995-96. 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 non-technical issues, and technology integration. Accomplishments in the public transportation area include completing an assessment of the METROLift AVL system, developing a rural AVL system demonstration, and conducting a workshop on "Integrating Transit with Advanced Traffic Management Systems." Accomplishments in the transportation management area include enhancements to and field implementation of the Smart Diamond Control System, development of functional requirements for interfacing train position information from a Positive Train Separation system with a highway-rail grade crossing control system, and enhancement of an open-architecture in-vehicle communications and information system to expedite police vehicles' incident response and commercial vehicle enforcement capabilities. Accomplishments in the international border transportation area include development of an ITS plan for the Texas-Mexico border, evaluation of institutional barriers to implementing ITS technologies along the Texas-Mexico border, and assessment of the effects of telecommunications deregulation.