Transportation

history of ITs policy development in the United states
Federal activity regarding ITS began with The Inter- modal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991, which established a federal program to re- search, develop, and operationally test intelligent trans- portation systems and to promote their implementa- tion. The program began as a three-pronged effort that fostered the development of ITS through: 1) basic research and development, 2) operational tests that served as the bridge between basic research and full deployment, and 3) various deployment support activi- ties that facilitated the implementation of integrated ITS technologies.¹¹⁶ ISTEA originally authorized $659 million to ITS for fiscal years 1992 to 1997, with addi- tional funds appropriated for a total of approximately
$1.2 billion. The Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), passed in 1998, authorized a similar amount ($1.3 billion) through fiscal year 2003.

In 2005, Congress enacted the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Leg- acy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). SAFETEA-LU ended the ITS Deployment Program at the close of fiscal year 2005, but continued ITS research at $110 million an- nually through fiscal year 2009.¹¹⁷ Since ending the ITS Deployment Program, the federal ITS effort has been much more focused on a research than a deployment role. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that states and localities annually invest $500 million to $1 billion in ITS projects in the United States.¹¹⁸

A corporate style “board of directors”—the ITS Man- agement Council—develops and directs federal ITS policy. As of May 2006, the Administrator of RITA within the U.S. Department of Transportation took responsibility for the strategic direction and manage- ment oversight of DOT’s ITS program. Activity is coordinated through the ITS Joint Program Office ( JPO), which is comprised of program managers and coordinators of DOT’s multimodal ITS initiatives.

DOT’s ITS program focuses on intelligent vehicles, intelligent infrastructure, and the creation of an intel- ligent transportation system through integration with and between these two components. The federal ITS effort in the United States focuses on nine initiatives:

1. 
   IntelliDrive (the successor to the VII initiative);
   
2. 
   Next-generation 9-1-1; 3) Cooperative Intersec- tion Collision Avoidance; 4) Integrated Vehicle Based
   

Safety Systems; 5) Integrated Corridor Management Systems; 6) Clarus (roadside weather condition moni- toring); 7) Emergency Transportation Operations; 8) Mobility Services for all Americans; and 9) Electronic Freight Management.