Transportation

polICy reCommendaTIons
Over the next five years, the United States is poised to hopefully invest more than $500 billion on the nation’s surface transportation infrastructure.¹⁸⁰ Intelligent transportation systems must be a critical component of these investments in order to maximize the operational performance of the transportation system and attain the benefits enumerated in this report. If the United States is to achieve even a minimal ITS system, the federal government will need to assume a far greater leadership role in not just ITS R&D, but ITS deploy- ment. In short, it is time for the U.S. Department of Transportation to view ITS as the 21^st century, digital equivalent of the Interstate highway system, where, like then, the federal government took the lead in setting a vision, developing standards, laying out routes, and funding its construction.

Since the Interstate system was for the most part com- pleted, the surface transportation policy community has collectively struggled with defining the appropriate role of the federal government in our nation’s surface trans-

portation system. While this report does not presume to comprehensively identify that role, it does suggest that in the 21^st century digital economy one key role is for the federal government to take responsibility for the development and implementation of a world-class ITS system across the United States. Just as building the in- terstate highway system did not mean an abandonment of the role of states, neither does this new role. But just as the building of the Interstate required strong and sustained federal leadership, so too does transforming our nation’s surface transportation through ITS. Spe- cific policy recommendations include:

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  Significantly increase funding for ITS at the federal level, by $2.5 to $3 billion annually, including funding for large-scale demonstration projects, deployment, and the ongoing operations and maintenance of already-deployed ITS systems. Specifically:
  

1.