SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY

LENGTH: 1851 words

COMMITTEE: HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

SUBCOMMITTEE: HIGHWAYS AND TRANSIT

HEADLINE: INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

TESTIMONY-BY: MIGUEL D'ESCOTO, COMMISSIONER

AFFILIATION: DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

BODY:
STATEMENT OF COMMENTS OF MIGUEL d'ESCOTO COMMISSIONER DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CITY OF CHICAGO

HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE SUBCOMMITTEE HIGHWAYS AND TRANSIT

September 10, 2002

Mister Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to testify before you. I am Miguel d'Escoto, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, appearing on behalf of Mayor Richard M. Daley. We recognize that Intelligent Transportation Systems are a critical component of Chicago's transportation and security plans and are pleased to share some of our experiences with you. We would also like to thank Congressman Lipinski for his continued leadership and successful efforts to increase mobility and security through Intelligent Transportation Systems within his district and the entire city.

The City of Chicago knows that a lack of information and an inability to respond quickly to on-going situations can cause many significant problems not only to the mobility of the traveling public but also to the safety and security of our city's residents. Whether situations involve recurring traffic congestion, incident management or a large scale emergency response, ITS can be used to quickly and effectively determine the problem, devise a solution and implement a response. I recently attended an event at Northwestern University where Secretary Norman Mineta stressed that the time for ITS deployment is now. We emphatically agree. In fact, cities all across the nation have been deploying ITS technologies for years, long before they were even called ITS. However, only recently has the application of ITS technologies in regards to safety and security taken on a whole new importance.

Cities have always given top priority to issues of safety and security. Only since September 11th has this function taken on a new meaning in the national interest. Emergency response is primarily the responsibility of municipalities. Should the need arise, it will be city personnel who will be the first to respond to a terrorist attack and city resources that will be the first to be challenged. It is critical that cities have the resources needed to properly prepare for and respond to a wide variety of emergency situations. As seen last year "communication" between implementers, service providers, and the general public is an essential piece to keep cities functioning in these instances. ITS can fulfill that need.

Chicago's ITS deployment plan, Advantage 21, follows the three program areas that have been identified as being critical to increasing safety and security.

The first is Preparedness. In response to the September 11th attack, the City of Chicago is bringing together transportation stakeholders to refine our coordinated downtown evacuation plan. In the event that the downtown is met with a catastrophic occurrence, it is critical that the million plus workers and residents are safely evacuated in an efficient, organized manner.

Our planned Traffic Management Center and our program of traffic signal interconnects are key components of any large-scale evacuation plan. The Traffic Management Center will bring together critical personnel and agencies at one location providing them with the information and equipment they need to successfully coordinate and implement an evacuation. This facility will be centrally located, yet outside of the central business district. Personnel from the City, the Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Transit Authority, and the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Chicago Police Department have permanent stations at the Center and will use it as an emergency command center to coordinate their activities. Chicago's traffic signal interconnect program has already proven its worth in assisting in the de facto evacuation of Chicago's downtown last September 11th. By immediately re-setting the traffic signal programming to the evening rush hour, we were able to give preference to traffic flowing out of downtown at a time when the normal traffic pattern called for exactly the opposite.

Our second area is Mitigation. We aim to make it more difficult or impossible to damage critical transportation infrastructure. Such measures would include video security and surveillance systems and improvements at certain facilities to reduce the likelihood of breaches in security. ITS technologies can detect potential threats giving the authorities additional time to respond. This additional time, even if only a few minutes, could mean the difference between life and death.

In Chicago we are planning for the installation of security surveillance systems at critical locations throughout the City. These include key bridges, the downtown street network, multi- level roadways and freight tunnels, that have been identified as being vulnerable and therefore in need of additional security. Cameras and motion detectors in selected areas will provide us with the information we need to secure these locations from potential threats. Video camera images at these and other locations installed as part of transportation system projects will be made available to the Emergency Operations Center (Office of Emergency Communications) and other emergency response agencies. We are currently installing them as part of all signal interconnect projects. As funding allows, we plan to retrofit previously completed interconnect systems with video cameras to take advantage of the communication systems already in place.

The third program area is Response. The City's planned Traffic Management Center not only will coordinate timely and accurate traffic information to emergency personnel, it will also assist in a major evacuation and function as an emergency 911 center should the need arise. Also aiding evacuation will be the City's traffic signal interconnect program, variable message signs and radio and Internet based traffic information.

Of course, the ultimate goal of any security system is the protection of the general public. We understand that the reaction by our citizens to an emergency situation is critical to the successful implementation of any security plan. To achieve that needed response and subsequent actions from the public, information must be effectively disseminated and not just collected.

There are several components to our plan for informing the population. We will use the media whose expertise will be essential in distributing the information that needs to be in the hands of our citizens. To this end the planned TMC has a specially designed media room where we will be able to interact with the media making sure that the information being disseminated is accurate and timely. We also have a Highway Advisory Radio housed within the Chicago Department of Transportation. We currently use this to advise people of traffic alerts for large-scale events and traffic incidents. The use of variable message signs on our expressways is another way that up to the minute, accurate information can be made available. We are planning to install variable message signs on major arterials as part of interconnects, starting with Cicero Ave Smart Corridor, which serves Midway Airport, and possibly Ashland Avenue as part of the upcoming Dan Ryan Expressway Alternate Route improvements. Additionally, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Transportation, the City is pursuing funding for variable message signs on arterial streets as part of evacuation plan using the Kennedy Expressway, which serves O'Hare Airport, one of the busiest in the nation.

Advantage 21, Chicago's ITS Program Agenda, identifies nine major programs in various stages of completion. The programs are: Traffic Signal Interconnects; Fiber Optic Cable Connection Program; Arterial Street Fiber Optic Cable Installation; CDOT Traffic Signal Control Room; Lakefront Highway Advisory Radio; the Variable Message Sign Program; the Traffic Management Center; and Cicero Avenue Smart Corridor, for which Congressman Lipinski has been instrumental in securing funding. It also includes RT TRACS - a research project funded by the FHWA that uses traffic signal phasing based on real time traffic conditions.

From this list, you can see that much has been done. However, much more still needs to be accomplished. The reauthorization of TEA-21 provides the opportunity to make major advances in ITS deployment. The National Association of City Transportation Officials, NACTO, of which I am the Vice-Chair, has developed a series of reauthorization principles. NACTO proposes the provision of direct funding for ITS to large cities for ITS deployment, as part of a new Intelligent and Secure Urban Corridors Program.

Large cities operate multimodal transportation networks that support the nation's vital activity centers - airports, harbors, truck terminals, sports centers, major retail centers and so on. The nation's economy depends on adequate and secure transportation facilities near these sites, including interstate freeways, mass transit systems and city arterial street networks.

However, for the most part, large cities receive little federal ITS funding relative to needs and have thus been hindered in developing intelligent transportation strategies on their systems, due to the relative expense of financing the necessary infrastructure. FHWA funding provided directly to large cities in the nation's most congested urban corridors, as part of a NACTO proposal for concerted new Intelligent and Secure Urban Corridors Program, would overcome this obstacle and accelerate the deployment of infrastructure to serve the nation's vital activity centers. The federal government should use major cities as a national platform for ITS application.

As others testifying today have noted, any ITS improvements made for security purposes have an additional congestion relief benefit. Knowing that traffic incidents cause almost half of all roadway delays, the TMC and related technologies permit a quick response to such occurrences in rush hour travel. This is a major concern to those living in the Chicago area since we rank third nationwide in total cost of congestion, according to the Texas Transportation Institute. This results in a cost over $1,235 annually to peak-time travelers. In response, the City of Chicago has sought significant Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funding to implement Intelligent Transportation System programs.

Chicago remains committed to providing a safe, secure and efficient transportation network for our citizens and visitors alike. To do so requires appropriate funding, technical assistance and information on security technology, and the authority and flexibility to administer the programs as needed at the local level. I look forward to working with this committee to continue to make ITS a successful mechanism to improve the mobility and enhance security for the traveling public. I can make available further information on any of the projects I mentioned earlier. Thank you again for this opportunity to speak.

LOAD-DATE: September 11, 2002