AI-Derived Near-Real-Time-Derived Road Weather and Surface Information to Support Improved Decision Making at Traffic Management Centers

Traffic Management Centers (TMCs) are one of the most common Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) tools employed by local and regional transportation agencies. They are physical facilities having varying levels of staffing, technical capabilities across regions of a State, and mixed abilities to interact with interstate ITS. TMCs allow for command and control of traffic signals, CCTV cameras, message signs, weather alerts, emergency response and other elements to detect and respond to issues occurring on roadways.

Helios Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) is a concept developed in coordination with Florida DOT (FDOT), Texas DOT, and additional voice of customer to enhance TMC decision making. The Helios ATMS concept seeks to provide a unique value in the DOT community in support of three primary motivations:

1. Provide an entry-level transportation focused web-based application extension of the Helios platform that can serve as an affordable entry level automated ATMS tip and cue alert service focused on delivering weather and other events occurring in near real time on roadways.
2. Allow regional and local agencies access to have a ubiquitous camera service which includes multiple state level cameras and tip and cue access which is not available due to siloed systems for improved situational awareness. This is critical in large metro areas spanning multiple states.
3. Provide AI detected event detection services which can help the TMC conduct traffic studies, adjusts signal timing, respond to maintenance issues, and react to weather events. An example of this would be snow accumulation rate, plowing response, cue DOT alerts for school/work release schedules to prevent accidents, congestion, and plan for improved results to feature weather events.

This presentation will explain an end to end ITS enhanced with 24/7, AI derived road weather data.