Conduct research on ITS and systems management applications for enhancing the operation of highway infrastructure in Virginia.

System operations includes all those functions that impact the capacity and efficiency of the existing transportation in real time, without investing in new construction. Projects include those that address :

• management of incidents, emergencies, and non-recurring congestion, and functions of our Smart Traffic Centers
• travel time
• safety
• performance monitoring and reporting

In addition to the real-time focus of system operations, significant effort is devoted to traditional traffic engineering studies. These studies typically focus on:

• signage and markings
• temporary traffic control (or work zones)
• improving the visibility and safety performance of traffic control
• incident management
• Signal timing optimization
• Intersection collision avoidance
• Pedestrian accommodations
• Value pricing
• Congestion mitigation/management
• Functional analysis of Traffic Management Centers
• Hurricane evacuation route analysis
• Effectiveness of traffic control devices
• Travel time analysis
• Data collection, archiving, and use