UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) show great potential for improving transportation system efficiency for users and system operators. Over the past decade, ITS technologies have been deployed in every major U.S. metropolitan area, on rural highways, and in smaller cities. However, institutional questions (e.g., interoperability and access to public rights-of-way) related to public-private partnerships must be addressed to facilitate ITS deployment and mainstreaming. Public agencies need to see tangible system management benefits, and the private sector must be able to demonstrate compelling business models. California's Innovative Corridors Initiative (ICI) is a multi-year effort with the goal of accelerating the development, testing, commercialization, and deployment of innovative Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies, products, and services along major California corridors. The public sector is testing "a new way of doing business," by partnering with other governmental entities and the private sector, while streamlining processes to expedite the development and deployment of ITS technologies. A strategic partnership among the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA), and the California Center for Innovative Transportation (CCIT) merges the goals of the ICI with that of the ITS World Congress to promote awareness and deployment of ITS technologies and improve safety, reliability, convenience, and accessibility within the transportation network. The 2005 ITS World Congress in San Francisco, California will serve as a showcase platform for demonstrating pilot projects resulting from the Innovative Corridors Initiative.