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Great Smoky Mountains Intelligent Transportation System (Its) Final Report GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM (ITS) VOLUME I of II: GRSM ITS STRATEGIC PLAN PROJECT NAME: GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK ITS Strategic Deployment Plan Contract # DTFH71-02-00040 PREPARED FOR: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION EASTERN FEDERAL LANDS HIGHWAY DIVISION December, 2007 FINAL REPORT This report contains Stakeholder comments and opinions that do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Park Service, Federal Highway Administration-Eastern Federal Lands or Wilbur Smith Associates. GRSM ITS Strategic Plan Volume I of II Page i FINAL REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The National Park Service (NPS) in association with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division, directed completion of this Strategic Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Deployment Plan for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GRSM). The GRSM straddles the border between the states of Tennessee and North Carolina, and is one of the most heavily visited parks in the NPS. This work was conducted to determine how ITS in and around GRSM could be implemented and operationally coordinated over a period of time. Establishing a framework for the park, the ITS Deployment Plan aims to “link” both in-park and surrounding community ITS activities with other regional and statewide ITS activities in Tennessee and North Carolina. The result of this effort is a two volume set that includes this Volume I, GRSM Strategic ITS Plan, and Volume II, GRSM ITS Architecture. Volume I focuses on plan process, project concept development and prioritization, leading to a list of recommended ITS projects for transportation safety and operations while fully embracing the park’s natural environment. Volume II on ITS architecture lays the necessary foundation to ensure that design, deployment and operations of ITS subsystems are fully in conformance with FHWA requirements for federal funding. Volume II also explores institutional agreements and technical integration for ITS projects, addressing the greater regional context of Tennessee and North Carolina. Additional documents are available from FHWA that lay out all project work in greater detail. This project began in May 2003, and relied on extensive stakeholder involvement, given the many diverse interests engaged in the GRSM environment and activities. Major stakeholders (see Section A. –V. for a complete list) represented the GRSM Divisions, Tennessee and North Carolina State Transportation Departments, the Federal Highway Administration, Gateway cities and counties and planning organizations, and transit operators. A Steering Committee and a Core Team guided the project consultant (Wilbur Smith Associates, or WSA) in project completion. The Core Team was made up of GRSM NPS, FHWA and WSA personnel. In all, seven Stakeholder Meetings and an ITS Workshop were held. In addition to helping to set vision, develop strategies and generate projects, the meetings brought together the many park interests in a common forum. This provided the opportunity to air viewpoints, discuss needs and work towards common ends. The working spirit of cooperativeness among the diverse interests is one of the major benefits of the entire study effort, a spirit that should be nurtured and supported as the park considers and pursues ITS implementation. Project tasks were directed at meeting the goal of laying out a road map for ITS deployment for GRSM. After reviewing existing conditions, ITS themes were defined, followed by plan objectives, then ITS strategies. From the strategies, 26 initial ITS Project Concepts were developed. These were reviewed and refined into 14 high priority concepts, one of which was advanced by the park outside this study. The 13 remaining concepts then generated 20 ITS projects falling into four implementation time frames: Early Start (8 projects), Short Term (6 projects), Medium Term (4 projects) and Long Term (2 projects). The graphic on the next page illustrates these 20 projects by time frame for implementation and indicates linkages. GRSM ITS Strategic Plan Volume I of II Page ii FINAL REPORT GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK ITS DEPLOYMENT STRATEGY GRSM ITS Early Start Short Term Medium Term Long Term Project Concepts Projects Projects (0-5 yrs) Projects (6-10 yrs) Projects (11+ yrs) 2 - Maintenance & Work Zone- Related Advanced Warning 2.1 – Portable Work System Zone System 3 - Improved Real-Time Traffic 3.1 – ATIS Backbone Information Services (ATIS 3.2 – Integrate Early Start / Legacy 3.3 – Integrate New Deployments with Data Server Central Database) Systems with ATIS Server ATIS Server 4 - Improved Traffic Monitoring 4.1 – Initial Traffic 4.2 – Expanded Traffic and Detection Monitoring Sites Detection / Monitoring 5 - ITS Communications and 5.1 – GRSM-Wide Detailed Power Needs Assessment Communications and Power Needs Assessment 6 - Improved Road, Weather and Air Quality Information 6.1 – Integrate Existing 7.3 – Implement Systems Road, Weather & Air Quality Transit Vehicle Information 7 - Enhanced Non-Auto Access Tracking (by others) to Park Facilities: Transit AVL 8.4 – Add 8.1 – Initial Internet- 8.3 – Add automated Based Dissemination 8.2 – Add real-time 8 - Improved Real-Time shared traffic & road, Air (coordinated with 3.1 and traffic/parking data to Information (dissemination only) incident data to Quality, existing road/weather ATIS ATIS weather and data) 9 - Upgrade/Replace AM Radio transit info to Frequency 1610 Stations ATIS 9.1 – Implement 10 - Automatic Collection of Upgraded HAR 10.3 – Automate Weather & Weather and Air Qualilty Air Quality Measurement Information within GRSM Systems 12 - Incident/Emergency 12.2 – Incident and Emergency Management Planning Planning Assessment 13 - Operational Strategy Development 13.2 – Operational Strategy Assessment 18 - Advanced Parking 18.1 – Parking Management Information 18.2 – Parking Info System Expansion – Additional Sites System – Initial Site 21 - Improved RWIS 21.4 – Enhance & Expand Capabilities RWIS Denotes logical work progression and information inputs between projects Denotes information into or from study to be used as input into project GRSM ITS Strategic Plan Volume I of II Page iii FINAL REPORT The eight Early Start projects were developed through conceptual design, including key functional elements and cost estimates. In total, the eight projects would cost an estimated $ 2.34 Million to implement, as follows: Project Cost (000s) • 2.1 Portable Work Zone System $ 266 • 3.1 ATIS Backbone Data Server $ 225 • 4.1 Initial Traffic Monitoring Sites $ 520 • 5.1 GRSM-Wide Detailed Communications $ 300 and Power Needs Assessment • 6.1 Integrate Existing Road Weather & Air Quality Information $ 121 • 8.1 Initial Internet-Based Dissemination (coordinated with 3.1 & 6.1) $ 133 • 9.1 Implement Upgraded HAR $ 495 • 18.1 Parking Information System – Initial Site $ 276 The GRSM Park then selected the following three for additional analysis, to refine conceptual design and cost: 3.1, 4.1 and 8.1. The additional work on these three provides a complete basis to pursue federal funding and other funding sources. The potential funding sources discussed range from federal and local programs, to private funding and innovative approaches. The 20 projects developed thus far constitute an initial ITS Plan for GRSM. This report provides the background and basis for future development of additional ITS projects that would be part of a broader GRSM ITS plan, based on the perceived needs of project Stakeholders. Along with development of the project list and priorities, a parallel activity was the development of an ITS Architecture for GRSM, in conformance with program requirements of the USDOT National ITS Architecture. The National Architecture calls for a structured, comprehensive approach to define vision, concepts, requirements, user services and supporting market packages, equipment packages and process specifications. Since 2001, it has been a Federal requirement that regions and major projects have formally developed architectures in order to qualify for Federal funding. To be in conformance, this project has followed the prescribed steps. Volume II of this two volume set provides more detailed documentation of the GRSM ITS Architecture. The supporting electronic files are also available. At present, the key follow-up activity is to actively seek out the funding options and move projects into design and implementation. In addition, the adjacent regional architectures in Tennessee (the Knoxville ITS Regional Architecture and the Tennessee Statewide ITS Architecture) and in North Carolina (Western Region) should formally incorporate aspects of the GRSM ITS Architecture. This will facilitate and support the grant and funding application process. In the same vein, it is recommended that Steering Committee Member agencies at a minimum stay in active contact to advance projects with regional implications, discuss further needs and coordinate efforts. This plan is intended to be a living document. Elements within the plan need to be updated as improvements are made to the park, including the project list and the GRSM ITS Architecture. GRSM ITS Strategic Plan Volume I of II Page iv FINAL REPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ___________________________________________________ ii Section A: Project Purpose and Process _________________________________________1 I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND __________________________________________________1 II. GRSM ORGANIZATIONAL
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