Border-Wide Assessment of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Technology—Current and Future Concepts Final Report July 2012 Notice This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation. The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names may appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document. Quality Assurance Statement The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement. Border-Wide Assessment of ITS Technology— Current and Future Concepts Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. FHWA-HOP-12-015 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Border-Wide Assessment of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) July 2012 Technology—Current and Future Concepts – Final Report 6. Performing Organization Code 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Rajat Rajbhandari, Juan Villa, Roberto Macias, William Tate 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) Texas Transportation Institute Battelle Memorial Institute Texas A&M University System 505 King Avenue 11. Contract or Grant No. 3135 TAMU Columbus, OH 43201 DTFH61-06-D-00007/Task BA07-083 College Station, TX 77843-3135 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration Final Report covering 8/27/2010 to 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. 2/28/2012 Washington, D. C. 20590 14. Sponsoring Agency Code HOP 15. Supplementary Notes 16. Abstract The purpose of this effort was to conduct a border-wide assessment of the use of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technologies and operational concepts at and near land border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico. The work focused on tolling, traffic management and operations, and safety. The specific objectives of this project were to research, assess and document how ITS technologies can be used in areas of: • Toll collection and management in border regions, identifying technology used, system components, and any special data sharing arrangements between the two countries. • Transportation operations and traffic management in US/MX border regions. • Transportation safety policy and operations. • Traffic management, traffic operation and traffic enforcement on tolled roads/tolled border-crossing roads. • Archiving toll and traffic management data. 17. Key Word 18. Distribution Statement Border No restrictions Technology Intelligent Transportation System 19. Security Classif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 132 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized Final Report July 2012 Border-Wide Assessment of ITS Technology— Current and Future Concepts TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................... vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................... xiii Background ........................................................................................................................... xiii Approach ............................................................................................................................... xiii Scan Assessment Key Findings ............................................................................................ xiii Border Operations ......................................................................................................... xiii Tolling at Land Border Crossings ................................................................................. xiv Traffic Management and Traveler Information .............................................................. xv Archived Data Management ........................................................................................... xv Emerging Technologies ................................................................................................. xvi Inventory of ITS Projects on the U.S.-Mexico Border Regions .................................... xvi Workshop 1 Findings ........................................................................................................... xvii Workshop 2 Findings ........................................................................................................... xvii Conclusions.......................................................................................................................... xvii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 Background .............................................................................................................................. 1 Objectives of the Study ............................................................................................................ 1 Assessment Methodology ........................................................................................................ 2 Organization of the Report ...................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2. CROSS-BORDER COMMERCIAL AND PRIVATE VEHICLE PROCESSES ................................................................................................................................. 7 Border-Crossing Process at the U.S.-Mexico Border .............................................................. 7 Northbound Commercial Vehicle Crossing Process ........................................................ 7 Commercial Border-Crossing Security Programs ............................................................ 9 Southbound Commercial Vehicle Crossing ................................................................... 10 Passenger Vehicle Crossing Process .............................................................................. 10 Passenger Vehicle Border-Crossing Security Programs ................................................ 10 Technology at Land Ports of Entry ........................................................................................ 11 Technology for the SENTRI and NEXUS Programs ..................................................... 11 Commercial Vehicle Inspection Technologies ............................................................... 15 CHAPTER 3. TOLLING IN BORDER REGIONS ............................................................... 17 Transaction Processing (Interoperability, Charging, Collections) ........................................ 18 U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada Bi-National Tolling Implementation Approaches ........ 22 Tolling Overview in Texas beyond the Border .............................................................. 23 Methods of Toll Collection ............................................................................................ 25 Toll Rate Determination Based on Time of Day and Congestion Levels ...................... 28 Coordination of Toll Rates between Operators on Opposite Sides of Borders and Supporting Agreements .................................................................................................. 29 In-Lane and Post-Event Enforcement Strategies for Drivers Avoiding Tolls ................ 29 Final Report i July 2012 Border-Wide Assessment of ITS Technology— Current and Future Concepts Accepted Currency for Manual Payment Facilities ........................................................ 30 Technology ............................................................................................................................ 30 Cross-Border Scan of Tolling Technologies and Tolling Standards Used by Regional Partners ............................................................................................................ 30 Enforcement Technologies Being Applied for Toll Payment Capture .......................... 30 Dedicated Short Range Communication Technology Use at the Border ....................... 32 CHAPTER 4. TRANSPORTATION OPERATIONS AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT AND ENFORCEMENT .............................................................................. 35 Transportation Operations ..................................................................................................... 35 Level of Data Sharing and Integration with Mexican Partners ...................................... 35 Technology Used for Inspecting, Weighing, and Screening to Increase Efficiency ....................................................................................................................... 37 Technology Being Deployed or Proposed to Improve Border-Crossing Time by CBP ................................................................................................................................. 38 Planned Special Events at and around