Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)

A system of advanced technologies, known as the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), is being used to reduce traffic congestion and increase safety on our roadways. ITS includes highway variable message signs, video cameras, on-line communications, traffic signal systems, and automated toll collection. Daily commuters, residents, military personnel, tourists, and commercial transporters throughout Hampton Roads are being informed, assisted and influenced by the broad range of services now possible through ITS.

The HRTPO's vision for the region includes the establishment of a multi-jurisdictional transportation system unified by ITS technologies. Over the long-term, this progressive vision includes full-scale communication through Transportation Operations Centers in every city and county that will tie into VDOT’s existing Transportation Operations Center in Va. Beach. The HRTPO provides support to local communities in ITS endeavors and staffs the Hampton Roads Transportation Operations (HRTO) Subcommittee which seeks to improve operations in Hampton Roads in part through the application of ITS technology.

When the Hampton Roads ITS Subcommittee was formed it was one of the first cooperative, inter-agency, multi-jurisdictional ITS groups in the nation. The accomplishments of the Hampton Roads ITS Subcommittee served as a model for the advancement of ITS throughout the country.

ITS Strategic Plan/Operations Strategy

Hampton Roads’ first ITS plan was developed in 1995, and modified in 2000 to reflect the experience of the previous five years. After 2000, the region’s transportation needs and demands changed, and funding for many planned projects were frozen, reduced or removed.  Consequently, the Hampton Roads ITS Subcommittee decided that another strategic plan revision was needed to reflect the new transportation environment, which resulted in the Hampton Roads Intelligent Transportation System Strategic Plan 2004 (Report).

With the 2004 Plan becoming dated, the HRTPO Board allocated funds for an update to the plan.  The first phase of the new plan – the Hampton Roads Transportation Operations Strategy – was completed in May 2016.  The initial task of the Operations Strategy was to identify the Regional Vision for Transportation System Management and Operations (TSM&O), assess each individual locality’s TSM&O capabilities, and identify the challenges and opportunities of the localities and the region in developing a TSM&O strategy. Subsequent phases of the Operations Strategy include classifying Corridors of Regional Significance, determining the costs of upgrading signal equipment for each locality, examining the issues related to a shared Transportation Operations Center, and testing shared after-hours operation of signals between Cities and VDOT.

Included within regional ITS strategic planning is the Hampton Roads ITS architecture.  A regional ITS architecture is a framework which guides the development and integration of ITS components and facilitates relationships among various agencies.  A regional ITS architecture also helps establish a consensus concerning specific future ITS projects that are needed in the region and how they will fit into the existing ITS system.  The HRTO Subcommittee and other stakeholders periodically discuss changes that need to be incorporated into the regional ITS architecture.