ITS Upgrades Create Safer, More Efficient Highway Operations
Each year roughly $200billion are spent on highway infrastructure projects in the United States. And while approximately 42% of that budget is dedicated to operational costs – including maintenance, repair, snow/ice removal, traffic design, and highway safety measures – highways are not getting any safer or more efficient.
In 2021 alone, 42,915 people died in motor vehicle accidents (a 10% increase from the year before and a 16-year high), while nearly 5.2million were injured.
Additionally, it’s estimated that the average American driver lost over 36 hours in 2021 due to time spent sitting in traffic… and before the Covid-19 pandemic, drivers were losing about 100 hours each per year.
Finally, in the United States, 27% of greenhouse gas emissions are the direct result of motor vehicle transportation.
Those statistics are staggering, especially considering the amount of money spent to increase safety and efficiency on our roadways.
Outdated Systems Increase Risk
It isn’t for lack of trying, of course.
Highway agencies and departments of transportation around the country (and the world, really) are trying to keep up with growing populations, higher levels of congestion and pollution, and ever-changing technologies in a bid to make highways safer, more efficient, and more eco-friendly.
As a result of the aforementioned ever-changing technology, however, one of the most significant challenges they face is that their existing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are a patchwork of voice, video, and data networks operating in parallel with limited interconnectivity and high maintenance costs.
With so many technologies – such as SDH, SONET, and TDM – working on the same platform and ITS demanding more bandwidth than ever, the existing communications infrastructures cannot optimize the use of network resources and are unable to react quickly enough to guarantee end-to-end bandwidth, quality of service, and availability to each service.
In short, these outdated systems increase risk. Their limited ability to optimize network resources and react quickly to events means that communications, warnings, and automated adjustments may come moments too late.
And on roadways, a single moment could be the difference between life and death.
Enable Operational Efficiency for On-Time, Safe, and Connected Highway Journeys
Along with Nokia, Infinity has a powerful solution for departments and agencies ready to modernize their infrastructure and increase their efficiency.
The Nokia mission-critical solution for intelligent highways means that all necessary ITS can be supported over a single network infrastructure. This system provides real-time multimedia communication between traffic management systems and roadside equipment, vehicles, travelers, workers, and other stakeholders by leveraging the IP/MPLS, Wavence portfolio, and Passive Optical LAN. The architecture is also complemented with LTE-4G and Wi-Fi portfolio.
With a single network infrastructure that allows the interconnectivity of ITS services, agencies and departments will be able to enhance safety and security while also reducing congestion and pollution.
- Services such as emergency roadside telephones can be seamlessly supported and integrated into the system, ensuring that motorists in need have access to assistance.
- Similarly, LED signs – relied upon by millions of drivers for traffic and weather updates, as well as safety notices like Amber and Silver Alerts – will be able to be managed on the same network as the CCTVs that provide a birds-eye view for traffic and law enforcement.
Upgraded ITS Prepares Roadways for the Future
Deploying the Nokia mission-critical portfolio not only eliminates fragmented communications platforms and brings your infrastructure up to date, it also prepares it for the future.
It is anticipated that by 2035, roadways will be dominated by autonomous vehicles. It is also expected that in the not-so-distant future, smart highways that have systems to provide beacons for self-driving cars and provide feedback about road and weather conditions will replace our current roadways.
New trends in highway design and construction are also expected as new technologies and building methods emerge. Roadways will likely be narrower, and congestion will be eased, not because there are fewer vehicles but because there’s less “human error” to contend with while driving.
But in order for that to be accomplished, changes need to be made now. Infrastructure needs to be updated so that as these new advances in technology are deployed and become commonplace; there’s a robust, reliable system on which to implement them.
Secure, Efficient, and Streamlined Operations Reduce Costs and Downtime
By deploying the Nokia mission-critical portfolio available from the communications experts at Infinity Technology Solutions, highway agencies and departments will benefit from a simplified, optimized, and future-ready network infrastructure for ITS.
