Project Updates

Steering Committee members convened in Yreka, California, on June 18th, for the 13th annual meeting of the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC). All five member states (California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah) and both research institutions (WTI at Montana State University, Montana Tech) were represented. Read about the meeting and find links to the meeting documents in this update.

The 2024 Western States Forum will be held on June 18th-20th, 2024, in Yreka, California. The Forum will feature two days of technical content and demonstrations, and you can register now!

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC) convened for the annual meeting just prior to the start of the 18th annual Western States Forum in June 2023. The eleven participants represented five Consortium member states, WTI and Montana State University, and Montana Tech. You can review the meeting’s agenda (pdf), presentation (pdf), and official minutes (pdf) here and on the WSRTC Documents page.

Over 15 years and five project phases, the Professional Capacity Building for Communications project has addressed the critical need for a skilled rural ITS workforce. Phase 5 recently concluded. Read about the work of this last phase and review a summary of accomplishments for the overall project.

The 2023 Western States Forum hosted 49 attendees from eight states (Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington), six state departments of transportation, two universities, a research organization, and five out of the twelve Caltrans districts. Participants also attended from multiple Caltrans Offices and Divisions. Review Forum content and images here.

Now’s your chance to be part of the technical agenda at the 2024 Western States Forum! We are looking for speakers who will present and/or demonstrate actual projects and applications (not research or proposed projects), with a highly technical level of content and transparency about project implementation. Submit your abstract today!

This year marked the end of an era as the eighth and final phase of the COATS project concluded. For 25 years, the California Oregon Advanced Transportation Systems (COATS) program demonstrated the value of cross border collaboration to tackle the challenges of rural transportation. The COATS partnership facilitated numerous successful research projects that resulted in practical implementations with a direct impact on not only the COATS bi-state area, but over the larger western region as well. Read about the successful conclusion of the COATS project in this update.

As part of Phase 5 of the Professional Capacity Building (PCB) for Communications project, Aviat Networks delivered a course on Radio Frequency Fundamentals. The course was taught by Technical Trainer Jonathan David and twelve ITS engineers from Caltrans Districts 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9 participated. Read more about the training in this update.

Mark your calendar! The 19th Annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum is scheduled for June 18-20, 2024, in Yreka, California. What does it take to make Rural ITS work? It takes technical excellence across a variety of skill areas. It takes creativity. It also helps to learn from the experiences of others.

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC) passed a milestone this year as Phase 1 (TPF-5(241)) officially drew to a close. The WSRTC stands out through its research on rural transportation topics including traveler information, real-time weather information, motorist safety, technology transfer, and rural operations.

As part of Phase 5 of the Professional Capacity Building (PCB) project, the project team conducted a Needs Assessment and Gap Analysis for data communications training. Read about the results of the assessment and find a link to the full report.

The 2022 Forum was held on June 14 – 16 in Yreka, California. The event featured eight technical presentations and provided a variety of networking and discussion opportunities. A total of 45 participants joined. These attendees represented nine states (AZ, CA, IA, MT, NV, OR, TX, UT, and WA), five state DOTs, four universities, and the Southwest Research Institute. Caltrans Headquarters and Traffic Operations, Caltrans DRISI, and five of the twelve Caltrans transportation districts also participated. Overall, the Forum received positive feedback, with attendees stating that it is “one of the best conferences for us to attend.”

Different time of year but same high quality, successful event! The 2021 Forum was held in the fall of 2021 (October 5-7) in Yreka, California. The participants represented six different states (California, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Washington) and the audience consisted of engineers and technicians from four state departments of transportation, four universities, and HW Lochner. Attendees had positive comments for the event, the content, and the excellent networking opportunities: “Really enjoyed the conference and the presentations. Well worth my time.”

Don’t wait! The deadline to submit an abstract for the 2023 Forum is approaching fast! We are looking for speakers who will present and/or demonstrate actual Rural ITS projects and applications with a highly technical level of content and transparency about project implementation.

The COATS Phase 8 project is focused on technology transfer. Here’s a summary of what’s been happening with the COATS project in 2022.

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC) and its members have been busy since our last post! We’ve held three meetings, two Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forums, participated in several conferences and events, completed work on two task orders, and opened a new pooled fund for Phase 2 of the WSRTC.

Technology transfer is the focus for COATS Phase VIII activities. Here's a brief summary of work completed during the last half of 2021.

Same high-quality event, different time of year! We invite you to Yreka, California in the fall for two days of technical, ‘nuts and bolts’ discussions about rural ITS projects. The 16^th Annual Western States Forum will be October 5-7, 2021, and you can register now!

Members of the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC) met for a regular meeting recently. The meeting’s agenda, presentation, and official minutes can be found in this update and on the WSRTC Documents page. Thirteen people participated in the meeting – representatives from the five Consortium member states, WTI/MSU, Montana Tech, FHWA, and Emeritus Member Ian Turnbull.

Technology transfer is the focus for COATS Phase VIII activities. Here is a short summary of work completed during the first three months of 2021.

Save the NEW date! The 16th Annual Western States Forum will be October 5-7, 2021, in Yreka, California, at the Best Western Miner’s Inn.

COATS Phase 8 is building on the success of earlier COATS phases with a focus on technology transfer. Here is a short summary of work completed during the October through December 2020 quarter.

COATS Phase 8 will build on the success of earlier COATS phases with a focus on technology transfer. Here is a short summary of work completed during the July through September 2020 quarter.

The project research team has started work on a 5th phase of the Professional Capacity Building (PCB) for Communications project. The Kick Off meeting was held via teleconference with the Project Technical Advisory Panel (PTAP) on April 23rd, 2020.

We are excited to announce the release of our new interface for the One-Stop-Shop (OSS). Check it out at https://oss.weathershare.org/. OSS is now mobile-friendly while presenting all the data and capability of the original One-Stop-Shop. Even though we have had a mobile version for several years now, it only included a subset of the original layers. The new version will work well on any device: desktop computer, tablet or phone.

The project team has started work on an 8th phase of the California Oregon Advanced Transportation Systems project, or COATS. You can read about the COATS Phase 8 project tasks in this update. Check back next quarter for a progress update.

The project team recently completed Phase VII of the long-running COATS project. The primary goal of this phase was to build on the success of earlier COATS phases to preserve and expand the COATS region as an innovator in rural ITS demonstration. Project activities centered on technology transfer, specifically the growth and continuation of the annual Western States Forum, development of a Forum Handbook, and website maintenance and development. Read more about COATS 7 project activities in this update.

Representatives from the WSRTC met recently in Corvallis, Oregon, during the biennial Northwest Transportation Conference. The meeting’s agenda and official minutes can be found in this update and on the WSRTC Documents page. Twelve individuals from the Consortium member states, WTI/MSU, Utah State University, and FHWA were in attendance.

Due to the current coronavirus COVID-19 health crisis, we are sad to inform you that the 15^th Annual Western States Forum in Yreka, CA, June 16-18, 2020, is canceled. Here is the official announcement from the Steering Committee.

As COATS Phase 7 begins winding down, here is a brief summary of the work completed during the last three months of 2019.

Save the Date! The 15th Annual Western States Forum will be June 16th, 17th, and 18th, 2020, in Yreka, California. Submit an abstract for the 2020 Forum before January 17th, 2020. As the 15th annual event, it will be a significant milestone in the history of the Forum and the COATS and WSRTC partnerships.

The Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum hit an attendance milestone this year with 53 ITS engineers and practitioners from the western and central United States meeting to discuss rural ITS implementations. The 14th Annual Forum included eight technical presentations and demonstrations by 14 speakers from six different states.

The project team focused on technology transfer through COATS Phase 7 activities. Here is a brief summary of this quarter’s project work.

Representatives from the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC) member states and research institutions met for the WSRTC annual meeting on June 18, 2019. The agenda, meeting presentation, and the meeting minutes can be found in this update and on the WSRTC Documents page.

The project team recently wrapped up work on Phase 4 of the Professional Capacity Building (PCB) for Communications project. This phase of the project included development and delivery of a training course on Small Data Center Design, Structured Cabling, and Grounding. The project team also revised the comprehensive training curriculum for transportation communication systems and updated the list of identified training providers.

Another successful training course has been developed and delivered through the Professional Capacity Building for Communications project! Small Data Center Design, Structured Cabling, and Grounding was taught by Philip Isaak, President of Isaak Technologies, October 8-12, 2018. Twelve Caltrans ITS engineers from Districts 2, 3, 5, 6, and 10 attended.

The 14th annual Western States Forum is June 18 -20, 2019, and registration is now open! We invite you to Yreka, California, this summer for two days of technical, ‘nuts and bolts’ discussions about rural ITS projects.

The efforts, expertise, and leadership of many individuals have been crucial to the success of the COATS project and the WSRTC. We’ve added two new pages to the website to list the members of the Steering Committee and those who have earned Emeritus status.

COATS Phase 7 is facilitating ongoing technology transfer through the Western States Forum and continued demonstration and evaluation of ITS technologies through several incubator projects. Here is a brief summary of what was accomplished during the fourth quarter of 2018.

Plans are underway for the 14th Annual Western States Forum so Save the Date for June 18-20, 2019! Now is the time to submit an abstract for the 2019 Forum’s technical agenda! The program incorporates both presentations and live demonstrations about rural ITS topics and technologies. If you have implemented or improved a project because of participation in a past Forum, we highly encourage you to submit an abstract for presentation/demonstration at this year’s event.

Over 40 ITS engineers and practitioners from the western United States met in June to discuss rural ITS implementations. The 13th Annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum included nine technical presentations and demonstrations with weather / road weather management as a common theme.

The annual meeting for the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium was held just prior to the 13th annual Western States Forum (June 19, 2018).

Fire season is here again, and it is hitting close to home. The Carr Fire spread into Redding, California, and has caused a lot of damage. The fire and its impact can be seen in multiple ways in the One-Stop-Shop.

In March, the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium’s Steering Committee met at the Northwest Transportation Conference in Corvallis, OR.

COATS Phase 7 is facilitating ongoing technology transfer through the Western States Forum and continued demonstration and evaluation of ITS technologies through several incubator projects. Here is a brief summary of what was accomplished during the first quarter of 2018.

Research pays off! The One-Stop-Shop was featured in TR News as an example of how research is being put into practice, adding value and providing benefits to both stakeholders and end-users.

The 13th annual Forum will be held June 19 – 21 in Yreka, California. The Forum is designed for engineering practitioners and provides ITS implementers and engineers with an opportunity to engage in detailed, technical discussions about innovative ITS engineering projects.

The WSRTC will meet at the upcoming Northwest Transportation Conference (NWTC), March 13-15, 2018, in Corvallis, Oregon.

COATS Phase 7 is facilitating ongoing technology transfer through the Western States Forum and continued demonstration and evaluation of ITS technologies through several incubator projects. Here is a brief summary of what was accomplished during the fourth quarter of 2017.

Save the Date! The WSF Steering Committee is excited to announce the 13th Annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum to be held June 19th, 20th, and 21st, in scenic Yreka, California. We’ve just released the Call for Abstracts – we are seeking both presentations and live demonstrations about rural ITS topics and technologies. Check out the 2018 Call for Abstracts for more information about the Forum’s technical program.

COATS Phase 7 is facilitating ongoing technology transfer through the Western States Forum and continued demonstration and evaluation of ITS technologies through several incubator projects. Here is a brief summary of what was accomplished during the third quarter of 2017.

On June 20th, 2017, the Steering Committee for the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC) gathered for the annual meeting. This meeting was held just prior to the 12th Annual Western States Forum.

In June, a group of ITS engineers and practitioners from the western United States gathered to discuss rural ITS implementations at the 12th Annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum. The event included eight technical presentations and demonstrations on a range of ITS technologies – from network security to asset management, automated traffic signal performance to ATC firmware, weather data to bicycle detection, and DSRC to naturalistic driving data.

A bad fire season just got worse. Even though fires in Montana and other areas in the Northwest have diminished with cooler, wet weather, hot, humid and windy weather in California has caused disastrous fires throughout wine country in California. These fires have had an impact on travel.

We were curious to see how well the impact of eclipse viewers and travelers and the eclipse itself was shown in the One-Stop-Shop. Sure enough, their presence on and near the roadway was apparent.

The WSRTC Steering Committee will be gathering in Yreka, California, on June 20th, 2017, for its Annual Meeting, just prior to the 12th Annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum.

Phase III of the Integration of Aviation AWOS with RWIS project has just begun. The research team and the Project Technical Advisory Panel (PTAP) held a Kick Off meeting on Thursday, March 2^nd, 2017. During this phase of the project, the website and its systems will be migrated from Montana State University to a Caltrans server to be maintained and supported by Caltrans IT.

Register now! The 12th annual Forum will be held June 20-22, 2017, in Yreka, California. The event offers an unparalleled opportunity to network with other professionals involved with rural transportation technologies and exchange in-depth, technical information on how various ITS technologies are engineered and implemented in rural areas. The Forum encourages learning and discussion about the benefits of ITS technologies as well as the successes and problems of different rural ITS solutions.

Work on COATS Phase 7 got underway this month with a Kick-Off Meeting on February 23, 2017. COATS Phase 7 will build on the success of earlier COATS phases to preserve and expand the COATS region as an innovator in rural ITS demonstration. Initiatives to be undertaken in this phase include the Western States Forum, three incubator projects, and maintaining the existing COATS web presence for the technology transfer of results of this effort.

Phase 4 of the Professional Capacity Building (PCB) for Communications project started recently with a Kick-Off Meeting on January 4th, 2017. During the Kick-Off Meeting, the team discussed the project’s major tasks which include procurement, delivery, and evaluation of three courses, revising the Curriculum Scope and Sequence as needed, and updating the list of Identified Training Providers. The project will continue to have an educational focus with the intent of offering Caltrans ITS engineers and technicians high-quality, hands-on, in-depth technical training in rural ITS communications.

This bad weather season has been particularly busy for the One-Stop-Shop (OSS), and it appears that winter is not letting up over the Western States region, including California. Even though winter is not over, it is a good time to look at statistics for both the original, desktop version of OSS and OSS Mobile. It has been a very bad weather season, which means that it has been very good in terms of statistics for our systems! From October 1st, 2016 through midday today, March 6th, 2017, there have been almost 310,000 user sessions on OSS Desktop.

The One-Stop-Shop project team recently compiled an informational list of links and other relevant information related to OSS and the data it utilizes. The Data and Links page lists the information and data layers in the OSS. It lists the many data sources used by the OSS system, including state departments of transportation, state traveler information sites, weather data providers, and various other data providers.

The One-Stop-Shop has gone mobile! OSS is now available on your smartphone. Check it out at http://oss.weathershare/org/m/. Note that it works best with an LTE or high-speed wi-fi connection.

Save the Date! The WSF Steering Committee is excited to announce the 12th Annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum to be held June 20th, 21st, and 22nd, in scenic Yreka, California. We’ve just released the Call for Abstracts – we are seeking both presentations and live demonstrations about rural ITS topics and technologies. Check out the 2017 Call for Abstracts for more information about the Forum’s technical program.

Recently, the project team successfully completed work on the 6th phase of the COATS project. Phase 6 focused on promoting technology transfer, investigating traveler information data quality, and evaluating the Fredonyer Pass Icy Curve Warning System. The final project report is now available.

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC) Steering Committee gathered for its annual meeting on June 21st, 2016, just prior to the start of the 11th Annual Western States Forum. Both events were held at the same venue in Yreka, California.

Impact pages on the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium's website are intended to show how the WSRTC is implementing its research into lasting change for the agencies involved. Check out some examples of how the research of the WSRTC is impacting rural transportation in western states.

The technology incubator project – Data Quality for Aggregation and Dissemination of DOT Traveler Information – has been completed and a research report is now available. Read the results of the practitioner survey and the literature review, as well as an analysis of best practices for quality assurance of traveler information data.

On August 16th, the Blue Cut fire started along Interstate 15 North of San Bernardino and resulted in the closure of a large portion of Interstate 15. This closure was apparent in the One-Stop-Shop, visible in the Google Traffic layer, in CMS messages, CCTV images, and more. The fire could be seen in the fire detections layer not long after the blaze began.

Held in Yreka, California, June 21st through the 23rd, this year's Western States Forum brought together 47 ITS engineers and practitioners from across the western United States. Nine technical presentations covered a diverse range of topics including RWIS sensors and RPU redesign, Bluetooth traveler information, adaptive signal timing, field and work zone data collection, controller cabinet standards, and DSRC radio and connected vehicles. Speakers represented California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state departments of transportation, as well as the Idaho National Laboratory.

The Annual Meeting of the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium Steering Committee is coming up on June 21st, 2016, in Yreka, California.

COATS Phase 6 is facilitating ongoing technology transfer through the Western States Forum and continued demonstration and evaluation of ITS technologies through several incubator projects. The first quarter of 2016 saw further preparations for the 2016 Western States Forum and excellent progress on the various incubator projects.

The Kick-Off Meeting for Phase 4 of the WeatherShare project (WeatherShare Phase 4) was held on April 12th, 2016. Project team members agreed to hold a teleconference in lieu of an in person meeting.

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC) Steering Committee held a meeting on Tuesday, March 15, 2016 in conjunction with attendance at the 2016 Northwest Transportation Conference (NWTC) in Corvallis, Oregon. The NWTC, which is held every two years at Oregon State University, opened on March 15th and concluded on March 17th.

The Kick-Off Meeting for Phase 3 of the One-Stop-Shop project (OSS Phase 3) was held on April 5th, 2016. Project team members agreed to hold a teleconference in lieu of an in person meeting.

The Kick-Off Meeting for WSRTC Task Order 8, WSRTC Meeting Coordination, Western States Forum Travel Support and Website Maintenance was held on April 7th, 2016. Project team members agreed to hold a teleconference in lieu of an in person meeting.

Registration is open for the 2016 Western States Forum! The 11th annual Forum will be held June 21 – 23 in Yreka, California. Attendance is limited, so be sure to register by May 20th.

The Fredonyer Pass Icy Curve Warning System (ICWS) was deployed by Caltrans to increase motorist vigilance and reduce the number of crashes occurring during icy pavement conditions in real-time. An evaluation of the project has been conducted and a final report is now available.

In preparation for the 2015 winter holiday season, Montana State University and NBC Montana reported on the One-Stop-Shop and its benefits to travelers.

COATS Phase 6 is facilitating ongoing technology transfer through the Western States Forum and continued demonstration and evaluation of ITS technologies through several incubator projects. Read about the preparations for the 2016 Western States Forum and progress made on the various projects in the last quarter of 2015.

Phase II of the Integration of Aviation AWOS with RWIS project was recently completed. The project focused on the development of a prototype system that integrates weather data from aviation AWOS and ASOS, and surface transportation RWIS, as well as surface and aloft weather forecasts alerts and warnings, satellite and radar imagery, roadside cameras and more. The project team also conducted a business case analysis, researched additional sources of relevant data, documented detailed system requirements, analyzed gaps in existing weather station coverage, and used three separate mechanisms to evaluate the system.

Phase 3 of the Professional Capacity Building (PCB) for Communications project was recently completed. The project team researched and revised a comprehensive training curriculum for transportation communication systems that will build the professional capacity of rural intelligent transportation system (ITS) engineers and technicians. This phase of the project included a needs assessment and gap analysis, as well as the facilitation of a training course on Telco Wireless communication technologies.

Save the date! The 11th annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum will be held June 21-23, 2016, in Yreka California. We are seeking both presentations and live demonstrations on rural ITS projects and applications. Check out the Call for Abstracts for more information.

Phase II of the Integration of Aviation AWOS and RWIS will conclude December 31st, 2015. On October 21st, Doug Galarus delivered the final report presentation in conjunction with the Caltrans October Research Connection Event.

COATS Phase 6 is facilitating ongoing technology transfer through the Western States Forum and continued demonstration and evaluation of ITS technologies through several incubator projects. The third quarter of 2015, spanning from July to September, has come to a close. Read about the progress made on the various projects during this time.

Several representatives of the Consortium member states and organizations attended the 2015 National Rural ITS Conference, August 9-12, at the Snowbird Ski Resort in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. In keeping with the venue’s mountainous locale, the goal of the conference was to "Elevate ITS by Traversing the Terrain to Rural ITS."

The 2015 National Rural ITS Conference was held August 9-12, at the Snowbird Ski Resort in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. The agenda included tours and technical sessions covering a wide variety of rural ITS topics. Doug Galarus presented Expansion of the Western States One Stop Shop for Rural Traveler Information in Session B1 Using Partnerships to Improve Traveler Information.

The 2015 National Rural ITS Conference was held August 9-12, at the Snowbird Ski Resort in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. The agenda included tours and technical sessions covering a wide variety of rural ITS topics. Doug Galarus presented Data Quality for Aggregation and Dissemination of DOT Traveler Information: Best Practices in Session C1 Improvements to Traveler Information Systems & Data.

Recently we added a fire layer to the One-Stop-Shop. Given the big fires in California and Washington this year, we thought a fire layer would be helpful to travelers, particularly to show fire activity in relation to the road network. Yesterday afternoon (Sunday) we noticed smoke on the north side of the Gallatin Valley. Given strong winds all day, we were fairly certain that a wildfire had started and taken off northwest of Bozeman.

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC) Steering Committee gathered for its annual meeting on June 16th, 2015, prior to the commencement of the 10th Annual Western States Forum. Both events were held at the same venue in Yreka, California.

In the most recent Chain-up Delay tracking with Bluetooth project development, the project team has finalized its recommendations for deployment locations and equipment to be used.

COATS Phase 6 is facilitating ongoing technology transfer through the Western States Forum and continued demonstration and evaluation of ITS technologies through several incubator projects.  Read about progress made on the various projects during the April to June 2015 quarter. A thank you goes to David Veneziano for his leadership of the COATS efforts over the last seven years!

Held in Yreka, California, June 16th through the 18th, this year’s Western States Forum brought together 39 ITS engineers and practitioners from across the western United States. Eight technical presentations, given by representatives of six state DOT’s, covered a diverse range of topics such as changeable message sign innovations, automated chain control and parking management systems, winter maintenance, and roadside Wi-Fi systems.

In an ongoing effort to increase transparency and provide up-to-date information and resources related to the Consortium, this week the WSRTC launched a new page listing all published documents for each project.

The Annual Meeting of the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium is coming up on June 16th, 2015, in Yreka, California.

Twelve Caltrans ITS engineers and technicians gathered for training to expand their skills in Telco wireless communication and its application to rural intelligent transportation systems. Telecom Wireless Fundamentals was delivered by Scott Baxter through TONEX. Students came from areas that are faced with rural transportation challenges, representing Caltrans Districts 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 10, and Caltrans Headquarters.

The One Stop Shop received significant media coverage across Montana last November following a major update in late 2014 that expanded the web application to include data from 11 states across the western U.S.

The 2015 Western States Forum, to be held from June 16th to 18th in Yreka, California, will feature an excellent lineup of eight presentations and demonstrations about rural implementations of ITS.

Registration is open for the 2015 Western States Forum! The 10th annual Forum will be held from June 16th-18th in scenic Yreka, California.

The Aviation WeatherShare website is well-suited to providing pilots and aviation personnel with essential information needed to maintain safety during hazardous conditions—such as wind speeds aloft and on the ground, satellite imagery, pilot reports, and National Weather Service alerts.

WeatherShare, a web application that provides users with real-time and forecasted weather conditions, road information and alerts across California’s 16,600 miles of highway, is undergoing significant changes. WeatherShare will become Caltrans’ repository for Caltrans RWIS data in addition to other weather information.

COATS Phase 6 is now underway with the goals of continued demonstration and evaluation of ITS technologies through incubator projects identified by the Project Technical Advisory Panel (PTAP), as well as provision of ongoing knowledge transfer activities from the Western States Forum. The October – December 2014 quarter included a number of activities as the incubator projects were started and preparations for the 10th Annual Western States Forum commenced.

The One Stop Shop for traveler information, or OSS, has recently been updated to include real-time and near real-time road information from 11 different state transportation agencies. OSS users can now see up-to-the-minute road and weather information for Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. A principal objective of OSS is to allow travelers to view important road and weather information across state boundaries, and this update is a big step towards that goal.

The 3rd phase of the Professional Capacity Building for Communications project is in progress with a focus on Telco Wireless technologies. As applied to Rural ITS, these topics are related to systems that are leased from telecommunication service providers and include fixed deployments of field elements and communications with a TMC, maintenance yard, or other similar facility.

The 5th phase of the COATS project came to a close recently. The project focused on technology transfer, identification of future sites to deploy Bluetooth readers in support of determining chain-up area delays, a survey of automated safety warning devices and the development of a regional ICM planning process...

Save the Date! The 10th annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum is scheduled for June 16-18, 2015, in Yreka, California. We are seeking presentations and live demonstrations on actual rural ITS projects and applications. Check out the recently released Call for Abstracts for more information...

The 2014 National Rural ITS Conference was held August 24-27, 2014, in Branson, Missouri. Several individuals from the Consortium member states of California, Nevada, and Washington attended this year’s conference as participants, speakers, and session moderators including: Sean Campbell, Caltrans; Ron Vessey, James Todd Daley, Tony Leingang, WSDOT; Tom Moore, Nevada DOT; and Doug Galarus, WTI...

The 2014 National Rural ITS Conference (NRITS) was held in Branson, Missouri, August 24th-27th. Billed as ITS In The Heartland, this year’s conference provided participants with opportunities to network across many ITS disciplines while discussing a wide variety of ITS topics. Doug Galarus presented Professional Capacity Building for Communications in Session G1 Professional Development Opportunities – Developing Your Skills and those of your Organization...

The 9th annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum was another successful event! Thirty-six rural ITS engineers and practitioners represented six states (CA, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA), five state DOTs, 8 Caltrans districts, 3 groups from Caltrans Headquarters, one City Public Works Department (Salem, OR), two universities, and the FHWA. The diverse technical program included six presentations on as many different topics...

The WSRTC Steering Committee gathered for the Annual Meeting on June 17th, 2014, before the start of the 9th annual Western States Forum in Yreka, California...

At the 2014 ITS World Congress in Detroit, Michigan, the One-Stop Shop was announced as the winner of ITS America’s Best of ITS Award for Best New Innovative Practice – Research Design and Innovation. ITS America presents these awards to “the most prominent and innovative transportation technology leaders in the Americas” whose projects exemplify innovation and demonstrate specific and measurable outcomes. The OSS project is sponsored by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), who nominated it for the annual award...

The Automated Safety Warning System Controller (ASWSC) was selected as a finalist for a Best of ITS Award in the category of Best New Innovative Practice – Rural ITS Project. ITS America presents these awards to “the most prominent and innovative transportation technology leaders in the Americas” whose projects exemplify innovation and demonstrate specific and measurable outcomes. The ASWSC project is sponsored by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), who nominated it for the annual award...

We do our best to monitor OSS to make sure it is functioning correctly, particularly during events that impact the traveling public. You might think such events only occur during the bad weather season, but summer brings plenty of challenges including fire. For the Western States region, this is certainly turning out to be a bad fire year, particularly when coupled with the drought in California...

Agencies across the west have deployed various ITS systems to address a number of different local safety and operational concerns. Historically, there has been a lack of documentation related to these deployments, specifically an inventory of what is presently deployed. The absence of such an inventory has prevented the opportunity for practitioners to learn about the deployments of a particular device in another location prior to pursuing their own. To address this need, the work completed by this project documented where deployments are located, what their function/purpose is, and other information of interest...

The Annual Meeting of the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium is coming up on June 17th, 2014, in Yreka, California...

We recently created a poster for OSS that displays many of the features and uses for the web application. You can download the poster here or view it on the OSS documents page. This poster will be displayed at the 2014 Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum in Yreka, California, June 17th-19th, 2014...

As we announced in the April 15th, 2014 update, the Aviation WeatherShare project was presented as part of the California Aviation Day at the Capitol on April 23, 2014. PI, Doug Galarus, Caltrans Project Manager Melissa Clark, and Caltrans Project Champion Terry Berrie, demonstrated the project and its features at a display set up on the grounds of the Capitol in Sacramento...

Doug Galarus of WTI and Caltrans project leaders will be presenting a poster and live demonstration of the Aviation WeatherShare web application at California Aviation Day at the Capitol on April 23, 2014. The presentations and displays at this event are a way to inform legislators, staff, and the public about the impact aviation has on the California economy as well as raising awareness of the benefits of aviation to Californians...

Registration for the 9th annual Western States Forum is now open! The 2014 Western States Forum will be held on June 17th-19th in scenic Yreka, California! The goal of the Western States Forum is to network with other professionals involved with rural transportation technologies and provide the opportunity to exchange in-depth, technical information on how various ITS technologies are engineered and implemented in rural areas. The Forum encourages learning and discussion about the benefits of ITS technologies as well as the successes and problems of different rural ITS solutions...

The “bad weather” season in California has been bad for a different reason this year – extreme drought. Fortunately, Northern California has received some relief in the past several weeks in the form of rain and snow. As is always the case during changing conditions, travelers need to remind themselves that information is key to decision making and safety when navigating rural areas in bad weather. Caltrans District 2 staff, Ian Turnbull and Joe Baltazar, were interviewed on February 6th by the “Action News Now” (KHSL-12, KNVN-24 Chico/Redding) team for such a reminder, and the broadcast was seen across Northern California and Southern Oregon, and on the Internet...

We recently posted a quick start video showing basic use of the OSS web application. We hope this video will help first-time users to better utilize OSS. You can find the video by clicking on the “?” icon at the top left of the OSS interface to show a drop down menu and then selecting “Basic Usage (video)”...

The Aviation WeatherShare project was featured in the Winter 2014 edition of the Caltrans Division of Aeronautics’ newsletter - CalAERO. The article entitled “Aeronautics Testing Aviation WeatherShare” gives a good description of the project and its features. It also talks about how the website is proving beneficial to Caltrans and emergency responders, and encourages readers to try out the site and provide feedback through the online survey...

Phase II of the Integration of Aviation AWOS with RWIS project is in full swing. Tasks for this phase of the project include conducting a technical requirements analysis and developing an accompanying report, documenting additional sources of aviation weather information, and converting the high-level user needs and requirements into detailed, low-level system requirements. This phase will also focus on enhancing and evaluating the prototype system...

Timothy Compston and Traffic Technology International recently interviewed OSS project team members Doug Galarus and Ian Turnbull about the One Stop Shop application. Doug and Ian described the challenges travelers face in obtaining comprehensive travel information when crossing state borders or districts within a state and the solutions they are developing to address these problems...

Save the Date! The 9th annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum is scheduled for June 17-19, 2014, in Yreka, California. The Call for Abstracts has just been sent out and we are seeking presentations and live demonstrations on actual rural ITS projects and applications...

The third training course for the Professional Capacity Building for Communications project was held September 23-27, 2013, at the Sacramento Regional Transportation Management Center (RTMC) in Rancho Cordova, California. The course, Hands-On Ethernet and TCP/IP Fundamentals, was taught by Andrew Walding of Cellstream, Inc. through Dashcourses International. The course was open to ITS engineers and technicians – 11 students representing seven Caltrans districts participated...

WSRTC Steering Committee members participated in the recent National Rural ITS Conference held in St. Cloud, Minnesota, August 25th-28th, 2013. A regular Consortium meeting was held on August 28, 2013...

Members of the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC) are headed to St. Cloud, Minnesota, August 25-28, 2013, to participate in the 2013 National Rural ITS Conference (NRITS) – Footpaths 2 Intelligent Highways. NRITS is an annual conference focused on rural applications of intelligent transportation systems...

As of this morning, several new data layers were added to OSS, helping us to provide even better coverage of the Western States region. We’ve added CCTV cameras, changeable (dynamic) message signs and rest areas for Nevada. We have also added RWIS (road weather information systems) back into OSS after an absence of approximately 1.5 months due the Clarus System going offline...

The annual Steering Committee meeting for the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium convened on June 18, 2013, just before the start of the 8th annual Western States Forum in Yreka, California...

The Annual Meeting of the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium is coming up on June 18th, 2013, in Yreka, California...

Recently, Forum Steering Committee members Sean Campbell and Ian Turnbull were interviewed by Bernie Wagenblast and the Transportation Communications Newsletter...

Phase 2 of the Professional Capacity Building for Communications project is continuing with a shift to the IP Networking Fundamentals and Usage subject area. The project team is currently working to identify and secure an appropriate training contractor to deliver a course in September...

The WSRTC held its annual winter Steering Committee meeting on March 8th, 2013, via teleconference. Fifteen participants from all four Consortium states (California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington) were on the call...

Registration is now open for the 2013 Western States Forum, June 18th-20th in Yreka, California! The goal of the Western States Forum is to network with other professionals involved with rural transportation technologies and provide the opportunity to exchange in-depth, technical information on how various ITS technologies are engineered and implemented in rural areas. The Forum encourages learning and discussion about the successes and problems of different rural ITS solutions, as well as the benefit of these technologies...

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium will hold its winter Steering Committee meeting on March 8th, 2013, via teleconference...

It has been awhile since we posted an update about the Automated Safety Warning Controller (ASWC) project and a lot has been accomplished since we last shared the project’s progress. In fact, Phase 2 of the project will be completed in the next couple months. As mentioned in the last update, one of the main objectives for Phase 2 was the design and implementation of a Satellite Operations Center Command System (SOCCS) ASWC interface that TMC operators could use to monitor and control basic functions of Controller devices in the field..…

A storm with heavy rains and strong winds passed through central and northern California last week. The storm caused many lane and road closures, flooding, the toppling of trees and power lines, and accidents. Portions of California received over 7 inches of rain within 24 hours, creating many traffic hazards. ...

Save the Date! The 8th annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum is scheduled for June 18-20, 2013, in Yreka, California. The Call for Abstracts just went out and we are again seeking both presentations and live demonstrations about actual rural ITS projects and applications. A speaker or speakers who could discuss and/or demonstrate a project implemented or improved because of attendance at a past Forum is particularly encouraged to submit an abstract for the 2013 Forum. ...

The second training course for the Professional Capacity Building for Communications project was held September 24th-28th, 2012, at the Sacramento Regional Transportation Management Center (RTMC) in Rancho Cordova, California. Mastering Fiber Optic Network Design and Installation was taught by Eric Pearson of Pearson Technologies and was filled to capacity with 12 ITS engineers from six different Caltrans districts. ...

The National Rural ITS Conference was in Biloxi, Mississippi, this year and members of the WSRTC met and presented at the event. On September 19th, the WSRTC held a regular Steering Committee meeting....

The Western States Forum won the 2012 Best of Rural ITS Award for Best New Innovative Product, Service or Application. The award was announced during a special presentation of the opening session of the 2012 National Rural ITS Conference held in Biloxi, Mississippi, September 16th-19th. The award program is the only one of its kind in the world that recognizes the best and brightest of the rural ITS community....

Members of the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium (WSRTC) are headed to Biloxi, Mississippi, September 16-19, 2012, to participate in the 2012 National Rural ITS Conference (NRITS) – Rural ITS Southern Style. NRITS is an annual conference focused on rural applications of intelligent transportation systems...

The content focus for Phase 2 of the PCB for Communications project is plant wired technologies. To better facilitate training for Caltrans ITS engineers, we divided the topics into two sections. One section includes the topics of plant wired core/plant wiring basics, serial connectivity, and xDSL. The second section concentrates on optical fiber. A course in fiber optic communications is scheduled for September 24-28, 2012, at the Sacramento Regional Transportation Management Center in Rancho Cordova, California. ...

The 7th annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum was attended by a diverse group of rural ITS engineers from six states (California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Texas). The group discussed six different presentations and demonstrations about a variety of rural ITS projects deployed in the western states area. ...

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium held its annual Steering Committee meeting on June 12, 2012, just prior to the kick-off of the 7th annual Western States Forum in Yreka, California. ...

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium is gearing up for its 2012 annual Steering Committee meeting to be held on June 12th, just prior to the Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum (WSRTTIF). ...

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium held its winter Steering Committee meeting on February 9, 2012, in conjunction with the Northwest Transportation Conference on the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. ...

Abstracts have been selected for the 2012 Western States Forum! Speakers will come from seven different states, representing four state DOTs, two universities, and the California Highway Patrol. The agenda is again diverse, covering a variety of ITS technologies. ...

Recently, three papers stemming from two COATS Phase 4 incubator projects (Radar Speed Trailer deployment warrants, Evaluation of the Fredonyer Icy Curve Warning System) were presented at the 91st Annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting in Washington, D.C. ...

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium will hold its next Steering Committee meeting on February 9th, 2012, at the conclusion of the Northwest Transportation Conference in Corvallis, Oregon ...

Through COATS area research efforts, several web-based research products have been developed, including the WeatherShare, ICM, OSS, and the AWOS/RWIS systems. These systems have been recognized as valued products in improving transportation services. Currently these products are being used while running in a laboratory environment and many of the factors related to transitioning them to a production/deployment environment have not previously been fully addressed. This project examined requirements and decisions to be made to successfully transition a web-based product from the laboratory environment to the production environment while ensuring a reliable and maintainable final system. ...

Today is one of those days when a single update isn't enough. Winter has been slow in arriving, but it came in full force today across the four-state, Western States region. There is snow throughout the region and plenty of incidents to go with it. Be sure to take a look at multiple OSS updates from today. ...

In this second update for today we take a closer look at the Google Traffic layer relative to the weather and road conditions. Recall that we've include Google Traffic as an experimental layer in OSS to gauge how well it reflects rural traffic flow. We have concerns about it in terms of accuracy, timeliness and reliability. However, it does appear to be a reasonable indicator of general traffic flow.

In this third update for today we take a closer look at the snow, particularly in Washington. The following snow forecast layer in OSS comes from the National Weather Services National Digital Forecast Database. Heavy amounts of snow was forecast over nearly all of the Western States region, with Washington covered almost completely...

In this fourth update for today we emphasize the need to look carefully at all information available when traveling under winter conditions, since conditions can change quickly with both time and location. ...

Phase 2 of the Professional Capacity Building for Communications project is well underway. The content focus for this phase will be plant wired technologies...

The 2012 Western States Forum Call for Abstracts has been issued and we need your help! We are seeking both presentations and live demonstrations about actual rural ITS projects and applications...

COATS Phase 5 will use the ITS experience and institutional knowledge of stakeholders in the region, combined with technology transfer activities from the Western States Forum and incubator projects to provide benefit for stakeholders both within and outside the COATS region...

It's been awhile since we've posted an update about the One-Stop Shop (OSS), and a lot has happened since the last update. We now have coverage of the Western States Region, which includes California, Oregon, Nevada and Washington. Now OSS truly is ...

The COATS Phase 4 effort has recently concluded. During the course of this project, a number of research and technology transfer activities were completed ...

The 7th annual Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum is scheduled for June 12, 13, and 14, 2012, in Yreka, California ...

The Fredonyer Pass Icy Curve Warning System (ICWS) was deployed by Caltrans to increase motorist vigilance and reduce the number of crashes occurring during icy pavement conditions in real-time ...

Session B2 was focused on the integration of RWIS devices and data for innovative ITS applications. Doug Galarus presented Integration of Aviation Weather Information Systems with Roadside Weather Information Systems for Rural Air Fields and Heliports ...

The Radar Speed Trailer deployment warrants project was recently brought to a close with the completion of the final report and a project presentation at the 2011 National Rural ITS Conference (NRITS) ...

Members of the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium gathered for a Steering Committee meeting at the conclusion of the National Rural ITS Conference, held in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho ...

The Western States Rural Transportation Consortium will hold its next steering committee meeting on August 31, 2011, immediately after the National Rural ITS Conference (NRITS). ...

On June 14th, 2011, the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium held the first of its three annual Steering Committee meetings ...

The 6th annual Western States Forum was held in Yreka, California, with 31 participants from California, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, and a U.S. DOT representative from Illinois ...

A page with links to Consortium related documents has been added to the website. The governing documents of the WSRTC are available as well as meeting agendas, presentations, and minutes.

Significant progress has been made on the Automated Safety Warning Controller project ...

Phase 1 of the One Stop Shop project has concluded and the final report is available to view ...

The Western States Forum Steering Committee met recently and selected the abstracts for the 2011 Forum ...

Links to Consortium documents, including the Charter and Steering Committee meeting records can now be found on the documents page ...

Poster displayed at the 90th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board ...

Incubator projects update ...

Reseach on Clarus System Data ...

Research on radar speed trailer deployment warrants ...

On December 21st and 22nd, there was a great deal of precipitation throughout California and Oregon. Here we’ve grabbed some screenshots to show magnitude of the storm ...

OSS can be used to get an idea of where conditions are less than ideal. We took the following screenshots several days ago, on January 7th, 2011. ...

The 2011 Western States Rural Transportation Technology Implementers Forum is scheduled for June 14th, 15th, and 16th, 2011, in Yreka, California ...

WSRTC Steering Committe meeting held recently in Yreka, California ...

Consortium charter and upcoming steering committee meeting ...

Professional Capacity Building (PCB) for Communications Systems RF System Design Training Added ...

WSRTC Pooled Fund Update Added ...

Professional Capacity Building (PCB) for Communications Systems Project Added ...

California Oregon Advanced Transportation Systems (COATS) Project Added ...

Sean Campbell visits WTI ...

NRITS Conference update for Controller Project ...

NRITS Conference update for OSS Project ...

NRITS Conference update for Responder Project ...

Read about how Bluetooth technology is being used for rural travel time observation. ...

This year’s Forum participants listened to and discussed 6 technical presentations detailing different ITS projects deployed in the western states area. ...

Archived updates page added for updates to the Western States Rural Transportation Consortium website ...

In conjunction with the Phase II kick-off meeting, the project team visited Spring Garden, which served as the pilot site in Phase I. ...

The kick-off meeting for Phase II of the Automated Safety Warning Controller Project was held at Caltrans District 2 Headquarters in Redding at the end of May. In attendance were ...

Google Traffic - ready for rural or not? We've enabled Google Traffic in OSS for the sake of evaluation to see if speed estimates are accurate, and how it jives with other OSS layers. Let's see if it's up to the task. ...

The 2010 Western States Forum will be held on June 15th, 16th, and 17th, 2010, in Yreka, California. Registration is now open ...

One of our projects that doesn't get a lot of attention is Integrated Corridor Management (ICM). ICM was developed for DOT personnel in California and Oregon so they could better recognize conditions on both sides of the California-Oregon border. ICM is very similar to One Stop Shop, where you'll find most of the same information and more. Let's take a look at ICM. ...

The active weather pattern over the past several days has given us the incentive to make an animation to show the features of WeatherShare. You'll need Flash to play this ...

Today is another active weather day in California. Will this be the last snow of the season? We're not betting on it. But, we have taken advantage of the conditions to make an animation that shows off some of the features of the site. You'll need Flash to play this. ...

When doing any planning it is always good to check to see how cooperative the weather will be. WeatherShare lets you check current conditions and forecast conditions. Here the initial WeatherShare page shows current temperatures ...

Responder is used for documenting incidents and the response to them. Creating a new incident is easy ...

Time flies, doesn't it? We're nearly at that end of the first phase of this project. A lot of work has gone into development of the Integration of Aviation AWOS with RWIS application, and we're eager to get feedback from prospective users. If you haven't visited the web site yet, please take the opportunity to do so now at: http://aviation.weathershare.org/. You'll notice a Survey link at the end of the page title. Depending on your screen resolution, this might appear in a different place on your screen. We've highlighted it below so you know what to look for. Try the site out and then take the survey. Let us know what you like and what you don't like. Your feedback is important to us, and will be taken into account in future development. ...

When planning a drive on rural roads, it’s a good idea to keep track of towns and facilities so you don’t find yourself in a tough spot. One-Stop-Shop includes several facility types in California including rest areas and truck scales. ...

One Stop Shop includes digital forecasts from the National Weather Service (NWS). We present this in a graphical fashion on the map, consistent with NWS presentation. ...

Is winter over yet? Apparently not. It looks like there was snow overnight. One Stop Shop shows active CMS messages, including this one along US 199 in Oregon ... 

One way to use One Stop Shop to recognize changing conditions on the roadway is to watch the CMS icons and messages. A yellow CMS icon indicates an active message. This image from a CMS near Mt. Shasta shows the message, "ICY ROADS - REDUCE SPEED" ...

Sometimes truly unexpected events occur on the roadway. Notice the following closure message ...

Today has been a good day to use the One-Stop-Shop. The weather in Northern California and Southern Oregon is interesting, to say the least. Spring is on the way, but Winter isn't over yet. Take a look at the following screenshots ...

Today is an interesting weather day. It is also a good day to demonstrate the use of the Integration of Aviation AWOS with RWIS application. Take a look at the following screenshots ...