Connected Streetcar Project

Kristin Tufte, Portland State University

Co-investigators:

  • Larry Head, University of Arizona
  • John MacArthur, Portland State University

Summary:

This project will create a foundation for deploying connected vehicle infrastructure and facilitating connected vehicle research for the NITC UTC. Connected Vehicle (CV) technology and the associated data has the potential to help us better understand vehicle, streetcar, and transit performance as well as improve safety for vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists. Specifically, this project will deploy the Multi Modal Intelligent Traffic Signal System (MMITSS) — a Dynamic Mobility Application that provides traffic signal priority for multiple modes of travelers, developed at the University of Arizona in Portland, OR. Data from the MMITSS platform will be integrated into the PORTAL data archive. The connected vehicle deployment will begin with the Portland Streetcar and include four intersections along the “Art Museum Corridor”. In parallel to the CV technology deployment, we will investigate user needs, usage of the data and will design visual analytics for the CV data aimed at evaluating and improving Streetcar performance. The long-term vision of this project includes analyzing the data to determine which modes of travel should be given a higher level of priority. For example, during commute times, buses, light rail, and bicycles may be given higher priority than passenger vehicles. Additional research projects based on this platform could include the addition of smartphone capabilities for pedestrians and bicycles and the capture of high fidelity data from connected travelers (pedestrians, bicycles, passenger vehicles, transit, trucks, and emergency vehicles) to study the ability to impact traffic flow using priority policy based control and other CV applications.  This project is a top-to-bottom implementation of a foundational platform for connected vehicle research within the NITC UTC that will enable connected vehicle research by NITC researchers and regional agency staff, including City of Portland staff, and in the longer-term national researchers.

Project Details

Project Type:
Research
Project Status:
In Progress
End Date:
July 31,2021
UTC Grant Cycle:
NITC 16 Initial Projects
UTC Funding:
$293,875