North Texas Tollway Authority Traffic Management Center

Status: Existing

Description

The North Texas Tollway Authority Traffic Management Center is responsible for the management of traffic operations for North Texas Tollways. The main responsibilities of the North Texas Tollway Authority Traffic Management Center are to implement real–time congestion and incident management strategies to optimize the safety and efficiency of North Texas Tollways. The TMC also provides traveler information.

Stakeholders

StakeholderRoleRole Status
North Texas Tollway AuthorityOwnsExisting

Physical Objects

Traffic Management Center
Transportation Information Center
Archived Data User System
ITS Communications Equipment

Functional Objects

Functional ObjectDescriptionUser Defined
Center Data Collection'Center Data Collection' collects and stores information that is created in the course of center operations. This data can be used directly by operations personnel or it can be made available to other data users and archives in the region.False
Center Data Subscription Management'Center Data Subscription Management' manages data subscriptions for an end user. It provides access to a catalog of available data, manages the necessary user information and rules that govern the data subscriptions, supports communications with data providers to collect data per the subscription rules, and makes the data available to the end user. It provides the local user interface through which a user can specify and manage subscriptions. It supports different mechanisms for collecting subscribed data for the end–user including one–time query–response as well as publish–subscribe services.False
TIC Data Collection'TIC Data Collection' collects transportation–related data from other centers, performs data quality checks on the collected data and then consolidates, verifies, and refines the data and makes it available in a consistent format to applications that support operational data sharing between centers and deliver traveler information to end–users. A broad range of data is collected including traffic and road conditions, transit data, emergency information and advisories, weather data, special event information, traveler services, parking, multimodal data, and toll/pricing data. It also shares data with other transportation information centers.False
TIC Traveler Information Broadcast'TIC Traveler Information Broadcast' disseminates traveler information including traffic and road conditions, incident information, maintenance and construction information, event information, transit information, parking information, and weather information. The same information is broadcast to all equipped traveler interface systems and vehicles.False
TMC Basic Surveillance'TMC Basic Surveillance' remotely monitors and controls traffic sensor systems and surveillance (e.g., CCTV) equipment, and collects, processes and stores the collected traffic data. Current traffic information and other real–time transportation information is also collected from other centers. The collected information is provided to traffic operations personnel and made available to other centers.False
TMC Data Collection'TMC Data Collection' collects and stores information that is created in the course of traffic operations performed by the Traffic Management Center. This data can be used directly by operations personnel or it can be made available to other data users and archives in the region.False
TMC Incident Detection'TMC Incident Detection' identifies and reports incidents to Traffic Operations Personnel. It remotely monitors and controls traffic sensor and surveillance systems that support incident detection and verification. It analyzes and reduces the collected sensor and surveillance data, external alerting and advisory and incident reporting systems, anticipated demand information from intermodal freight depots, border crossings, special event information, and identifies and reports incidents and hazardous conditionsFalse
TMC Incident Dispatch Coordination'TMC Incident Dispatch Coordination' formulates and manages an incident response that takes into account the incident potential, incident impacts, and resources required for incident management. It provides information to support dispatch and routing of emergency response and service vehicles as well as coordination with other cooperating agencies. It provides access to traffic management resources that provide surveillance of the incident, traffic control in the surrounding area, and support for the incident response. It monitors the incident response and collects performance measures such as incident response and clearance times.False
TMC Signal Control'TMC Signal Control' provides the capability for traffic managers to monitor and manage the traffic flow at signalized intersections. This capability includes analyzing and reducing the collected data from traffic surveillance equipment and developing and implementing control plans for signalized intersections. Control plans may be developed and implemented that coordinate signals at many intersections under the domain of a single Traffic Management Center and are responsive to traffic conditions and adapt to support incidents, preemption and priority requests, pedestrian crossing calls, etc.False
TMC Traffic Information Dissemination'TMC Traffic Information Dissemination' disseminates traffic and road conditions, closure and detour information, incident information, driver advisories, and other traffic–related data to other centers, the media, and driver information systems. It monitors and controls driver information system field equipment including dynamic message signs and highway advisory radio, managing dissemination of driver information through these systems.False
TMC Traffic Management Decision Support'TMC Traffic Management Decision Support' recommends courses of action to the traffic operator based on current and forecast road and traffic conditions. Traffic incidents, special events, maintenance activities and other events or conditions that impact capacity or demand are monitored. Historical data and models are used to compare the impact of potential courses of action and make recommendations to the operator. Decisions are supported through presentation of filtered and fused network–wide road and traffic conditions that identify network imbalances and recommended courses of action. The recommended actions may include predefined incident response plans, signal timing plan changes, DMS/HAR messages, truck restrictions, lane control strategies, metering strategies, and adjustment of variable speed limits. Multimodal strategies may also be recommended that include suggested transit strategies and suggested route and mode choices for travelers. Once a course of action is selected, traffic operations personnel implement these actions within the Traffic Management Center and coordinate the response with other centers in the region.False
TMC Traffic Network Performance Evaluation'TMC Traffic Network Performance Evaluation' measures traffic network performance and predicts travel demand patterns to support traffic flow optimization, demand management, and incident management. It collects traffic data from sensors and surveillance equipment as well as input from other Traffic Management Centers, emissions management, transit operations, and event promoters and uses this information to measure traffic network performance. It collects route planning information from transportation information centers and integrates and uses this information to predict future traffic conditions. The planned control strategies can be passed back to the transportation information center so that the intended strategies can be reflected in future route planning.False

Physical Standards

Document NumberTitleDescription
NEMA TS 8Cyber and Physical Security for Intelligent Transportation SystemsThis specification describes how agencies and other transportation infrastructure owner/operators should implement cyber– and physical–security for ITS.

Interfaces To

(View Context Diagram)

511DFW
North Texas Tollway Authority Information Management
North Texas Tollway Authority Roadway Devices
North Texas Tollway Authority Web Site
Texas Highway Patrol Dispatch Center