Description: Digital infrastructure supports information exchange among public and private users and owners and operators of the roadway system. It consists of:
- Information sensing, communications, processing, and storage used and located within public roads and at associated centers, and
- The business models, agreements, organizational and institutional arrangements and processes that support operation of those systems
- Enables management of the transportation system, including the pursuit of safety, efficiency, mobility, equity and other objectives of system operators and users
Cornerstones of Business Case: Societal Outcomes may include: vehicle-roadway public health within a safe system approach; emergency response & military mobility; freight mobility and supply chain resilience; and community accessibility.
Action plan:
- Encourage membership engagement in the early 2023 FHWA national charrette to structure a national roadway digital infrastructure strategy.
- Lead a joint TRB committees webinar highlighting TRB’s recent involvements and potential role in “Advancing a National Roadway Digital Infrastructure Strategy”.
- Ensure representation of the roadway digital infrastructure topic in the 2023 International Symposium and the 2023 TRB Automated Roadway Transportation Symposium.
- Coordinate with the Joint VHAC-ITS Subcommittee on “Challenges and Opportunities for Roadway Vehicle Automation” (CORVA) to initiate the following by end of 2023.
- Align conceptual terms for roadway connectivity, digital infrastructure, digitalization of transportation, roadway automation, and others.
- Identify and prioritize national knowledge and technological needs that may be addressed by collaborative research and development.
- Associate high priority collaborative research themes with specific national research partners (e.g. TRB & NCHRP, USDOT, UTC’s, Industry Groups, etc.)
- Assess alternatives and recommend an annualized process for sustaining coordination between national research partners
- Align conceptual terms for roadway connectivity, digital infrastructure, digitalization of transportation, roadway automation, and others.
- Identify high priority roadway digital infrastructure research needs to propose to the AASHTO Committee on Transportation System Operations (CTSO) as FY25 NCHRP Problem Statements.
Lead: John Corbin, FHWA, Office of Operations (john.corbin@dot.gov)
Volunteers: Jim Misener, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.; Brian Simi, Michael Baker; Deepak Gopalakrishna, ICF; Les Jacobson, WSP; Martha Morecock Eddy, Battelle; Zorica Cvijovic, Trihydro Corporation; Valerie Shumans, Shuman Group, LLC; Shalini Ghosh, WSP.