The cost of establishing a statewide real-time information system program estimated at $1.51 million.
Made Public Date
08/29/2014
Identifier
2014-SC00310
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Summary Information

As part of its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), the U.S. Department of Transportation conducted a benefit-cost analysis of statewide Real-Time System Management Information Program. The proposed rule establishes the provisions for the Real-Time System Management Information Program for State DOTs, other responsible agencies, and partnerships with other commercial entities. It establishes real-time information programs that provide accessibility to traffic and travel conditions information by other public agencies, the traveling public, and by other parties who may deliver value-added information products. The goal is to make the information available and shareable to improve the security of the surface transportation system, to address congestion problems, to support improved response to weather events and surface transportation incidents, and to facilitate national and regional highway traveler information.

Establishing a statewide real-time information program:.
Outside metropolitan areas, the parameters for a real-time information program would require monitored information to be updated every 20 minutes. Real time travel speed information would be excluded from real-time information programs applied outside the metropolitan areas. Significant additional monitoring will likely not be required for coverage of non-metropolitan area roads. Therefore, the effort to establish a real-time information program for non-metropolitan areas is regarded as analogous to setting up a statewide 511 traveler information system or updating an existing one. Costs of existing statewide 511 systems are used as the basis for that cost estimate.

Based on the cost of a major update of an existing 511 system in Arizona, the estimated cost for these deployments is $1.51 million per State.

This does not include the additional cost of metro coverage in that State, so the total cost of the program presented later is the sum of metro area and statewide costs.

Updating regional architectures:

  • The level of effort required to update a regional ITS architecture, as defined by a State and/or a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is estimated to be roughly a quarter of the effort required to initially develop a regional architecture.
  • Costs of regional architecture development from the Preliminary Regulatory Evaluation that accompanied the rulemaking that resulted in 23 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) 940 (Intelligent Transportation Systems Architecture and Standards) were used as the basis for that cost estimate.

Operation & Maintenance:
The estimated operating/maintenance costs of the real-time information program would be 10 percent of the initial capital and labor required to establish the program in a given region. This estimate is based upon case studies of existing 511 traveler information systems and generally accepted systems engineering principles.

A final rule was published in November 2010 that created section 511 under Title 23 of the CFR that approved the provisions for this real-time system management information program.

System Cost

Establishing a statewide real-time information program (in 2004 dollars): $1,510,000. Developing a regional architecture for a large metropolitan area (in 2004 dollars): $109,698. Annual operating & maintenance costs (in 2004 dollars): $151,000.