Electronically advanced

In 2002, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) began the largest highway construction project in downstate Illinois history. The project, known as Upgrade 74, includes the complete removal and replacement of I-74 from East Peoria through Peoria, the addition of new overpasses and safer on and off ramps, as well as the installation of an intelligent transportation system (ITS). I-74 is the main interstate serving Peoria, East Peoria and the tri-county area in downstate Illinois. It was constructed over 40 years ago, before the development of the U.S. interstate system, and was never designed to handle today’s traffic load. The number of vehicles using the interstate every day has more than doubled since its construction in 1959. As a result, I-74 is long overdue for an overhaul. The pavement and bridges are worn down and most of the on and off ramps pose a safety threat to motorists. In fact, 13 of 22 areas of I-74 exceed the statewide average accident rate.

Upgrade 74 will be completed in late 2006 at an estimated total cost of $450 million. Aware that a project of such magnitude poses a significant threat of inconvenience to area travelers, IDOT has carefully planned alternative routes and drastically improved traffic management to offset those effects.

The center with it all

An ITS was incorporated into Upgrade 74 at the onset to provide critical elements such as dynamic message signs (DMS) and closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to help monitor and manage traffic during and after the renovation. Improving IDOT’s ability to monitor traffic situations and respond rapidly to potential backups and closures will help minimize the effects of the interstate reconstruction project.

The ITS was designed by the firm of Edwards & Kelcey of Chicago. The majority of construction and installation of the system has been completed and many components are already in use. Components already installed include fiber-optic cable, wireless communications equipment, DMS, CCTV cameras and non-intrusive detector stations (NIDS). A major upgrade to the District 4 Communications Center also was necessary to incorporate these new field elements into existing traffic management systems.

Fifteen CCTV cameras installed at various locations along the I-74 corridor are used to monitor traffic situations. Operators in the communications center can pan, tilt or zoom these cameras to view problem areas. This capability will be especially useful during the renovation project.

NIDS, or radar sensors, and inductive loop stations placed strategically along the interstate provide real-time traffic speed and occupancy information to communications center operators.

Using the traffic data collected, the DMS system allows operators to send vital information about road closures, traffic incidents, weather, detour routes and road construction to motorists. DMS systems also are playing an important role in the state of Illinois’ “Amber Alert” system by disseminating information about child abductions to motorists.

From the communications center, IDOT personnel as well as the city of Peoria emergency and public works departments and the city of East Peoria police and fire departments are able to communicate with and operate ITS field equipment. Traffic signal and traffic management software controls also are located in the communications center. To accommodate all of the necessary equipment, the communications center was enlarged by over 45%.

“Our communications center is open 24/7 and is the central point of dispatch for information. It’s always staffed by IDOT personnel,” said Eric Howald, traffic signal systems engineer for IDOT.

The comforts of work

Typical personnel in the communications center include a radio operator, ITS technician and traffic signal engineer. Although under normal circumstances only one or two operators are working at any given time, the new center was designed with accommodations for five workstations with additional workspace for occasional part-time staff.

The contract for the communications center upgrade was awarded to Laser Electric, an electrical contracting company that’s been serving Peoria and surrounding areas for 19 years. As the general contractor for the project, Laser Electric either provided or oversaw the installation of all electrical facilities, operator consoles, a video wall, overhead lighting, fire suppression system, drop ceiling and an elevated flooring system that houses all of the equipment cables and conduits. Laser Electric chose the Winsted Corp. to provide the operator consoles and technical furniture for the communications center. The consoles were chosen for the main workstations, including a three-operator console and a two-operator console.

The consoles are optimized for LCD monitors and include linear task lighting and rounded filing cabinet enclosures with lockable doors. IDOT specified “L-shaped” work surfaces with ample desktop workspace and pull-out keyboard trays and mouse pads that meet traffic management center ergonomic requirements.

“The new consoles are a vast improvement over our previous furniture,” said Howald. “They are more ergonomically correct, and our operators are definitely more comfortable.”

Also provided was a meeting table, administrative workstation and two additional storage cubes, which house the printer, fax machine and DTN weather computer in the communications center. The new consoles are not only highly functional and more comfortable than the previous workstations, but they add a visually attractive element to the center.

Another of the more visually impressive aspects of the new communications center is the high-tech video wall used by operators to monitor every aspect of ITS, including live CCTV images of the interstate and traffic pattern maps. Heart Technologies, a technology convergence company, was subcontracted to provide the technology, installation and programming for the video wall.

At first glance, the video wall appears to be a simple combination of four standard 20-in. CRT monitors and a 50-in. digital rear-screen projection display. However, Heart Technologies employed a number of advanced video technologies to create a powerful visual tool for IDOT operators.

“I think IDOT choosing to do this upgrade and implementing many of the newer technologies available shows the great level of concern they have for the public and the quality of transportation in the Peoria area,” said Tim Renollet, lead technician for Heart Technologies. “I was really impressed with their efforts to choose products suitable to their current needs yet versatile enough to meet future demands.”

To enhance the functionality and flexibility of the video wall, Heart Technologies put together a virtual display system that allows IDOT operators to easily view several images from a variety of visual sources on the video wall in any combination or configuration.

A Jupiter Fusion 960 Display Wall Processor was chosen to create a virtual display environment that allows operators to input images from up to 32 different visual sources and display as many as 16 of those images on the 50-in. digital display. ControlPoint remote administration software is used to control the images via TCP/IP connection from any PC in the communications center, allowing operators to drag and drop images from their workstation to anywhere on the 50-in. screen.

“The principal advantage of the new video wall is IDOT’s ability to customize the viewing screen to meet their current demands with the option to modify it in the future as their needs change,” said Renollet.

Future plans for the communications center include system integration software that will allow operators to access and manage all of the ITS elements from any of the workstations. Until then, each component operates as a stand-alone device from a specialized workstation. TME