Office of Operations
photos of traffic merging onto congested highway, congestion in snowstorm, variable message sign, cargo, variable speed limit sign in a work zone, and a freeway at night
21st century operations using 21st century technologies

Creating a Foundation for 21st Century Operations

Program Areas
A crash in Washington State required detouring traffic for several hours.
A crash in Washington State required detouring traffic for several hours. Rerouting traffic, cleaning up a fuel spill, and clearing the incident required coordination between the Washington State Patrol and Washington State Department of Transportation's (WSDOT) Incident Response Team, among others. Photo: WSDOT

As we move further into the 21st Century, realizing beneficial outcomes to our society and our economy of good system performance, means operating our transportation system better by having the various aspects of the system work in harmony with each other. This can be accomplished through the development of a foundation for 21st Century operations that consists of the diligent application of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technologies, better planning for operations, and performance measures to chart success. Creating the foundation for 21st Century Operations starts with collaborative activities in transportation operations that bring together jurisdictions and agencies such as State DOTs, Departments of Public Works, Transit Authorities, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), and Public Safety/Security Agencies to plan for operations. The collaboration leads to the deployment of ITS technologies that support the need for systems to work better by working together. Performance measures indicate the efforts to plan and to deploy technology are indeed working to achieve the intended results - a safe, reliable, and secure transportation system.

The Foundations for 21st Century Operations

Resources