Hawaii Department of Transportation

In order to maximize major arterial management efficiency and enhance travelers’ safety and mobility performance along the Nimitz Highway and Ala Moana Boulevard segments in Honolulu, Econolite Systems Inc. (ESI), in partnership with the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) and the University of Hawaii (UH) College of Engineering, jointly deployed and evaluated an innovative traffic control system. The system is powered by cutting-edge V2X technologies and control optimization strategies, to enhance traffic safety and mobility performance along the 5.25-mile-long corridor composed of 36 traffic signals.

As the selected prime contractor, ESI designed, installed, and integrated one of the most comprehensively deployed systems in the world, providing demonstrated improvements in mobility measured by reductions in travel time, fuel consumption, and carbon emissions, as well as increased safety. For this project, ESI was responsible for deploying the following key elements:

• Advanced Transportation Management System (ATMS) and Priority – Centracs® ATMS and Centracs Priority were deployed to enhance signal performance, reduce emergency vehicle response time, and improve on-time performance for the transit system.
• High-Resolution Data – Centracs Signal Performance Measures (SPM) and Centracs Edaptive software system dashboards illustrated travel time improvements, environmental impacts, fuel consumption savings, and safety improvements. Centracs SPM extended the capability of the high-resolution data collected from the controllers to apply a link/pivot analysis in order to derive new timing plans with a simple push of a button through Centracs Edaptive.
• Controllers and Detection – ESI’s Cobalt® Advanced Transportation Controllers with the EOS traffic application software and Autoscope® Vision Video Detection System (VDS), were deployed to provide hi-resolution data for SPM and Edaptive traffic signal control, advanced features for signal priority, and Connected Vehicle (CV) features for bicycle and pedestrian safety applications.
• Incident Management and Traveler Information – through our partnership with Waycare, ESI provided data and predictive analytics to proactively modify timings for specific incidents as well as the surrounding area of impact.
• Applied Information (AI) – AI, provided through 4G LTE connectivity to the field, allowed for the second-by-second command and control of the signalized intersections. It also pushed CV data to the cloud to connect drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians through their TravelSafely™ mobile application. AI also provided devices for DSRC to Roadside Units (RSUs) and On-Board Units (OBUs) for test vehicles.
• Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) Test Corridor – ESI deployed the V2X applications and conducted the experimental tests that included 1) red light violation warning, 2) pedestrian in signalized crosswalk warning, 3) advanced traveler information system, 4) Transit Signal Priority, 5) queue warning, 6) dynamic speed harmonization, 7) intelligent traffic signal system, and 8) probe-enabled traffic monitoring supported by existing standards.
• Cybersecurity – through ESI’s partnership with Mission Secure, Inc., a cyber defense company, we applied six points of action and awareness for critical infrastructure security to monitor, detect, inform, collect, correct, and manage unauthorized use and cyber-attacks providing an unparalleled level of security for networks.
• Intersection Equipment – ESI provided Cobalt NEMA controllers, TS2-Type 1 cabinet, detection, and other materials to ensure the project was equipped with the latest state-of-the-art hardware products and technologies.

The completed traffic control system provided the following improvements in mobility:

• Increased arrivals on the green by 8.6%
• Decreased arrivals on red by 24.1%
• Decreased vehicle delay by 56.3%
• Decreased travel time by 50%
• Decreased carbon emissions by 16.1%
• Decreased fuel consumption by 16.1%