Intelligent Transportation Systems, or ITS, apply communications, sensing, computing, and control technologies to transportation. The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) uses ITS to understand current conditions, operate transportation infrastructure, share timely information, and support safer and more reliable travel.
ITS is more than a collection of roadside devices. Its value comes from connecting field equipment, communications networks, software, data, procedures, and people so information can move from the roadway to operators and travelers when it is needed.
A device becomes useful when it is part of an operating system. A road-weather station, camera, traffic signal, detector, or dynamic message sign must communicate reliably, exchange understandable data, and support a decision or service. Otherwise it is simply isolated hardware beside the road.
Explore ITS systems See modernization work Project development guidance
Alaska's geography and climate shape how these systems are designed and operated. Equipment may need to function in extreme cold, heavy snow, high winds, coastal environments, limited communications coverage, and locations that are difficult to reach for maintenance. DOT&PF considers reliability, maintainability, cybersecurity, interoperability, and lifecycle support as part of an ITS deployment.
DOT&PF owns and operates roughly 430 traffic signals statewide, along with dynamic message signs, road-weather stations, cameras, counters, detection equipment, communications networks, and central software. These assets span busy urban corridors and remote highways where a single failure can be difficult to reach and repair.
Alaska 511 provides information about road conditions, incidents, closures, construction, cameras, weather, and other factors that may affect a trip. ITS systems and operational reporting help supply and update that information.
Road Weather Information Systems collect site-specific weather and pavement information. These observations support maintenance decisions, situational awareness, and traveler information, particularly during winter conditions.
Dynamic message signs, traffic signals, warning systems, cameras, detectors, counters, and other field devices help DOT&PF monitor conditions and respond to changing traffic, weather, construction, and incident needs.
Fiber, wireless communications, field networks, roadside processing, servers, and central software connect individual devices into usable systems. DOT&PF is working to improve statewide system integration and provide a more consistent operating environment for ITS assets.
ITS generates operational data that can support real-time decisions and longer-term planning. When systems are designed to share consistent data, DOT&PF can better evaluate performance, identify needs, and improve services over time.
ITS is one of the principal tools used in TSMO, but the terms are not interchangeable. TSMO also includes policies, business processes, staffing, coordination, performance management, and nontechnology strategies. An ITS investment works best when it is tied to a defined operational need and supported throughout its lifecycle.
DOT&PF's advanced traffic management system now supports statewide dynamic message sign control and creates a foundation for integrating additional cameras, road-weather stations, counters, and event information.
Modern controllers, switches, communications, roadside processing, time synchronization, and secure network design will support more reliable signal operations and future connected-intersection services.
New sensing and data tools can help identify road conditions, traffic performance, work-zone impacts, equipment needs, and emerging safety problems more quickly.
ITS should be considered early in project development. A project that includes traffic control, traveler information, communications, detection, monitoring, data processing, connected infrastructure, or another technology-enabled operational function may need coordination with DOT&PF system owners and documentation through the systems engineering process.
For federally funded ITS projects, DOT&PF applies the systems engineering requirements of 23 CFR 940. The analysis is scaled to the scope and complexity of the project and may address stakeholder needs, system requirements, alternatives, interfaces, procurement, testing, operations, maintenance, and future integration. Section 485 of the Alaska Highway Preconstruction Manual provides the department's currently published project-development direction.
Determine whether a project contains ITS elements before scope, budget, agreements, and procurement decisions limit the available options.
Define what the system must accomplish, who will use and own it, what it must connect to, and how successful operation will be verified.
Address communications, cybersecurity, data, staffing, maintenance, vendor support, configuration, replacement, and operating costs before construction is complete.
DOT&PF's new Systems Engineering Review and Analysis Checklist provides a scalable way to screen ITS projects, select an appropriate level of systems engineering documentation, and record the analysis required by 23 CFR 940.11. Project teams should begin using the new checklist early in project development and coordinate with the appropriate ITS system owners.
Download the new ITS Systems Engineering Checklist (editable Microsoft Word document)
The checklist supports project documentation and does not replace the requirements of 23 CFR 940 or applicable DOT&PF project-development guidance.
Some supporting resources retain the former Alaska IWAYS program name and are being reviewed as the statewide TSMO program and ITS guidance are modernized.
DOT&PF launched the Alaska IWAYS program in 2000 to coordinate intelligent transportation systems across the state. That work established an early statewide architecture, project-development resources, and services that continue today. ITS is now being carried forward as a core part of the statewide TSMO program, with greater emphasis on integrated operations, maintainable services, shared data, cybersecurity, performance, and lifecycle management.
Learn more about ITS from the U.S. DOT ITS Joint Program Office
