Orion Moves Ahead by Melanie Braun

 In January, 1996 Transportation Secretary Federico Pena announced his vision for “Operation Timesaver”.  He challenged public and private sectors alike to put together proposals to create an Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure  (ITI) for their area in competition for several million dollars in federal funding.  The idea was to get the country thinking about how to move the future of transportation forward.  The plan is to select a few sites as deployment models, showcases for the rest of the country and world to see. 

In February, 50 transportation leaders from the public, private and academic sectors worked to create the state’s vision for an ITI in Minnesota. “Orion” was born.  Minnesota’s proposal, along with 22 others from around the country, was submitted by the April 30th deadline.

The ITS community waited until the end of August to hear the “unofficial” news from the US Department of Transportation (US DOT).  The four selected sites they selected were San Antonio, Seattle, Phoenix and a coalition from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut. Orion was among the top five.

 Although Minnesota’s Orion was not selected by the US DOT to receive federal funding, the two-year, $26 million project is well on its way.  It is a key project for Minnesota and is a good investment for the state.  According to Jim Wright, Orion Project Lead, “Deploying ITS technology will cost a fraction of what new road construction would be, maximizing the use of our present system.”

 The project is divided up into five key areas:

1. Integrated communications system that will allow agencies to share information.

2. Mass transit innovations for more efficient fleet management and scheduling that is expected to improve customer service.

3. A computer-aided dispatch (CAD) 911 emergency system that will improve response times to incidents and better manage the more than 20,000 cellular emergency calls monthly to the Minnesota State Patrol.

4. Traffic management strategies for faster traffic flow on freeways and major arterial roadways to reduce delays by eight percent or more.

5. An advanced traveler information system to deliver personalized, up-to-the-minute transportation information to provide choices for travelers.

 Orion has 10 partners from the public and private sectors. Contributions for Orion include $20 million of state funding and $6 million, or 25% from the private sector. Partners are:

• Minnesota Department of Transportation

• Lockheed Martin Federal Systems

• 3M

• ADDCO Manufacturing

• SmartRoute Systems

• Minnesota Department of Public Safety

• Hennepin County

• City of Minneapolis

• City of St. Paul

• Metropolitan Council Transit Operations

 For more information, please contact Melanie Braun, Orion Education and Outreach Director at (612) 582-1602 (phone), (612) 582-1302 (fax), braun@cs.umn.edu (e-mail) or 1500 West County Road B2, Roseville, MN 55113 (address).

 Pat Irwin is featured speaker at quarterly luncheon: 

The featured speaker at our December 4th quarterly luncheon will be Pat Irwin, Transportation Engineer, Texas Department of Transportation, San Antonio.  Pat manages the TransGuide Operations Center in San Antonio, one of the US DOT’s model deployment cities.  Their integrated center opened in 1995 with centralized signal controls, changeable message signs, and a surveillance system.  This past summer, the building was also occupied by the police department dispatch facility, the para-transit dispatch operation, and the Metropolitan Transit heavy bus division.  ITS World - September/October 1996 “Perspectives on ITS: An Interview with State and Local transportation Engineers”  includes several direct quotes from Mr. Irwin.  We will all benefit from his perspectives and insights into model deployment.  Mr. Irwin is also addressing the Guidestar Board of Directors in the morning.