Intelligent Transportation System

In Southern California, there are several Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) architectures that may be applicable to an ITS project, depending on how far reaching the project is. Each County has developed a Regional ITS Architecture. In addition, as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), SCAG has developed a Southern California Regional ITS Architecture that addresses multi-county issues: those projects, programs, and services that require connectivity across county boundaries or are deployed at a multi-county level. A third "layer" is also in place at the state level: the California ITS Architecture and System Plan addresses those services that are rolled out or managed at a state level or are interregional in nature. Project sponsors are responsible for ensuring that their projects maintain consistency with the regional architectures, regardless of which architecture applies, as a requirement for federally funded projects.

A Regional ITS Architecture provides a framework for ITS planning that promotes interoperability and communication across jurisdictional boundaries. Projects developed under a regional framework extend the usefulness of any single project by making information easily accessible for operators and users of the system.

In the time between 2005, when the Southern California Regional ITS Architecture was developed, and 2011, as it is being updated, there have been several changes. The National ITS Architecture has been updated to reflect new user services, Southern California has continued as a national leader in ITS deployment with extensive ITS investments, and new technology applications have emerged. The 2011 update to the Southern California Regional ITS Architecture will reflect changes since 2005 and position the architecture to guide future ITS deployments as new technologies emerge. Topics covered in this 2011 update include express lanes, positive train control, technologies in support of non-motorized transport, and goods movement in addition to the updates for other cross-county services such as to address traveler information, regional data exchange and archiving of regional data. Additionally, recommendations are made to subregional (county-level) ITS Architecture champions for their consideration in the event that changes are desired to be made at the county level for the associated topic. The Southern California Regional ITS Architecture leverages long standing investments in ITS by fostering coordination and cooperation among public agency stakeholders.

To find out more about the Regional ITS Architecture and the new developments addressed in the 2011 update, click on the icons below.

Using the Southern California Regional ITS Architecture

The Regional ITS Architecture is intended to provide a resource for project sponsors and transportation that coordinates cross-county planning efforts in the SCAG region and facilitates project development (planning, design, implementation, etc.).

Regional ITS projects, or transportation projects, both highway and transit, with ITS elements, which want to be eligible for the use of Federal transportation funds, are required to be consistent with the Regional Architecture pursuant to 23 CFR 940.9 and 940.11. In addition, such projects must comply with system engineering requirements and applicable Federal standards that have been adopted for the implementation of ITS.

Learn how to use the Regional ITS Architecture as a resource for Project Planning and Project Development.

Contact

If you have questions or comments, please contact Alan Thompson at (213) 236-1940 or email at thompson@scag.ca.gov

Downloads

The architecture update documents and updated Turbo architecture database files can be downloaded here. The subregional Turbo architecture database files and architecture documents are available as well.