Intelligent Transportation System
Express Lanes
Express lanes have been regarded as a localized service with projects deployed within individual counties in Orange and upcoming in Los Angeles and Riverside. The success of the 91 Express Lanes is paving the way for more projects throughout the state and across the country. The movement toward more express lanes - both from the perspective of being interconnected and crossing county boundaries in the near future makes this a critical, multi-county issue.
Southern California Regional ITS Architecture 2011 Update
To learn more about express lane services in the region, view the information in the following update documents:
Stakeholders
Stakeholders are identified to accommodate data exchange between the express lane ITS elements in the Southern California Regional ITS Architecture. The updated Southern California Regional ITS Architecture includes the regional transportation planning agencies, as well as those statewide that maintain and operate express lanes:
| Stakeholder | Description |
| California Highway Patrol | California Highway Patrol |
| Caltrans | California Department of Transportation |
| Financial Institutions | Financial and banking institutions that play a role in the transfer of funds for fare collection as well as for other fee based transportation services. |
| Inland Empire Transportation Planning Agencies | This stakeholder represents Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) and the San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG), who jointly operate the Inland Empire 511 system. |
| LA SAFE | Los Angeles County Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies (LA SAFE) |
| Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority | Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) serves as transportation planner and coordinator, designer, builder and operator for LA County. Metro operates over 2,000 peak-hour buses on an average weekday. It also designed, built and operates 73.1 miles of Metro Rail. In addition, Metro funds 16 municipal bus operators and funds a wide array of transportation projects. |
| Regional Express Lane and Toll Road Agencies | This stakeholder represents the private or public agencies that operate express lanes and toll roads. |
| SCAG | The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) has evolved as the largest of nearly 700 councils of government in the United States, functioning as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for six counties: Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura and Imperial. The region encompasses a population exceeding 15 million persons in an area of more than 38,000 square miles. As the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Association of Governments is mandated by the federal government to research and draw up plans for transportation, growth management, hazardous waste management, and air quality. Additional mandates exist at the state level. |
| Traveling Public | Traveling public accessing various modes of transportation, including surface street, air, rail/transit, and non-motorized. |
Inventory
The updated Southern California Regional ITS Architecture added elements that support express lane information flows and data exchanges.
| Element Name | Stakeholder | Element Description | Element Status | Associated Entity |
| 511 MATIS/Go511 | LA SAFE | Regional 511 system providing traffic, transit, ridesharing, and bike info and trip planning. | Existing | Information Service Provider Other ISP |
| CHP Enforcement | California Highway Patrol | Existing | Enforcement Agency | |
| Electronic Toll Administration Centers | Regional Express Lane and Toll Road Agencies | Represents the back office operations or administrative systems of the regional Express Lane operating agencies | Existing | Toll Administration Other Toll Administration |
| Express Lane Field Equipment | Regional Express Lane and Toll Road Agencies | Represents the roadway equipment (e.g. tag readers and DMS signs) | Existing | Roadway Subsystem Toll Collection Other Roadway |
| Express Lane Transportation Management Centers | Regional Express Lane and Toll Road Agencies | Represents the traffic operations centers of the regional Express Lane operating agencies. | Existing | Traffic Management Other Traffic Management |
| Express Lane Traveler Information Systems | Regional Express Lane and Toll Road Agencies | Provides various traveler information outlets with Express Lane related travel information such as travel time and real time toll rates. | Existing | Information Service Provider Other ISP |
| Financial Institutions | Financial Institutions | Financial and banking systems that play a role in the transfer of funds for fare collection as well as for other fee based transportation services. | Planned | Financial Institution |
| Inland Empire 511 | Inland Empire Transportation Planning Agencies | This element represents the 511 system operating in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. | Existing | Information Service Provider Other ISP |
| PeMS | Caltrans | The Freeway Performance Measurement System (PeMS) is a consolidated database of information collected via Caltrans loop detectors from traffic management centers (TMCs) throughout the state. Plans exist to expand PeMS to include arterial and transit data. | Planned | Archived Data Management Subsystem |
| Regional Toll Reconciliation Network | Regional Express Lane and Toll Road Agencies | Administration function that performs payment reconciliation between toll systems in the region. | Planned | Other Toll Administration |
| RIITS | Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority | Regional Integration of Intelligent Transportation Systems (RIITS) provides regional data sharing and exchange, including coordination across all modes of transportation, and is a source of real-time traffic congestion data in the region. | Existing | Information Service Provider Traffic Management Other ISP Other Traffic Management |
| SCAG ERTMIS | SCAG | The Enhanced Regional Transportation Monitoring Information System (ERTMIS) is a tool used to collect and maintain traffic data for performance monitoring and reporting. | Planned | Archived Data Management Subsystem |
| User Personal Computing Devices | Traveling Public | User Personal Computing Devices refers to equipment an individual owns and can personalize with their choices for information about transportation networks. An Internet-connected PC is an example. | Planned | Personal Information Access |
Services
The ITS elements for express lanes in this Southern California Regional ITS Architecture are being implemented through a series of projects led by the regional transportation planning agencies in partnership with Caltrans. Key foundation systems will need to be implemented in order to support other systems and projects. Project sequencing identifies those foundation systems, projects, or infrastructure that are required to be in place for other projects to move forward. The projects included here are intentionally generic in nature and were defined as a part of this architecture development as a means to allow for a theoretical connectivity based on other projects and systems that are already in place. The intent in developing these placeholder projects and identifying sequencing is to allow future project sponsors to identify their own, funded projects within this connected, regional context, and as such to have a starting point for understanding the connectivity needed for an optimized regional system. In some cases, studies may be required prior to full project development and implementation and operational agreements may be necessary for interregional projects to effectively work together.
| Project Title | Description | Services | Status | Timeframe |
| Express Lanes- Automated Enforcement Technologies | This project will implement technologies to automatically detect the occupancy of vehicles in a reliable manner. | EL-ATMS05-1 - HOV Lane Management |
Planned | Long Term |
| Express Lanes-Integration with Regional Fare Systems | Buses operate express or limited stop transit service on HOV and Express Lane facilities. This project will allow transit operators to apply Express Lane charges to transit user accounts. | EL-ATMS10-1 - Electronic Toll Collection - Regional Express Lanes |
Planned | Long Term |
| Express Lane Integration with Regional Trip Planners | This project will allow travelers to plan cross county trips that use Express Lane facilities. The user can access trip cost based on the tolling schedules for the Express Lane operators involved. | EL-ATMS10-1 - Electronic Toll Collection - Regional Express Lanes |
Planned | Medium |
| Express Lane Development | This project represents the development of new express lane projects in the region. | EL-ATMS05-1 - HOV Lane Management EL-ATMS10-1 - Electronic Toll Collection - Regional Express Lanes |
Planned | Short |
| Express Lane Integration with PEMS | PeMS collects and reports performance data for Bay Area HOT facilities. This project will report performance data for Southern California Express Lane and toll road facilities. | EL-AD2-1 - ITS Data Warehouse - Archive Integration |
Planned | Short |
| Express Lanes-Archived Congestion Pricing Performance Data | This project will archive sources of dynamic pricing data - parking and Express Lanes to support regional congestion pricing and planning | EL-AD2-1 - ITS Data Warehouse - Archive Integration |
Planned | Short Term |
| Express Lanes-Integrated Account Services | This project allows Express Lane users to manage accounts for different operating agencies under a single point of access by phone or online. | EL-ATMS10-1 - Electronic Toll Collection - Regional Express Lanes |
Planned | Short Term |
Standards
The Southern California Regional ITS Architecture provides recommended current, relevant standards for each information exchange between express lane ITS projects. Their use is not mandatory. However, in some instances, there may be funding requirements or regional policies that mandate project-specific standards.
