Acadia National Park ITS Field Operational Test: Acadia National Park data analysis

Coleman, Thomas; Zimmerman, Carrol

From official abstract: "This report is one in a series that presents the results of data used to assess the impact of the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that were part of a field operational test at Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island off the coast of Maine. ITS deployed at Acadia integrates various components that support the region’s needs for transit management, traffic management, and traveler information. Operational data collected as part of normal operations by personnel of the National Park Service at Acadia were used to assess the impact of ITS on three goal areas: productivity and economic vitality, efficiency, and safety. Hypotheses were formulated in the three goal areas and tested with the data. The results indicate some but not all of the hypothesized impacts of ITS were realized. For the goal area of productivity and economic vitality, no direct impact on either gate receipts or donations was able to be tested due to incomplete deployment or inappropriate data. In the goal area of efficiency, the case can be made that the Park’s road and parking resources were utilized more efficiently as a result of ITS on the basis of a greater proportion of visitors using the Island Explorer. In the area of safety, the sharp decline of 55% in vehicular accidents within the Park from 2001 to 2002 suggests that ITS may have played a part attracting people to the Island Explorer rather than use their own vehicles."

Acadia National Park ITS Field Operational Test: Acadia National Park data analysis

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