Pilot aims to improve safety and mobility in Linden and logistics corridors

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 25, 2018 – Today, Smart Columbus released the first in a series of a systems engineering document, known as a Concept of Operations, for the Connected Vehicle Environment pilot funded by the $40 million grant awarded to Columbus as the winner of the U.S. Department Transportation’s Smart City Challenge. The Connected Vehicle Environment (CVE) is one of nine projects within the grant portfolio being managed by the City of Columbus.

The Concept of Operations conveys a high-level view of the system to be implemented from the viewpoint of multiple stakeholders including deployment area residents in Linden neighborhood, Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) and The City of Columbus Department of Public Service. The document is the culmination of months of research and end-user engagement and serves to frame the overall system, sets the technical course for the project, and serves as a bridge between early project motivations and the technical requirements. The Concept of Operations is available for download on the Smart Columbus website.

Project Scope
The foundation for the Connected Vehicle Environment is the Columbus Traffic Signal System (CTSS), which is a high-speed network backbone.  The CVE project will add to the network by creating a transportation network where vehicles can talk to other vehicles, infrastructure, and the Smart Columbus Operating System The network will consist of physical and data infrastructure. Roadside units at intersections and on-board units in vehicles will be installed. Data will be collected, stored and made available for traffic management and other Smart Columbus project applications. 

113 road side units (RSUs) will be installed at intersections with stop lightsUp to 1,800 on-board units (OBUs) will be installed on participating private, emergency, transit and freight vehicles12 vehicle-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-infrastructure applications will be deployed

Applications & Benefits

The following 12 applications were selected because of their high level of development and testing;

Goal: Improve vehicle operator safety

1. Emergency Electronic Brake Light
2. Forward Collision Warning
3. Lane Change Warning/Blind Spot Warning

Goal: Improve intersection safety

4. Intersection Movement Assist
5. Red Light Violation Warning

Goal: Improve school zone safety

6. Reduced Speed in School Zone

Goal:  Improve reliability of transit vehicle schedule adherence

7. Traffic Signal Priority for Transit Vehicles

Goal: Improve emergency vehicle response times

8. Emergency Vehicle Preemption

Goal: Reduce truck wait time at intersections

9. Freight Signal Priority
10. Intent to Platoon Priority

Goal: Improve traffic management capability

11. Vehicle Data for Traffic Operations

Goal: Improve transit management capability

12. Transit Vehicle Interaction Event Recording

Deployment Area
The CV infrastructure deployment will occur along seven major corridors/areas, including 16 of the top 100 high-crash intersections ​in Columbus.

Residential/commercial corridors:

• High St. (from 5th Ave. to Morse Rd.)
• Morse Rd. (from High St. to Stygler Rd.)
• Cleveland Ave. (from 2nd Ave. to Morse Rd.)
• Intersections in the Easton area​

Logistics corridors:

• Alum Creek Dr. (from SR-317 to I-270)
• Trabue Rd. (from Westbelt Dr. to Wilson Rd.)
• Wilson Rd. (from Trabue Rd. to I-70)
• Southgate Dr. (from I-70 to County Club Rd.)
• Morse Rd. (from I-270 to Stygler Rd.)

Stakeholder Engagement
Smart Columbus engaged the following community and technical stakeholders to shape and inform the CVE pilot project:

• Linden community
• CVE Technical Working Group
• Connected Electric Autonomous Vehicle Technical Working Group
• Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA)
• The City of Columbus Department of Public Service

Public Stakeholder Webinar
On Wednesday, July 25 from 2:00 p.m to 3:00 p.m. EST, Smart Columbus will present on the connected vehicle environment plan in a webinar facilitated by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America. This webinar provides an opportunity for residents to learn more about the plan and provide additional feedback, and for other cities to learn from Columbus’ research and progress. Speakers include:

• Mandy Bishop, Program Manager, City of Columbus
• Ryan Bollo, Project Manager, City of Columbus
• Tom Timcho, Senior Systems Engineer, WSP

Attendees may register for the free webinar at http://bit.ly/CVEWebinar. Registration is required to participate. A recording of the webinar will be made available.

Next Steps:

The following are next steps for the Connected Vehicle Environment pilot, subject to change:

• System Requirements Specification : June 2018 – December 2018​
• Interface Control Document : December 2018 – April  2019​
• System Design : February 2019 – August 2019​
• Test Plan​: May 2019 – September 2019​
• Installation Development : June 2018 – March 2019​
• Deploy / Test on roadside and in vehicles: June 2019 – August 2020​
• CV Environment Live: July 2020

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About Smart Columbus
The City of Columbus’ Smart Columbus plan won the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) $40 million Smart City Challenge in June 2016 after competing against 77 cities nationwide to become the country’s first city to fully integrate innovative technologies – self-driving cars, connected vehicles and smart sensors – into its transportation network. Columbus was also awarded an additional $10 million grant from the Paul G. Allen Philanthropies to accelerate the transition to an electrified, low-emissions transportation system. Aligned investments totaling more than $500 million have been made by the private, public and academic institutions in the region to support technology and infrastructure investments that upgrade Columbus' transportation network and help make Columbus the model connected city of the future. Smart Columbus is a regional smart city initiative co-led by the City of Columbus and Columbus Partnership that includes partnerships with The Ohio State University, Battelle, American Electric Power and many more. 

For more information, visit the Smart Columbus website, www.smart.columbus.gov.