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The Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) has introduced the Microwave Vehicle Detection System (MVDS) in the past few years. Together with the existing Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) system, Dynamic Message Signs (DMS), Electronic Toll Collections (ETC), Active Traffic Management (ATM) system, etc. on their expressways, the system is equipped with comprehensive Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) facilities. These instruments have the capability to monitor the traffic conditions and communicate with motorists in real-time. Given the advantages brought by each ITS system, one question arises: how to achieve better system performance based on these systems?

The performance of urban expressway system could be viewed from multiple perspectives. Congestion, travel time reliability, safety and emergency response are all regarded as crucial performance indicators. Therefore to improve each of them based on the existing ITS facilities relies on clear understanding of the strength of each individual system and creative methods to combine them into an integrated system.

The main objectives of this proposed research is to explore the use of different ITS systems for expressway performance improvement. Evaluations of congestion and safety have been conducted in a previous project with CFX. Hence this proposal focuses on the congestion and safety improvement through simulation and travel time estimation.