DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM DESIGN - ART OR BLACK MAGIC?

The advent of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) brought a new perspective to the value of actively "operating" the surface infrastructure. Prior to ITS, Departments of Transportation were well equipped to" manage" the infrastructure but the time focus was on months and years. Deployment of ITS traffic management systems has changed all of that. Traffic and transient event information has become available in a real-time basis. Traffic management systems and supporting "command centers" are being designed and deployed to combine this information with an operations staff that can actively operate the network. Unfortunately there is not a wealth of empirical information concerning design aspects of an integrated system and its supporting center(s). Then the events of 9/11 caused the transportation community to look beyond the boundaries of their systems. This new focus has exacerbated the system's design considerations because the DOTs are now expected, and have the desire, to interact and support other agencies that have the principal responsibility to respond to these events. This paper talks to the inter-relationship of a command center that supports a traffic management decision support system and addresses those uncontrollable external variables impacting the design and the subsequent operation of the system. It also addresses how designs may be altered to ensure the traffic management system can efficiently and rapidly interact with Principal Responding Agencies throughout planning, response and recovery stages for disasters, regional events and terrorist situations.