ATIS Evaluation Framework

This report documents the results of five Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) project evaluations performed for the Washington State Department of Transportation. The projects encompassed a range of devices in both urban and rural environments. Guidelines and lessons learned for planning and operating ATIS programs were then developed from the evaluation results. These observations were clustered into common themes in the areas of maintenance, rural projects, project management, staffing, training, support, and customer response. As part of this effort, a standardized approach for evaluating ATIS projects was developed. The approach was designed to focus on technical, management, and organizational lessons learned. The method was effective in producing useful information about ATIS benefits and deployment issues. Using that approach, an additional nineteen required ATIS evaluations will be performed in a second project phase. The additional evaluations will also provide an opportunity to further verify and strengthen the initial lessons learned, as well as to expand the method.