The federal funds will provide more than $5 million toward the $8.3-million project in Texas as well as one in San Diego.

The effort is designed to engage the planning, technology and infrastructure resources of various cities and governments along the corridor from Dallas to Plano in improving mobility instead of the traditional approach of managing individual assets. ICM agencies will manage as an integrated asset.

The project is a collaborative effort between DART, Dallas, Highland Park, Plano, Richardson, University Park, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the North Texas Tollway Authority, Texas Transportation Institute, University of Texas at Arlington, Southern Methodist University, Telvent Farradyne Inc., and the Texas Dept. of Transportation. Dallas and San Diego were selected to conduct a demonstration of the ICM concepts on a large scale.

In an ICM corridor, commuters could receive information about the entire transportation network to help improve corridor decisions related to travel. For example, a commuter planning to use U.S. 75 from Richardson to Dallas might choose a side road or ride DART Rail if informed of a major traffic tie-up.

The grant will fund the development and deployment of a Dallas “511” real-time traveler information system and support integrated operation of the U.S.-75 corridor. The ICM System will collect data on the transportation network. Partners will share incident, construction and special event information.

When traffic conditions change due to demand, incidents, or inclement weather, agencies can make quick changes to traffic signal timing on arterials and frontage roads and direct travelers to alternate roads or transit.