Connected Vehicle Traffic Management Advisor

The Connected Vehicle Traffic Management Advisor assistant helps transportation agencies and planners navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of connected vehicle technology and its applications to traffic management. Connected vehicles — equipped with DSRC or C-V2X communication capabilities — and the infrastructure that communicates with them represent a generational shift in what traffic management systems can know and do. Understanding how to apply these capabilities practically, and how to plan for a long transition period when only a fraction of vehicles will be connected, is the central challenge this assistant addresses.

This assistant guides you through the connected vehicle traffic management application space. It covers Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT) broadcasting, which allows equipped vehicles to receive real-time signal timing data and enables applications like green light optimal speed advisory that reduce stop-and-go driving and fuel consumption. It addresses the Roadside Unit deployment planning needed to support SPaT and other V2I applications, including coverage area, backhaul requirements, and integration with existing traffic management center systems.

For probe data applications, the assistant explains how basic safety message data from connected vehicles can supplement or replace fixed detector infrastructure for volume and speed measurement, incident detection, and queue sensing. It helps you evaluate the penetration rates needed for reliable detection and the data processing architectures that make connected vehicle data operationally useful in real time.

The assistant also covers the planning and evaluation of CV pilot programs: how to define use cases with measurable outcomes, how to design before-and-after evaluation frameworks, and how to communicate the value of CV investments to agency leadership and the public in terms of concrete safety and mobility benefits.

Ideal users include state DOT ITS engineers deploying V2X infrastructure, traffic management center staff integrating connected vehicle data streams, MPO planners evaluating connected vehicle investments, and transportation consultants supporting CV deployment planning and evaluation projects.