Virtual Coordination Center for Multimodal Integrated Corridor Management (VCC)
The Seattle area is among the fastest growing economies in the United States, with increasing city densification and traffic. Half of all traffic congestion is due to incidents such as disabled vehicles, flooded roadways, trucks losing their loads, and more. For every minute a highway lane is blocked, 4 to 10 minutes of traffic congestion results, costing the region millions of dollars in lost economic value. Incidents also lead to secondary collisions, increased fuel consumption, and air pollution. The region recognizes that we cannot simply build our way out of these mobility and environmental problems; we must make more efficient use of the resources we have in place. This means better coordination of operations, improved communications, and more effective deployment of transportation resources to increase safety and maximize mobility.
The Virtual Coordination Center for Multimodal Integrated Corridor Management Project (VCC) is a model deployment of a cloud-based environment that enables regional stakeholders to share a common working environment in support of coordinated mobility management. Agencies will share data within a common virtual workspace that allows transportation managers across all agencies to see incidents as they occur, make more informed decisions, collaborate in real-time to coordinate response, and distribute a unified public message. By creating a robust pool of shared data, VCC will also harness advances in data analytics, machine learning, and predictive modeling to improve regional planning and operations with scalability and portability to locations throughout the state and nation.
The development of VCC is funded in part by a Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment Program (ATCMTD) grant, awarded to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) in September 2020. The University of Washington (UW) is managing VCC using agile development methodologies. An agile approach enhances the end product by involving stakeholders at every stage of development. VCC partners include WSDOT, the City of Seattle (Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Police Department, Seattle Fire Department, Seattle Information Technology), King County Metro Transit, Sound Transit, Washington State Patrol and the Port of Seattle/Northwest Seaport Alliance.
VCC in the News
26 Apr 2021 | AWS Public Sector Blog: “Advice for transportation agencies and authorities seeking funding for innovation”
19 Aug 2020 | Globe Newswire: “Cleartronic Inc.’s (CLRI) Subsidiary ReadyOP Communications, Inc. to Be Part of Team to Create a Virtual Coordination Center for the Greater Seattle Area Highway Systems”
17 Sep 2021 | National Operations Center of Excellence: “Seattle Region’s Multi-Agency Partnership Aims To Deploy Cloud-Based Virtual Coordination Center For Increased Safety And Mobility“