pacific nw transportation consortium region 10 Pactrans

For many years, the University of Washington’s Smart Transportation Application & Research (STAR) Lab has been developing the Digital Roadway Interactive Visualization and Evaluation Network (DRIVE Net), which is a region-wide, web-based transportation decision support system that adopts digital roadway maps as a base and provides data layers for integrating and analyzing a variety of data sources.

As the years have gone on, more and more tools and functions have been added to the suite of options on the platform. Recently, several safety focused modules, known as Safety Net, have been added as part of a Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) project. “In its current implementation, DRIVE Net demonstrates the potential to be used as a standard tool for incorporating multiple data sets from different fields and as a platform for real-time decision making for the purposes of prioritizing safety improvements on the roadway network. Users of this system can implement their own model to evaluate the safety performance of a corridor or a traffic network. The Potential Safety Improvement Index proposed in the Safety Net can be further utilized and combined in other safety related research or traffic management systems.”

The research team has utilized PacTrans Success Story funding for several subsequent tasks. Firstly, they hosted a WSDOT workshop to show the new Safety Net capabilities and to train them on its functions and use. They also hosted a webinar tutorial of a similar nature. Combined, these two events attracted over 35 agency professionals. Finally, they developed two promotional video: one for a SHRP2 reliability project introduction and tutorial, and the other specifically for Safety Net Training.