Rancho Cordova Citywide Intelligent Transportation System Project (Finalist)

Location

Citywide

City or County Responsible for Project

City of Rancho Cordova

Category

Safety or Intelligent Transportation System Projects

Author

Albert Stricker

Organization

City of Rancho Cordova

Address

2729 Prospect Park Drive, Rancho Cordova, 95670

Phone

916-851-8713

Project Description

The City of Rancho Cordova (City) is pleased to submit our Citywide Intelligent Transportation System project to the League of California Cities for consideration for an Outstanding Local Streets and Roads Project Award. The City invested $5.5 million to construct an intelligent transportation system (ITS) that fully connected the City network, paves the way for a future with autonomous vehicles, increases safety, and transcends jurisdictional boundaries by providing integration with neighboring Sacramento County (a first of its kind in the region). In 2010, the City of Rancho Cordova prepared an Intelligent Transportation Systems Master Plan that led to two major grants from Caltrans and SACOG for a combined total of $4 million. With the addition of $1.5 million in local funds, the total investment is $5.5 million to install over 20 miles of fiber optic cable, 80 intelligent signal controllers, 40 intersection cameras, and Bluetooth travel time readers on heavily congested Sunrise Boulevard. In addition, the city has upgraded City Hall to include a new Traffic Management Center allowing live monitoring of traffic conditions. The project is highly successful due to careful planning efforts in the early stages of development. We identified that successful implementation of the project would include outreach and coordination with both City and regional stakeholders. Internal City partners included our City Manager, Police, Facilities and IT departments to facilitate full integration. Regional partners included FHWA, Caltrans, the County of Sacramento, and neighboring jurisdictions. A key accomplishment of this coordination is establishment of critical center-to-center integration with the Sacramento County Traffic Operations Center; the first to do this in the area. We recognize the guiding principles of Caltrans Integrated Corridor Management and further regional integration is an important future step. The Citywide ITS Project was constructed with open architecture that will facilitate integration with regional partners that provides efficiency and safety to travelers that transcends jurisdictional boundaries. For example, the City is currently in communication with Caltrans’ emergency operation center, Sacramento Regional Transit, and the Cities of Citrus Heights and Folsom to evaluate options for integration. The newly completed Citywide ITS Project allows the City to proactively improve signal coordination, safety and emergency response while reducing congestion and associated lost productivity and greenhouse gases. The system also includes multi-jurisdictional integration with the County of Sacramento and plans for the future with an open architecture. This multi-pronged effort results in a transportation system that allows citizens to go to work, attend school, and safely return home every day to friends and family.