Transportation Management Center Concepts of Operations

This section defines the types of transportation management centers on which theguide is focused, their functions, and their benefits.Definitionof aTransportationManagementCenterThe transportation management center is the hub or nerve center of atransportation management system. It is where information about thetransportation network (freeway system, traffic signal system, or transit vehiclenetwork) is collected and processed, and fused with other operational andcontrol data to produce information. The information is then used by systemoperators to monitor the operations of the transportation system and to initiatecontrol strategies to effect changes in operation. It is also where agencies cancoordinate their responses to transportation situations and conditions.Furthermore, the TMC is the focal point for communicating transportationrelated information to the media and the motoring public. (1)This document is intended to work for any level of centralization/decentralization supporting a metropolitan area, region, or state. The primarycenter may serve as the locus of all transportation management activity, maydirect the actions of the other centers, may merely coordinate the efforts of theother centers, or may interact with the other centers only through thecomplementary exchange of information (potentially including voice, image,data, and video).TMCs around the U.S. work with various levels of distributed approach, varyingfrom the classic central facility to virtual TMCs with workstations at thecomponent agencies, and with those agencies interacting electronically or byradio and telephone. The attractiveness of the virtual approach is that it avoidsa major investment to design, construct, and operate a central facility, and mayallow the involved agencies to avoid creating of full-time staff positionsdedicated to transportation management. The primary drawback of such anapproach is that it depends on longer, less direct lines of communication.Insofar as the concept of operations is concerned, each performs the samefunctions and accomplishes the same interactions and information movement,but through differing communication methods.A Centralized Approach vs. Distributed Approaches2-1