Implementation of CLAIRE, traffic estimation and prediction system, and adaptive traffic control in the US

Over the years, the Federal Highway Administration Research, Development and Technology (FHWA RD&T) has been developing hardware and software tools that will mitigate congested traffic conditions. Some of these tools include the two traffic estimation and prediction system (TrEPS) prototypes and the four traffic adaptive signal control system prototypes. In addition, FHWA has acquired CLAIRE from France. These tools are featured with traffic prediction and proactive control capabilities for real time traffic control and management applications. Two concurrent deployments of the integrated packages are being pursued by FHWA. Houston and Los Angeles were selected for the implementation for a variety of reasons. Some of those are high degree of congestion and dependency on central traffic control. The other motivation was to find forward thinking jurisdictions with sufficient existing infrastructure to reduce implementation costs. Further, having two jurisdictions developing the needed application program interfaces could reduce the implementation costs and increase the probability of the project success.