Mobility 2000

The North Central Texas Council of Governments (MPO) regional transportation plan – named Mobility 2000, was the first major metropolitan area planning project that was given the mandate to design a comprehensive plan utilizing the concepts of the ‘intelligent highway’ technology. ‘Superhighway’ is the label that was given to describe an ‘intelligent highway’ to differentiate it from an ordinary, non-automated highway.

The regional transportation study, Mobility 2000 for the Dallas-Fort Worth was completed in 1986.¹ Two years later, after a conference attended by various groups involved in road and traffic management, a national special interest group was formed. They named themselves Mobility 2000.²

“In 1988, Mobility 2000 was formed to develop a national program of automated highway technology, which eventually evolved into Intelligent Transportation systems (ITS). Mobility was the organizational precursor to ITS America, of which AASHTO [American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials] was a founding member”.³

“Founded in 1988, Mobility 2000 was an informal assembly of industry, university, and government representatives created to promote the use of advanced technologies to improve highway safety and efficiency. The initiative was formalized in 1991, when the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) was enacted, and the national Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (IVHS) program was established. A growing sense soon developed in the IVHS community, especially in the public transit arena, that “intelligent vehicle highway systems” did not embrace all the transportation modes addressed in the national IVHS program. In 1994, the national IVHS program was renamed the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), to clarify the multi-modal intent.” ⁴

“In 1991, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) provided this initial funding and authorized the organization to be a Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Among its first major tasks was the development of a strategic plan for ITS deployment in the U.S. The document was a collaborative effort among the organization’s membership and the U.S. DOT set a national framework for guiding the development of intelligent transportation systems.”⁵

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¹North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), Metropolitan Planning Organization, Regional Transportation Study, Mobility 2000. http://www.nctcog.org/trans/mtp/previous/mob2000.asp

² U.S. Dept of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Lyle Saxton, “Mobility 2000 and the Roots of IVHS”
http://www.itsdocs.fhwa.dot.gov/JPODOCS/BRIEFING/9003.pdf (original) https://thetechnocratictyranny.com/PDFS/itsdocs_fhwa_dot_JPODOCS_Briefing_9003.pdf (recovered)

³Siradol Siridhara, Virginia Tech Digital Library, ‘AHS Maglev System Architecture’, Dissertation, URN: etd-100799-120014, 8/23/1999, https://theses.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-100799-120014/
section referenced: Introduction – Page 2, https://theses.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-100799-120014/unrestricted/1introduction.PDF

⁴ I-70 Rural IVHS Corridor Master Plan, Colorado Dept of Transportation, De Leuw, Cather & Company, April 1996, 660205-01450 Appendix C–ITS Acronyms http://www.itsdocs.fhwa.dot.gov/edldocs/3825/app-c.pdf https://www.thetechnocratictyranny.com/PDFS/IVHS_CO_Corridor_Plan_3825.pdf (Full Report Recovered) http://www.channelingreality.com/NAU/IVHS/History_Docs/Corridor_master_Plan_CO_DOT_Appendix_C.pdf (Appendix only recovered)

⁵ Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) history, ITS America website
http://www.itsa.org/itsa_history/c48/Inside_ITSA/ITS_America_History.html (orginal) https://www.thetechnocratictyranny.com/PDFS/ITS_America_History_Inside_ITSA.pdf (Recovered) (Note: former name was Intelligent Vehicle Vehicle Highway Society (IVHS)) ITSA website renamed http://itsamerica.org/