The Florida-Alabama Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) has designated the Escambia-Santa Rosa Regional Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) Project as the number one (1) priority in the TPO’s Fiscal Year 2017 - 2021 project priority list. In 2015, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) funded and entered into a Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with the City of Pensacola to administer the development of the Escambia-Santa Rosa Regional ATMS Feasibility Study and Implementation Plan. The feasibility study will define a comprehensive plan to update and modernize traffic management tools and capabilities to prepare and assist the local agencies to meet their increasingly complex future transportation challenges. The Implementation Plan will be a blueprint for the modernization of the traffic signal systems maintained by Escambia County, Santa Rosa County, the City of Pensacola, the City of Milton and the City of Gulf Breeze. The projected completion date of the Regional ATMS Feasibility Study and Implementation Plan is Spring of 2016. 

An ATMS includes a regional computerized signal system and selected Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) components such as communications and networking, traffic signals, dynamic message signs (DMS), closed-circuit television (CCTV) video monitoring, incident detection, data collection and monitoring system, traffic operations center, regional center-to-center communications, and a public information portal. The ATMS benefits include improvements to safety, air quality mitigation, congestion mitigation, emergency response, regional growth adaptability, evacuations, system communications, cross-jurisdictional traffic flow, integration of transportation systems, regional security and transportation agency operations, and reduction in operations and maintenance costs by providing capabilities to remotely troubleshoot hardware and traffic operations before sending a technician to a traffic signal site.

There will be significant cost and time savings from the joint participation and partnership in all aspects of the regional ATMS and regional Transportation Management Center (TMC) development, deployment, operation and maintenance. FDOT encourages the creation of a unified ATMS and TMC for Escambia County, Santa Rosa County, the City of Pensacola, the City of Milton, and the City of Gulf Breeze. As such, FDOT has requested the Board’s consideration to adopt the attached Resolution expressing its support for construction and operation of a unified ATMS and TMC for the Escambia County and Santa Rosa County region. The purpose of this Resolution is to support inter-agency cooperation between the FDOT, Escambia County, Santa Rosa County, the City of Pensacola, the City of Milton and the City of Gulf Breeze for the implementation and operation of the proposed ATMS and TMC. Though this Resolution is non-binding, it supports the development of a future Joint Project Agreement (JPA) that will be binding, and is executed specifically for addressing project administration and funding associated with the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the ATMS and TMC.

Currently, local agencies are reimbursed by FDOT for maintenance of signals along state roads. The Florida-Alabama TPO has also set aside $300,000 annually for operation of the signals in Escambia County, Santa Rosa County, the City of Pensacola, the City of Milton and the City of Gulf Breeze. Staff intends to request the TPO to increase the amount of these funds to provide for operation of the proposed ATMS and TMC. Based on staff’s recent conversations and meetings with FDOT staff, FDOT has agreed to provide funding assistance for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of the proposed ATMS and TMC.