Drs. Sia Ardekani and Steve Mattingly have received a one-year, $198,692 grant from Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) to develop an integrated traffic management plan to mitigate congestion along major urban travel corridors such as the US 75 Corridor in Dallas. The researchers will be concentrating on two major areas: determine what kind of information is most valuable to commuters/drivers and how to collect and disseminate that information.

The Dallas Integrated Corridor Management Project is one of only two in the U.S. being funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The second site is San Diego, CA. DART is coordinating the North Texas project because it manages the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on major freeways in addition to providing bus and light rail transportation. Telvent, a designer of advanced intelligent infrastructure management tools, is also participating in the project. Other project partners include the Texas Transportation Institute, the Southern Methodist University, and the Texas Southern University.

A prominent feature of the project will be the introduction of a 5-1-1 telephone information service that will provide users with, among others, real-time traffic conditions, alternate routes around congested areas, and recommendations for the use and location of HOV lanes and alternative means of transportation such as buses and light and commuter rail services. A sample of Telvent's SmartNet Software Platform used as the backbone of the 5-1-1 in this project is shown above.