THE MOBILE TMC: MARRIAGE OF THE OLD AND THE NEW

Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) has been expanding their ITS deployment both geographically and in terms of added functionality and upgrade of some aging systems. This paper will describe some of these activities as they relate to the tunnel and freeway management facilities in ALDOT, Division 9, in Mobile. The ALDOT's Tunnel Operation Facility currently operates three tunnel tubes, two of which are Interstate facilities, an 8.5 mile elevated freeway over Mobile Bay, and the Cochran Bridge. The new Transportation Management Center (TMC) that has been constructed immediately next to the old Tunnel Operation Facility is take over the management of the above facilities and expansion of the coverage area to include over 65 miles of freeway facilities. This paper describe some of the challenges and solutions of integrating the older tunnel facilities with newer ITS devices and systems working together from one TMC. It describes the various electro-mechanical components and systems that had to be accessible by the TMC and the approach that was used to computerized the monitoring and control of these components and systems.