America is falling further behind other industrialized nations regarding the use of new technologies to address major transportation congestion, safety, and environmental problems, according to a report released recently by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

"Explaining International IT Application Leadership: Intelligent Transportation Systems" explores why the United States has developed fewer intelligent transportation technologies compared to nations such as Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. It was released at a seminar led by Robert Atkinson, ITIF president.

"The report should be a serious wake-up call to our nation's transportation leaders and policymakers as to why the U.S. is not staying competitive in the international market," said panel member Scott Belcher, president and CEO of the trade group ITS America. "Other industrialized nations have learned that a major key to transportation efficiency and economic growth is by deploying intelligent transportation systems to allow for the safe and easy movement of goods and people. We have the opportunity to reverse this disparity if we don't continue to ignore 21st century technology in addressing our transportation problems."

The report offers recommendations on how the U.S. government can accelerate the deployment of ITS to remain economically competitive with other industrialized nations. It suggests that Congress:

• significantly increase funding for ITS, by $2.5 to $3 billion annually, including funding for large-scale demonstration projects, deployment, and the ongoing operations and maintenance of already-deployed ITS technology;
• expand the remit of DOT's ITS Joint Program Office to move beyond research and development to include deployment;
• tie federal surface transportation funding to states' actual improvements in transportation system performance;
• charge DOT with developing, by 2014, a national real-time traffic information system, particularly in the top 100 metropolitan areas, with this vision including the significant use of probe vehicles; and
• authorize a comprehensive research and development agenda that includes investments in basic research, technology development, and pilot programs to begin moving to a mileage-based user-fee system by 2020.

More information is available at tinyurl.com/ITIF012710.