Developing an integrated highway information system for safety management using GIS

The majority of agencies responsible for managing the nations public highways recognize the need for an integrated highway information system. Many are in the process of developing such a system, however, the purpose, extent and rate of development of those systems vary widely among agencies. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Act of 1991 mandates the states to develop, establish and implement six management systems of which the Highway Safety Management System is one. The core of the Highway Safety Management System is an integrated highway information system for the collection, storage and retrieval of highway related data in such a way that data from different sources that apply to the same point on, or section of a highway can be correlated or linked. This research has produced a set of procedures which allow the basic requirements of the SMS to be met. A comprehensive set of data elements and their stratifications were identified and collected in the appropriate form to allow integration for the SMS activities identified. Using manual data entry, file transfer and modification, scanning and CAD, the set of spatial and attribute databases were developed for a medium sized city. The data links were then identified, and several entity relationship models were developed to produce proper integration and normalization among the databases. The system was set up using the GIS softwares ARC/INFO and ArcView, and produced a set of databases and maps which can be used by the engineering SMS entities to perform their functions.