What is AZTech™?

AZTech™ is a regional traffic management partnership in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. All of the major governmental transportation agencies in the region are members, along with public safety agencies and several private technology and media companies.

The coalition, led by the Maricopa County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) and the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), and working through several collaborating committees, guides the application of ITS technologies for managing regional traffic. The goal is to achieve more efficient mobility, less congestion, and a higher level of safety for travelers throughout the metropolitan area.

AZTech™ began as a Federally-sponsored traffic management Model Deployment Initiative (MDI) in 1996. Its beginnings were an experiment in regional cooperation---on both institutional and technological levels. At its start, AZTech™ was one of four regions in the country seeking to demonstrate successful methods of using technology for traffic management and traveler information.

AZTech™ completed the MDI in 2000. MDI accomplishments represented a validation of new, real-time, technology-driven traffic management and traveler information systems. Building on that success, AZTech™ began a transition in 2005 into a regionally integrated, traffic data sharing, permanent partnership entity. The “Center-to-Center System”--- whereby MDI-validated traffic management tools and information could be shared among traffic and emergency management agencies, in real time---became the central data-sharing system for accomplishing the integration goals that AZTech™ envisioned from the beginning. The AZTech™ Timeline summarizes the key iniatives completed by the partnership.

Throughout the initial demonstration project and continuing into a permanent partnership, AZTech™ has now evolved into a successful regional traffic management entity. The partnership has carefully integrated individual traffic management strategies and technologies for the region’s benefit, yet has retained most operational control protocols important to individual units of government.

Early on, AZTech™ adopted several Values, Goals, and Strategies to guide its growth from a demonstration project to what has become a full-fledged regional partnership:

Values

• Collaboration
• Leadership
• Integration
• Results

Goals

• Integrate the existing Intelligent Transportation System infrastructure (ITI) into a regional system.
• Establish a regional integrated traveler information system.
• Expand the transportation management system for the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Strategies

• Establish Education and Outreach Programs
• Expand & Strengthen Partnerships
• Optimize Regional Operations and Management
• Plan, Develop, & Deploy Integrated Regional Systems
• Research and Test New Technological Opportunities