Grand Canyon Nat'l Park Variable Message Sign

The purpose of this project is to support implementation and evaluation of a VMS/HAR pilot deployment in Grand Canyon National Park.

More than 4.4 million travelers visit the Grand Canyon National Park (GRCA) every year. During summer peak season, the Grand Canyon Village area on the Park’s South Rim experiences heavy traffic and parking congestion. The GRCA proposed a pilot shuttle service to and from Tusayan (a city 5 miles south of the South Entrance Gate) to offer visitors an opportunity for car free travel to the park, to reduce traffic congestion along State Highway (SR) 64 through the South Entrance and within Grand Canyon Village, and improve access to the Canyon View Information Plaza and South Rim of the GRCA, where parking is limited at key destinations. The park started operating the pilot shuttle route on June 1, 2008 and the service will be available until September 1, 2008. Through this project, WTI will conduct tasks to promote and evaluate the shuttle service. Researchers will prepare an operations plan, which will propose the use of a Dynamic Message Sign (DMS) and two Highway Advisory Radios (HAR) on SR 64/US 180. The DMS will be used to report on parking conditions in the park, advise visitors to tune to radio, and report on traffic conditions; the HAR will broadcast transit service information, general park information, and fee options. Two HAR static signs will be used to inform travelers to tune to radio. In addition, the operations plan will provide operations and maintenance guidelines and develop message sets for DMS/HAR systems. The evaluation will analyze the effectiveness of the ITS systems and provide recommendations for future deployment of permanent units.