UDOT outlines 'Connecting the West' V2X expansion to equip signals, buses and snowplows

Blaine Leonard, UDOT's transportation technology engineer, briefed the TAC on May 27 about the agency's connected-vehicle work, describing both the technology and a multi-state deployment called "Connecting the West." He said the work uses the 5.9 gigahertz safety spectrum and V2X radios on the roadside and onboard units in vehicles to enable low-latency two-way communication aimed at safety and mobility benefits.

Blaine said the current federal Accelerating V2X grant will fund an expansion that adds hundreds of roadside units and equips agency vehicles: roughly 480 additional roadside units at signalized intersections (adding to the existing inventory), about 215 more onboard-equipped vehicles (115 UTA buses and 100 UDOT snowplows) and about 250 RSUs along interstates and rural corridors for traveler messaging. He said the overall deployments in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming aim to create a long-running RSU coverage loop along key interstates.

Explaining the safety case, Blaine called the system "a digital seat belt" that could provide drivers with warnings to prevent crashes. He also described LAR-based pedestrian detection at intersections that can alert drivers when someone enters a crosswalk, and noted operational uses already demonstrated, including transit signal priority (improving schedule reliability by roughly 6%), snowplow and emergency-vehicle preemption, and traveler information messages into the vehicle cab (weather, closures, work zones).

Blaine said the data transmitted for basic safety messages is anonymous (location, speed, heading and other vehicle telemetry without VIN or plate information) and that priority requests identifying agency vehicles (for preemption) are handled under policy and agency identification. He added UDOT is procuring a General Motors vehicle with manufacturer-integrated V2X to demonstrate vehicle-side safety applications such as red-light-run warnings.

When Wayne asked whether a city could request RSU deployment on city-owned signals, Blaine replied that UDOT will work with cities and noted there are federal funds available that make local deployments inexpensive now. He emphasized interoperability benefits, saying an ambulance from one jurisdiction would receive preemption in another if both jurisdictions deploy compatible systems.