The HELP Program and Crescent Demonstration Project is a bi-national multi-jurisdictional cooperative research and demonstration project involving the public and private sectors in an application of advancing technologies in the creation of an integrated heavy vehicle management system with applications to both highway and vehicle systems. This initiative is a leading example of the Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS) in commercial vehicle operations (CVO).
The selected technologies are being integrated into a heavy vehicle management system. These technologies include: (1) automatic vehicle identification (AVI), (2) weigh-in-motion (WIM), (3) automatic vehicle classification (AVC), (4) data communication networks and systems integration. The program, initiated approximately eight years ago, consists of three phases which include assessing the feasibility of the concept, technical studies involving laboratory and field tests, and, lastly, the demonstration phase. Perhaps the most significant activity of this project centers on the subject of institutional arrangements associated with the integration of emerging technologies with current operational policies and practices, within both government and industry sectors.
The demonstration element of the program, referred to as the Crescent Demonstration Project, began in 1991 and involves six U.S. states and one Canadian province. The project will be phased into a full scale operation over the next three years. It is estimated that the cost of this program to date is approximately $20 million shared by both industry and government in testing this landmark program. This paper provides an overview of the program and the components of the implementation plan.