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Vanderbilt Center for Transportation
and Operational Resiliency (VECTOR)

TDOT SmartWay Information System (TSIS)

Vanderbilt University began development of the TDOT Smartway Information System (TSIS) in 2001. The system began as a prototype and was officially delivered and deployed on TDOT servers in 2004. Vanderbilt and TDOT IT continue to refine and enhance the system’s internal and public website components.

TSIS is a web-based system that enables TDOT field personnel to enter information about construction and maintenance activities, incidents and weather-related road conditions. Users make selections to designate roadway segments on which the events are occurring, information about the activity, its impacts, and real-time updates based on the most current information available. As selections are made to describe the activity and road conditions, the system composes a formatted email message. Once the activity or road condition is created, updated and/or deleted, the email is immediately sent to the appropriate TDOT management personnel. These messages have eliminated the need for field personnel to call headquarters, fax project information, and spend time composing an email message for reporting construction and maintenance activities. Additionally, there is now an archive of information about operational activities in the field.

The information is displayed in geographically on TDOT’s Smartway website, by using an Internet Geographic Information Systems (GIS). By using linear referencing tools (mapping events based on route and mile marker data), the activities and road conditions are displayed in a map where more detailed information may be obtained by hovering a mouse pointer over the icon representing roadwork, incidents and weather-related road conditions. Users may customize their display and choose to turn on/off specific layers such as traffic detection cameras, dynamic message signs, incidents, roadwork, weather conditions and real-time travel speeds.

The TSIS database serves Tennessee’s 511 travel information service, which was released to the public during 2006. By dialing 511 on any phone (in Tennessee), callers may specify via voice prompts which city, route and/or type of information they are interested in hearing. The 511 service then retrieves and “speaks” the most current information from TSIS.

For more information on this project, please contact Dr. James Dobbins.