Technology in Rural Transportation “Simple Solution” #10: Wireless Pagers to Activate Warning Beacons

A variety of advisory road signs are accompanied by beacon lights that flash when messages are critical to travelers.The activation of the beacons to flash is either triggered according to the time of day or by manual adjustment. This simple solution enables beacons to be activated remotely using common pager services and low cost receivers on the road signs. This non-infrastructure intensive method could therefore be beneficial in rural regions. This application was identified as a promising rural Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) solution under a project sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the ENTERPRISE program. This summary describes the solution as well as opportunities for expansion into the broader context of rural ITS.