Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1347119
April/May/June 2021 I 37 Providing power service to 61 new ITS sites along 35 miles of US33 spanning multiple municipalities in three counties was a daunting task to accomplish within the proposed schedule for construction of the Phase 3 segment of the project. Many of the roadside unit (RSU) pole locations were in remote areas along US33 with no existing power service in proximity to their ITS cabinets. The three local power utility providers were able to connect service to 30 of the ITS cabinets in proximity to existing service. Ohio's Department of Transportation accepted a proposed plan to extend power within the right of way from 14 of these service locations. This proposal required extensive coordination through the design, planning, and construction of the Phase 3 segment of the project. Many of the poles installed on the project included additional ITS traffic management electronic equipment, such as high-resolution traffic cameras and traffic monitoring devices. The RSU poles located near interchanges were 50 feet (15 m) tall for additional field of view over road- way structures, and 40 foot (12 m) poles were installed along most of the unimpeded US33 roadway. The location of the RSU poles was engineered to provide continuous wireless coverage for the Direct Short Range Communications (DSRC) signal along all parts of the US33 SMC. The signal range for DSRC typically reaches over a half mile with high levels of link consistency. The DSRC signal was designed to perform in a high mobility setting with low latency performance for V2I, V2V, and V2X communications. Handling fast information exchanges and changing environments with rapidly changing obstructions at highway speeds is critical for reliable transmission of roadside safety messages (RSMs). Furthermore, US33 SMC decision makers chose a blown cable system versus traditional cable pulling as the primary method of installation, with the exception of some wireless pole applications where it was easier to pull short length cables. WHY A BLOWN/AIR-JETTED CABLE SYSTEM? Conventional cabling through which optical fiber cable is pulled by large work crews into innerduct or mesh ducts and into conduit is the most well-known instal- lation method within the ICT industry. The other two methods are blown cable and blown fiber systems. Many in the ICT industry often mistakenly refer to blown cable and blown fiber systems synonymously as "blown fiber or air-blown fiber," which has caused some confusion about which installation system is being addressed. The term "air-blown fiber" and the various ways it can be written (e.g., air blown fiber) is a protected U.S. registered trademark of a blown fiber system manu- facturer, so the use of that term can only be used by or with permission of that manufacturer. It is important to emphasize that these two systems are distinctly different technologies and fiber installation methods. Unlike blown cable systems, blown fiber systems use optical fiber bundles, rather than cables or micro cables, which are blown into empty tube cables for the formation of the fiber pathway infrastructure. Sometimes the upfront costs of the initial duct infrastructure installation are higher when comparing blown cable to traditional cable pulling, but it depends on many variables associated with a project.Once the blown cable duct or micro duct fiber pathway is completed, then the benefits of a blown cabling system begin. It is also important to understand that blown cable systems can vary considerably per manu- facturer and can provide different types and quality of ducts, maximum cable fiber counts, blowing tech- niques, blowing speeds, and equipment. No two blown cable systems are exactly alike. The same holds true for blown fiber systems. A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showed that 94 percent of crashes are due to human errors.