The Ministry of Construction held its Ministry of Construction ITS Promotion Committee meeting (chaired by Mr. Fumio Harashima, President of Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology) at the Zenshakyo Nadao Hall at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, October 2.

ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) is a new road traffic system that utilizes cutting edge information communication technology. ITS is expected to solve road traffic problems such as traffic accidents, congestion and environmental deterioration and to create a new market of \50 trillion (projected) in the automobile and information communication fields.

The Committee not only introduced the Ministry of Construction�fs major ITS commitments, but also reported on the newly launched Smartway 2001 Project and welcomed suggestions regarding its implementation in the immediate future.

The Smartway 2001 Project proposes new road specifications in the 21^st Century as a platform for diverse ITS developments in order to implement effective and integrated introduction of ITS applications which have been promoted separately: VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication Systems), ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) and AHS (Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System). This is a project to build advanced roads that are epoch-making in their safety and smooth driving by providing precision and standards for roads prepared for ITS (ITS-specified roads) by 2001.

Keeping in mind suggestions received today at the Committee meeting, the Ministry of Construction will coordinate the efforts of a wide range of related people from industry, academia and government to promote the Smartway 2001 Project.

For your information, the Smartway 2001 Project is the new name officially changed from the Super Infra 2001 that was listed in the major policies for 1999 announced in August.