Remembering Philip J. Tarnoff
Prepared by Steve Lockwood
Phil Tarnoff, the Founding Director of the Center for Advanced Transportation Technology (CATT) at the University of Maryland, College Park, died on on June 1, 2023.
Mr. Tarnoff was a leading figure in the development of urban traffic operations, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and Transportation Systems Operations and Management (TSMO) for over 30 years. His career spanned many roles in the industry – consultant to transportation agencies, technology researcher, and systems product developer – as well as an educator. He made important contributions both to systems and technology and to defining the needed supportive institutional framework.
Mr. Tarnoff received a BS in electrical engineering from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1962 and an MS in electrical engineering from New York University in 1964. He worked in research at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory from 1963 to 1966; as an engineer at Control Data Corporation from 1966 to 1967, and as manager of data processing at The Kelly Scientific Corporation from 1967 to 1971. He joined federal highways in 1971, serving as Managing Director of FHWA’s computerized traffic control research.
In 1977, Tarnoff joined PRC-Voorhees, overseeing a range of projects related to traffic control systems involving the development of interactive arterial analysis simulation and guidelines related to both hardware and software. He participated in numerous projects related to urban traffic signal systems – both computerized and conventional – for urban arterials and freeway control. In particular, he managed the design, implementation, operation, and maintenance of an operational traffic control system for both Washington DC and Melbourne Australia.
He left PRC Voorhees in 1984, founding Farradyne Systems to focus on ITS and system integration. The company was subsequently acquired by Parsons Brinckerhoff in 1992 and renamed PB Farradyne. While at Farradyne, Mr. Tarnoff was involved with numerous projects dealing with advanced technology, including the development of an advanced traffic signal control system, the TRANSMIT system, and toll tag-based traffic surveillance systems. He also participated in the development of the Autoscope video surveillance system, and the Pathfinder advanced traveler information system. (PB Farradyne was acquired by Telvent in 2006).
During this period, he expanded his focus to include defining the institutional framework needed to support improved traffic operations. He actively participated in the formation of Mobility 2000 -- the predecessor activity to the formation of ITS America in 1990.
In 1997, Tarnoff left PB Farradyne to take up the position as Founding Director of the Center for Advanced Transportation Technology (CATT) at the University of Maryland, College Park. During the next 13 years, he supplied leadership for projects related to distance learning, ITS, incident response, emergency response and related communications systems, and mobility performance measurement. He was responsible for the provision of support to the Maryland State Highway Administration in connection with their acquisition of the CHART Advanced Traffic Management System. He also led a project that developed a wireless digital network for communications among transportation and law enforcement agencies for the Washington DC region.
During this period, he served as Chairman of the Maryland ITS Working Group, responsible for developing the first statewide ITS architecture through the definition, design, and implementation of an
interoperable network of ITS systems throughout the state. He was also active in ITS America’s Coordinating Council, the Strategic Planning Subcommittee, and the ITS Future’s Group. Phil was instrumental in re-thinking traffic monitoring and surveillance using 3rd party probe data (GPS equipped vehicle fleets, cellular geolocation or a combination of the two) for both freeways and signalized arterials. In 2005, he led the initiative to establish the cooperative arrangements with FHWA to establish the acclaimed Operations Academy Senior Management Program which continues to this day as a key resource in mainstreaming TSMO.
Following his retirement from the UMD in 2008, he served as the Chairman of the Board for Traffax Inc., a company that produced Bluetooth based equipment for accurately measuring travel times and origin-destinations of vehicular and pedestrian traffic and co-owned important patents. Traffax was instrumental developing applications of 3rd party probe data --– including application in the I-95 Corridor Coalition Vehicle Probe Project.
In 2011, he published the Road Ahead –subtitled “Why are we driving 21sty Century Cars on 20th Century Roads with 19th Century Thinking” which presented his perspective regarding necessary improvements in the Nation’s transportation programs to capitalize on new technology and systems, highlighting the dilemma of a system that is operated by agencies that emphasize construction rather than operations. The book contains a range of unique suggestions for restructuring the existing transportation industry built on his lifetime of relevant experience.
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