The Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) established the ITS Costs Database as a national resource for transportation professionals to go to in order to obtain cost estimates for ITS deployments. The purpose of the ITS Costs Database is to support informed decision-making by transportation leaders.

The ITS Costs Database contains estimates of ITS costs that can be used for developing project cost estimates during the planning process or preliminary design phase, and for policy studies and cost-benefit analyses. Both non-recurring (capital) and recurring (operating and maintenance) costs are provided where possible.

Two types of cost data are available: unit costs and system cost summaries. System cost summaries are the costs of an ITS project or portion of an ITS project such as the cost of expanding a statewide road weather information system or the detailed costs for a signal interconnect project. Each entry describes the background of the project, the ITS technologies deployed, and presents the costs and what the costs covered. A breakout of components and costs is provided for most summaries depending on the information available. Both capital costs and annual O&M costs are presented whenever possible. Unit costs are the costs associated with an individual ITS element, such as a video camera for traffic surveillance or a dynamic message sign. A range of costs (e.g., $500 - $1,000) is presented for the capital cost and annual operations and maintenance (O&M) cost of each element as well as an estimate of the length in years of its usable life. Unit costs are available in two formats: unadjusted and adjusted. Unadjusted costs are presented as the original value along with the dollar year.