Survival and institutionalization of an idea: The rapid rise of intelligent vehicle-highway systems

Changes in existing institutions and/or the creation of new institutions often follow changes in political agendas and the acceptance of new ideas as viable policy solutions. This article describes the rise of a new policy solution in the early 1990s, an integrated set of transportation technologies-initially referred to as "intelligent vehicle-highway systems"(IVHS)-and its subsequent survival and institutionalization. As a theoretical contribution, this article expands on the agenda-setting framework of Kingdon (1995) and the subsequent work of Baumgartner and Jones (1993) on the nexus between agenda access and institutions. Tracing changes in existing institutions within the transportation policy domain, as well as the creation of a new institution devoted to the advocacy of this technology, this study illustrates the significance of ideas and institutions in the public policy process.