It is only fitting to report that when I clicked on the link to the DOT traffic map, it took along time to load. Almost like there was a lot of traffic or something. The Advocate’s Martin Cassidy, of the Advocate, does the reporting on what the DOT thinks this map is doing for the public.
A highlight:
The map was part of the DOT’s efforts to expand its “intelligent transportation” technologies to give drivers real-time travel information, he said.
“The department has been moving to use technology to help travelers plan their trips, and for us, this is really just phase one,” Nursick said. “We want to provide the traveling public with accurate real-time travel information in the state of Connecticut.”
Right, nothing like real-time information from my computer, which sits in its bag on the passenger seat while I drive around the state. Real time traffic info sort of works off GPS devices. At least they can real-time reroute you once you click on reroute. Of course GPS devices are under pressure by mobile phones that have GPS services like maps and driving directions. The irony is that all these devices, according to CT lawmakers, shouldn’t be used in the car. Distracted driving they call it. Nothing like trying to be distracted in the bumper to bumper 2 MPH crawl that I-95 is most weekdays in the rush hour to Stamford and the rush hour to Bridgeport in the morning and afternoons respectively.
If the DOT actually wanted to provide useful real-time traffic information, they would have abandoned the big green static signs that alert you to the two directional options in Connecticut, North and South, any which way you go, and tell you something useful, like alternate routes, how many minutes it is to the next exit/town and if there’s an accident or construction actually happening. Sure, they have those big mobile signs that cryptically attempt to let you know there’s an accident, or traffic, but they place those in the strategic spots after you’ve already entered the highway system.
Having real-time informational signs on entering the highway would of course make too much sense. As you pull into exit 16, a real-time informational sign could let you now that Westport exit 17 was 10 minutes, and Bridgeport exit 27 was 45 minutes. You could then make a real-time decision about an alternate route, or just know that your commute was now 45 minutes to Bridgeport. Instead the DOT likes to tell you how many miles of traffic there is. About as useful as knowing how many red cars are currently driving on the road.
Part of the problem in why we get such lame DOT technology is because the DOT, despite the new commissioner, Joseph Marie, is still staffed by people who seemingly haven’t ever left Connecticut. If DOT workers ever left Connecticut, they would see that there’s a whole world of real-time traffic technology used by DOTs around the country and in Europe that put the information on the roads, and not in the homes. Commercial software developers will build the applications to deliver traffic information, what the DOT needs to do is build the information infrastructure tied to the transportation system. That means the very unsexy sensors in roads, cameras on roads, and massive grid network connecting all of it to present a real, real-time information snap shot of the system.
When you click on the map of course, you’ll see the same info the DOT has been providing for years, accident reports several hours old. Vague alerts of traffic build up between two exits, and the latest IT busywork project, a new interface to essentially a Google traffic map. Out tax dollars apparently hard at work.
