This summer, drivers will be able to call 511 from their cars and find highway trouble spots before it's too late.
By STEPHEN HEGARTY
Published June 10, 2004
Those odd-looking poles popping up along the interstate could make life more bearable for commuters.
Starting late this summer, Tampa Bay area motorists will be able to call 511 and get free information on traffic conditions such as volume, accidents and road closures.
The information, taken from traffic sensors mounted on the 40-foot-tall poles, will cover the interstate system in Hillsborough, Pinellas and a little bit of Pasco.
With the August debut of the Advanced Traveler Information System, the Tampa Bay area will join 21 traffic-jammed areas around the country - including the Miami-Dade and Orlando areas - using the 511 system.
Each system already logs thousands of calls a day.
"I can't tell you how cool this is," said Suzanne Pagano, a bank representative in South Florida who routinely uses the 511 system several times a day. "I'm in my car all day, and I want to avoid the traffic jams if I can."
Eventually, the Federal Highway Administration envisions an interconnected 511 system covering, at a minimum, the nation's web of interstate highways. Nationwide, the system logged more than a million calls in March.
The first step is to design and launch systems in communities such as the Tampa Bay area, then get motorists to use them.
"We hope this is going to become a regular part of what people do; if you're going to drive somewhere, dial 511," said Mary E. Peters, the administrator for the Federal Highway Administration in Washington. "This is going to be as commonplace as dialing 911 or 411 is now."
The Florida Department of Transportation is spending more than $5-million over five years to launch the system and keep it running around the clock. It has a contract with Mobility Technologies of Wayne, Pa.
This summer, the local DOT district will heavily promote the dial-up system. The state is trying to work out an agreement with Verizon, whose cell phone customers had been shut out of the 511 system in other Florida cities. All telephones could access the 511 system.
The goal in the next couple of months is to get the word out to everyone in the Tampa Bay area with a telephone and a car.
"Reading' traffic
Paul Tarbay is beyond being surprised by traffic jams.
On his 80-minute commute from Fort Lauderdale to Miami each work day, slowdowns are as predictable as muggy mid afternoons in Miami.
One recent morning, traffic came to a dead stop on Interstate 95.
"Anything out of the ordinary like that, I call 511 to see what I can find out," said Tarbay, a civil engineer.
Within minutes, he knew the backup was caused by an overturned gravel truck and that it occurred several miles ahead.
"At that point, you can make a decision," said Tarbay said, who dials 511 a few times a week. "If it's 1 mile ahead, maybe you sit tight. If it's 10 miles ahead, you need to find another route."
The Tampa Bay 511 system is going to be more advanced than Miami-Dade's.
It will be be voice-activated. After a motorist calls 511, the system responds to voice commands, allowing drivers to keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel.
Miami-Dade's system, which debuted in 2002 is not yet voice activated, but is expected to be this summer.
The backbone of the system in Tampa Bay will be a series of roadside traffic sensors.
Many already are in place along the interstates. The sensors register the number of vehicles and their speed. That information is fed into a computer that figures out where traffic is slow or stopped.
Soon, the Tampa Bay area will have 100 such sensors powered by solar panels at the top of the poles. A backup battery powers the sensors at night and on cloudy days.
The system will cover roughly 80 miles of pavement as far south as the Sunshine Skyway in Pinellas, as far north as State Road 56 in Pasco County and nearly as far east as Plant City in Hillsborough County.
The sensors are part of what DOT officials call "the enhanced system."
That's the top tier of a larger strategy called the Intelligent Transportation System.
That system brings together the high tech - roadside sensors and cameras - and the traditional - calls to the Florida Highway Patrol and emergency medical services - to create a constantly updated picture of what's going on along Tampa Bay area roads.
With all that data collected 24 hours a day, the 511 system can provide callers with warnings about major traffic messes, even if they are not picked up by traffic sensors along the interstate.
General information will be available for most major roads in the area. That includes dozens of roads such as U.S. 19, Ulmerton Road and Park Boulevard in Pinellas, as well as Dale Mabry Highway and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in Hillsborough, and State Road 54 in Pasco.
The sensors also will provide the Department of Transportation with loads of information on interstate traffic trends. The data also will be used by law enforcement to determine where motorists routinely violate speed limits.
Traffic slow? How slow?
The "enhanced" system - combining the high-tech and the traditional - initially will be limited to the interstate system. That's where the roadside sensors are.
But that will change.
"We're going to continue expanding and updating," said Bill Wilshire, the program manager for the Intelligent Transportation System for the local DOT district. "As we expand we'll have sensors on these other roads, too."
That enhanced system will provide the usual alerts and general information. But it will also tell motorists if traffic is slow, and just how slow it is.
For instance, a caller might bypass the general alerts and direct the computer to provide information on a particular segment of the interstate.
The computer might disclose that a commute from State Road 56 in Pasco to downtown Tampa will involve a 20-minute delay.
The slowdown might not be the result of an accident. It could be triggered by someone stopping to change a tire near the Busch Boulevard exit. The sensors would know that traffic is creeping along between, say, Fletcher Avenue and Busch.
One of the challenges is to create a system in which callers are not confused and the computer recognizes what they want. Most motorists probably don't have a clue where State Road 589 is because they know it as the Veterans Expressway. The computer can offer both choices.
Transportation officials expect that roughly half the nation will have some kind of 511 system in place by late 2005. If widely used, federal officials say, highways will be safer and traffic jams will be alleviated simply because motorists will know to avoid them.
The trick will be to market the system so the three numbers become a regular part of motorists' vocabulary.
"We're still working on that," said Jesus Martinez, the ITS administrator for the DOT district in south Florida.
That system gets more than a million calls a year. But many are from the same callers who dial up several times a day. That means millions of other motorists aren't using the system.
"This is a great tool to help you beat the traffic; it's amazing that some people still aren't using it," Martinez said. "We have to get them to call."
