Coming to a freeway near you: Those Caltrans message boards -- mostly useless, save a few Amber Alerts here or there and the holiday weekend bitch slap "Arrive Alive! Don't Drinka and Drive" -- may have finally found a purpose.
Steve Martin, of course, famously interacted with the Caltrans boards in "L.A. Story." But the signs will now be used to give traffic information to road-raging motorists.
The L.A. Times reports in today's edition:
Caltrans is posting estimated travel times on 14 electronic freeway signs across the region, part of a pilot program that the agency eventually hopes to expand.
On the westbound Santa Monica Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, a flashing sign told motorists that the drive to the San Diego Freeway should take 10 minutes. The sign was so jarring that traffic nearly came to a halt as motorists slowed to read it. But past the sign, congestion cleared, and the trip actually took about seven minutes.
The information on the signs comes from 15,000 sensors Caltrans has placed on freeways to measure traffic speed. The fiber optic system has a sensor every half mile of urban freeway, transmitting information every 30 seconds.
Traffic info is already plastered on similar signs in San Francisco and Chicago. Now, if drivers learn to keep their foot on the accelerator while passing under said signs, I think we'll be in business.
(Photo credit: Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times)
No comments:
Post a Comment