MassTraveler.com is a free public information website at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Regional Traveler Information Center (RTIC) made possible in a cooperative effort with the MassDOT. And now in addition to live webcam feeds seen at left, the website features a new application that will allow drivers to see all the travel and construction advisories in the state at a glance.
MassDOT Travel Advisories is a web page with an interactive map, with every advisory in the state marked with an orange traffic cone icon. Click on any cone for information about that location.
Information about each advisory is provided by MassDOT though their Event Reporting System under the Massachusetts Open Data Initiative.
The RTIC’s MassTraveler website provides links to webcams at key intersections in the Pioneer Valley; a bus tracker for the UMass bus system; travel advisories; current traffic conditions on Routes 9 and 116; and a link to Mass511.
This enhanced advisory service is welcome in that it is much more user friendly than the version currently on the MassDOT webpage.
The information provided though is only as good as the data used to generate it. The info provided for MassDOT's Event Reporting System is often out-of-date or incomplete. There are still construction notices up from months ago where only the start date of a one day only event was entered. Because the same date wasn't put in as an end date, these still show up on the map (a SE Expressway notice for February is the most dated I've found). Also, it would be helpful if the fields for provided information were completely filled in. While it's nice to know there's a construction project going on, there is a field to say what the project is as well. This field though has not been filled in for several months. This would be helpful for the new site, especially when the provided lane diagram for an event shows no closings. Was the because the lane data was not entered? Does this indicate the project closing all lanes periodically? Is the project not effecting traffic? A visitor currently cannot tell.
It also would be useful to update the site when an event is called off due to weather or other circumstances. Sometimes there is a notice for a 2-lane closure on a major highway. When I've viewed the area using available traffic cameras, during the indicated time, often there is no closing or work seen going on. This could frustrate someone who may have chosen an alternate route to avoid the potential congestion. Perhaps a simple addition of 'weather permitting' to the event listing would be sufficient.
To be truly useful to the public, an advisory system must be trusted to supply the correct information. While a step in the right direction, the new enhanced system, in my opinion, is still not as accurate as it could be.
Posted by: Bob M. | May 12, 2011 at 12:17 PM