Oklahoma City gets informative digital highway signs
For more than a decade, digital message boards above highway roads across the Oklahoma City metro area have given drivers updates related to construction zones, accidents and emergency alerts.
Now, the state Transportation Department’s next major phase utilizing the informative signs was put in gear Thursday. Its goal: create an even “smarter” highway experience, officials reported.
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Up-to-the-minute traffic conditions displayed during morning and evening rush hours will now aid drivers with estimated travel times. Signs are strategically placed to give drivers the chance to alter their route if message boards report long wait times ahead, said department spokeswoman Terri Angier.
“The new angle is the travel times,” Angier said. “This helps us meet the needs of the driving public in a metropolitan area.”
About half a dozen signs in the metro area began the program Thursday. Angier said all 21 message boards in the metro will implement the system in November.
Real-time traffic information will be displayed weekdays around rush hour, from 6 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. Emergency alerts, though, will always “outrank” travel time information, she said.
Anyone also can access the department’s Pathfinder system at oktraffic.org. An interactive map displays message board locations, live roadway video and current traffic speeds.
The Tulsa area has 19 signs in place. Those will start the program following Oklahoma City’s completion, she said.
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Oklahoma City gets informative digital highway signs | NewsOK.com
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