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A new approach to replace the Road Report

With the new 511 traveler information service to be available soon to the public, a number of internal reporting procedures will change. The new approach to reporting procedures has evolved from input from the Maintenance Steering Committee, staff from the State Communications Center and ITD staff.

Bryon Breen of ITD’s Maintenance Section has been on the Tool Box Tour in recent weeks, meeting with district maintenance staff and previewing some of the changes 511 will bring.

“One of the key improvements with 511 is that information makes its way from the snowplow cab to the public phone system or Web site within minutes,” Breen says. “The way we used to do it, there was the possibility for a lag of hours – not minutes – between updates of the phone recording. A snow storm could hit at 11 a.m., but the next report wasn’t scheduled until 3 p.m.”

The new process provides a timely, more accurate report to travelers, and that should increase safety on the highways, he adds.

Maintenance field personnel will remain the collectors and providers of road condition information, which will be collected in two ways: First, as a baseline report twice a day (morning and afternoon). Second, reports will be made when conditions change – called “exception reporting.” (On weekends and holidays, baseline conditions will be reported just once a day, at 8 a.m.)

Other changes are outlined below:

Activity	Current Approach	New Approach with CARS
Data collection timing	4 set times per day	Report 2 set times per day AND when conditions change (referred to as “exception reporting”)
Data collection locations	Designated segments by district	By segments during twice-a-day reporting, AND when and where conditions warrant as exceptions to the baseline
Data transmit approach	State Comm calls all maintenance personnel on radio at designated times	Baseline: Maintenance field personnel provide info to a designated lead; State Comm collects data from lead person Exceptions: Maintenance field personnel provides info to Districts (during normal business hours) or State Comm (other times) on location and conditions
Data entry	State Comm enters coded road report information that created Web page	District personnel or State Comm enter conditions at specific locations (as “events”) into CARS Data entry personnel review other sources and enter events into CARS
Data reported	Text-based Web page with conditions by all segments Phone message recorded by ITD Public Affairs staff	Map-based Web page with conditions updated twice daily and as conditions warrant 511 phone system updated automatically with event information Road Conditions: colored lines on highways indicating conditions: Good, Fair, or Difficult All Advisories: events at specific locations 511 Phone System: general road conditions and events at specific locations
Update frequency	4 times per day at specific times (Web page and phone)	When conditions change (Web page and phone updates within minutes)