Caltrans meet technology, technology meet Caltrans

I've complained about this before, and I'm going to complain about it again: With a few exceptions, most large transportation agencies in the Southland have been slow to use modern technology to tell travelers what's happening on the roads and rails.

Take, for example, the embarrassing -- to put it mildly -- display by Caltrans this morning. As of 11:25 a.m., I had an official at the Caltrans District 7 traffic management center telling me that the northbound 5 Freeway was now open through the snowy Tejon Pass and Grapevine while the southbound 5 was open with California Highway Patrol escorts. The 14 Freeway between the San Fernando Valley and the Antelope Valley may open early this afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Caltrans road conditions website was telling motorists this about the 5 Freeway:

IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AREA]
    IS CLOSED FROM THE LOS ANGELES/KERN CO LINE TO 4 MI NORTH OF
THE JCT OF SR 126 /AT LAKE HUGHES ROAD/ (LOS ANGELES CO) /THE GRAPEVINE/
- DUE TO SNOW - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE

At 11:49 a.m. -- when I'm writing this, 20 minutes after alerting Caltrans officials that their website says the 5 is closed -- the website still says the 5 is closed.

Having up-to-date information is kind of a big deal, of course, if you're a motorist trying to get into or out of Southern California using the 5 Freeway. By the way, would it trouble Caltrans too much to suggest an alternate route? I was in the Bay Area late Wednesday afternoon, and there was at least one electronic sign up there saying the 5 was closed -- take the 101.

The larger issue here is that with the exception of the highway signs, Caltrans requires motorists to get information about road conditions either by typing information into the Caltrans website or by phoning its road conditions hotline, 1-800-427-7623.

Meanwhile, many other transportation agencies around the world (locally, Metrolink uses Twitter to do this) have figured out how to send real-time information to users by e-mail or text message. It's obviously a big undertaking and something that Caltrans District 7 chief Doug Failing told me the agency is considering. That's good. The hope here is that the freeway closures prompted by the recent wildfires and Wednesday's snowstorm are two good examples of why the Caltrans information revolution should happen sooner, not later.

--Steve Hymon

Comments

[PeterPatnter]

The objections raised by writer Hymon are well taken, but the Caltrans website is FAR worse than he suggests.

First, although I lived in the LA area for over 60 years and traveled to and through Grapevine many dozens of times, I have no idea where the Kern/LA County line is -- except that just now I looked it up.

Instead of the county line, the website should refer to: Frazier Park Road (between Tejon Pass and Lebec), near the north end of the grapevine.

Likewise at the south end, hardly anybody knows where State Route 126 is (but most people have noticed the nearby "Magic Mountain"), and almost no one actually drives on Lake Hughes Road (except boaters at Castaic Lake) -- but just about everyone knows the very busy fuel-and-food town of Castaic.

It would therefore be vastly better if the website said, for example:

"Closed between the town of Castaic and Frazier Park Road.

(NOTE, Frazier Park Road is between Tejon Pass and Lebec, near the north end of the grapevine.)"

[Robb]

You mention that the Bay Area road signs are great... oddly enough, Caltrans has jurisdiction up there, too. So I don't see why it's so difficult to do the same thing in LA... unless the MTA is in charge of the freeway signs in LA County.

[Jerry Werner]

Steve,

Interesting observations. One reason some agencies may be slow to take full advantage of the latest transporation technology is because a big federal program actually prevents them from fully utizing real-time traffic data subsidized through taxpayer dollars. I co-authored an article ("The 'Smart Road' Scam") about this very counterproductive program in the current issue of Regulation magazine.

FYI, I worked as a subcontractor to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation for eight years and know the sordid history of the underlying earmarked program (called the "Transportation Technology Innovation and Demonstration" or "TTID" program) from the inside. This is not the way that our federal government should work.

The TTID program needs to be replaced by a new initiative that broadly benefits the traveling public in such congested areas as Southern California, rather than being designed primarily to just benefit one company with extraordinary political connections.

Jerry Werner
(formerly Editorial Director for the National Transportation Operations Coalition)

[Jennifer Holmes]

Not only was the website incorrect - but the ROAD CONDITIONS HOTLINE (800 427 ROAD) was wrong! I called at 9, 10, 11, noon, 1pm, 1:30, 2pm and got HWY 5 IS CLOSED DUE TO SNOW message well into the afternoon.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF A HOTLINE IF IT'S NOT HOT????

I took an 8 hour detour using 101, and judging from the traffic to Ventura, most people had not gotten the message from Cal Trans that 5 was open.

If I had heard in a timely fashion that 5 was open, I would have taken it. But as the HOTLINE had cold information, I was GREATLY inconvenienced by Caltrans' lack of communication skills.

[Cat]

I have always been frustrated by at Caltrans' aversion to provide helpful communication...on the road and on the web. When you compare the signage and information available in other states, our signs seems primitive. I sense Caltrans' mentality is "that's the way we've always done it....". We're just now seeing exit numbers for our off ramps. What is that, a thrity year old concept? And I'm talking about signs that should say "stay to the right unless you're passing" instead of our "slower traffic keep right". Slower than what? Even the blue exit signs that aren't seen around here. They tell what services are available at each exit AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, which way to turn once you've exited, Oh, the number of times I have been on a city street 1/4 mile before a freeway on ramp, and had to mentally flip a coin to guess whether the entrance was on the right or the left. Many spots have signs, but they are usually way beyond easily committing a lane change. Why aren't they put a few of blocks north of all interchanges? What a simple solution to keep the masses from doing the lane switch at the last minute. Imagine the easing of congestion if people were alerted and prepared in advance for their next traffic move. I just know when I drive in other states I see signs that actually and plainly communicate conditions to the driver. I always think "Why don't we have those signs back home? We're supposedly such transportation sophisticates? There's so many more that I can't think of. Maybe others will chime in. Driving's a dance. Caltrans needs to give better dancing lessons.