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It snowed all night and before heading out to work, you
want to know what the roads are like.
Or maybe it's just after 3 p.m. and it would be helpful to
know if the drive into Providence by Route 146 leads to a
rush-hour traffic jam.
In the past, you might have had to tune in a radio station
offering helicopter traffic reports to find out or just
take the drive without knowing.
Well welcome to the age of technology.
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation now has new
sources of information to help you and they can been found
right here in the Blackstone Valley on Route 295 and Route
146.
They are the computer cameras the DOT has been installing
on state roads over the past several years with the help
of federal highway funding.
You may have seen the bubble-like cameras hanging from
utility poles in other areas of the state like Route 4 in
South County or Interstate 95 in Providence.
Now, there are also seven Blackstone Valley cams among the
70 currently operated out of the DOT's Transportation
Management Center (TMC) in the agency's Providence
headquarters, according to Cynthia Levesque, the program's
manager.
And best of all, you can take a look at their continuously
updated images with a simple visit to a Website -
www.tmc.state.ri.us/camhome.asp - operated by the agency.
The site can also be found through the DOT home page at
www.dot.state.ri.us.
The TMC collects real-time video from the individual
cameras through their dedicated communication lines to the
center and displays that information on a wall of monitors
watched by DOT staffers. The system also allows the public
to connect with the cams through their Internet provider
and see still photos that are updated every 30 seconds.
Levesque wants the public to see what is happening on the
roads so that they can avoid traffic jams or safety
problems posed by accidents or the weather. Businesses can
also use the information to direct employees on the road
around potential delays in getting to a job or
appointment.
What the cameras see is also used to help update the
state's 511 mobile telephone information service, she
noted. Callers can dial into that service for automated
verbal reports on the roads and any advisories posted by
the DOT.
"If we know of an accident, truck rollover, flood or
evacuation - that would be on our 511 network," she
said.
And for the $130,000-a-year it costs to operate the TMC
system, the DOT can keep track of what's going on state
roads, notify local police or rescue agencies when
problems crop up, and avoid some of the greater costs
posed by miles of motor vehicles going nowhere.
The TMC will eventually be used in conjunction with
real-time traffic information boards now being installed
over busy sections of the state's highways to warn drivers
of trouble ahead, where to make exits to avoid it, or slow
drivers down to avoid additional accidents.
"It's a traffic management tool to alert motorists
and help mitigate congestion," Levesque said.
The DOT has also developed a new partnership with the
state's Emergency Telephone System, E-911, that will allow
E-911 operators to see the TMC's real time video and use
that information to guide emergency crews in their
response efforts.
At the same time, the TMC's operators can use the system's
remote controls to point the camera toward a better view
of the area and put out information allowing motorists to
avoid the resulting back-ups.
"It helps us because we can manage traffic and keep
people out of there," Levesque said. Better informed
motorists can also lower the risk to rescue personnel and
police who must work in the lanes of travel while clearing
an accident, she said.
The computer equipment used by the state to collect the
road information is similar to automated cams installed by
the Woonsocket School Department to monitoring of parking
lots and grounds at Woonsocket High School.
While available for a number of years, Jonathan Gallishaw,
the school department's technology director, said the
greater availability of high-speed internet connections
has expanded the potential uses of such cams.
The school department's video system is reserved for
security and disciplinary purposes and is not accessible
to the public as is the DOT's cam system, he noted.
The cam technology can also generate concern for potential
misuse and organizations need to set policies on how the
equipment is to be used, who will have access and how its
data can be secured, he said.
In the school department's case, the cam system is on a
protected encrypted network that restricts access to
specific school personnel.
The DOT's system is different due its potential public
applications, Gallishaw said, and the technology director
could also see a potential benefit to tourism from those
accessing the network from outside the state.
While the DOT does have a state trooper working with the
TMC in an advisory capacity, the cam data is not used for
law enforcement purposes, according to Heidi Cote, a
spokesman.
None of the DOT's cams are used for ticketing motorists
remotely, she said, and the information collected
real-time is directed specifically to traffic control and
responses to emergencies.
The cams do help the police in other ways, she noted, as
in the case of traffic tie-ups along the roads leading to
the state's beaches.
In the past, South County police departments would have to
go out to high volume intersections to manually control
traffic signals according to demand, and now they can do
that from their own police stations while accessing the
DOT's cam page.
And the tourism benefits aren't to be overlooked either
according to Cote and Levesque.
No, you probably can't get the full impact of the
Blackstone Valley dressed in fall colors over the DOT's
cams but they do give you views of places you know.
And if you don't want to go out on a cold winter day,
there is always the opportunity to catch the DOT's view of
the Jamestown Bridge, Pawtucket, or Route 44.
Levesque knows people do that because she gets email from
them through the TMC Website.
Some write to ask about getting a traffic light in their
neighborhood, but others say "how wonderful the
cameras are and how they help people," she said.
One man even wrote her from out west to tell her he visits
the site all the time. "He said he used to live in
Rhode Island and now he likes to go look at the roads
because it feels like home," she said.
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