MassDOT uses Bluetooth to provide real-time information on signs

Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has deployed forty-eight message signs along the Massachusetts Turnpike, Route 3 on the South Shore and the Mid-Cape highway, which will use information from Bluetooth enabled devices to display real time traffic information. The signs will operate seven days a week from 5am to 10pm and will be updated every three minutes with new information. A unique identifier and a time stamp is created when a Bluetooth enabled device, such a cell phone in a car, pass
May 28, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
7213 Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has deployed forty-eight message signs along the Massachusetts Turnpike, Route 3 on the South Shore and the Mid-Cape highway, which will use information from Bluetooth enabled devices to display real time traffic information.

The signs will operate seven days a week from 5am to 10pm and will be updated every three minutes with new information. A unique identifier and a time stamp is created when a Bluetooth enabled device, such a cell phone in a car, passes a roadside detector. When the device passes a second detector, an algorithm is performed using the time stamps and the unique identifier to arrive at the travel time that is displayed on the boards.

The data will be fed to MassDOT’s website and an open data feed for phone app developers will follow in the coming weeks.
 
Announcing the deployment, MassDOT Secretary and CEO Richard A Davey said: “MassDOT is pleased to provide this information to residents and visitors to the Commonwealth,” said Secretary Davey. “We hope they will use this service to add some predictably to their lives and also serve as a reliable resource to help them make decisions on taking alternative routes or using public transit.”
Networking & Communication Systems Urban Traffic Control Air Quality & Weather Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Connected Signals improves driver safety in Florida
    September 5, 2018
    Connected Signals is providing drivers in Gainesville, Florida, with real-time predictive traffic information to let them know when traffic lights are going to change. The company says sharing the data with vehicles and drivers can improve fuel efficiency by 8-15% and reduce red-light crashes by 25%. Aggregated real-time signal information, fed through predictive algorithms, is sent to Gainesville drivers via the company’s Enlighten mobile app. The app will eventually be integrated with connected car dis
    Read More
  • Aimsun Online delivers real-time decision support
    May 1, 2015
    TSS-Transport Simulation Systems is an ITS America partner this year at Pittsburgh and will be showcasing the Aimsun Online real-time decision support system for traffic management. Two high-profile traffic management projects using this system as their analytical engine are the award-winning Interstate 15 Integrated Corridor Management System (ICMS) led by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), and the Grand Lyon Opticities project in France, which offers standardisation for access to data and
    Read More
  • Smoothing the path to reducing traffic pollution
    October 22, 2014
    David Crawford reviews a new approach to traffic smoothing. A key objective for the Californian city of Bakersfield’s upgraded traffic operations centre (TOC), which opened in June 2014, is to help improve living conditions in a region with one of the worst air quality problems in the US. The TOC is speeding up the smoothing of traffic flows by delivering faster and better-informed traffic signal retiming and synchronisation.
    Read More
  • Now is the time for V2X in tolling
    July 9, 2025
    FTE, Indra, Audi & Qualcomm Technologies demonstrate C-V2X tolling in Florida
    Read More

Highlighted Content