Skip to main content

Boston partners with traffic app Waze on traffic management

Boston, US, has formed a new data-sharing partnership with Google-owned traffic app Waze, to enable the city’s drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to check real time traffic conditions on Boston’s streets. The partnership aims to help improve traffic flow in Boston in two principal ways. As part of the partnership, the City will share information on expected road closures with the 400,000 users of Waze in Greater Boston, helping them find the best way to get around town. In addition, aggregated information o
February 17, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSSBoston, US, has formed a new data-sharing partnership with Google-owned traffic app Waze, to enable the city’s drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to check real time traffic conditions on Boston’s streets. The partnership aims to help improve traffic flow in Boston in two principal ways.

As part of the partnership, the City will share information on expected road closures with the 400,000 users of 6897 Waze in Greater Boston, helping them find the best way to get around town.  In addition, aggregated information on traffic reported by Waze users will be shared with the city's traffic management centre (TMC), which adjusts the 550 signalised intersections across the city to improve traffic flow.

Data from Waze is already being used to augment information available from hundreds of intersection cameras citywide and inform traffic signal timing decisions by the TMC.

"Over the past few weeks, it has become clear how critical it is to find innovative ways to improve traffic flow in the City of Boston," said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. "I thank 1691 Google for their partnership in providing us with another way to use data to better improve how City government works."  

“This partnership will help engineers in the TMC respond to traffic jams, accidents and road hazards quicker”, said Boston Transportation Department commissioner Gina Fiandaca.  “And, looking forward, the Waze data will support us in implementing - and measuring the results of - new congestion management strategies.”

The city is also looking at several different solutions to traffic management, such as working with the 5200 Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to evaluate traffic signal prioritisation and its effectiveness along key MBTA routes. Data received from Waze users allows the city to measure the impact on traffic speeds when MBTA vehicles are given priority at traffic signals.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Google releases Transit Navigation
    April 20, 2012
    Google has released Google Maps 5.7 for Android and added Transit Navigation (Beta), which currently provides over 12 billion miles of GPS-guided driving and walking directions per year. According to the company GPS turn-by-turn (or in this case, stop-by-stop) navigation is now available for public transit directions in 400+ cities around the globe.
  • Kenya plans road toll tenders
    March 25, 2015
    Kenya plans to start tendering in May for toll-road contracts estimated by the government to be worth $2 billion to improve the efficiency of the East African nation’s biggest commercial routes, according to Bloomberg. The contracts will be in addition to the 45 deals worth about US$3.2 billion that the government will start awarding as early as next week, to double the nation’s paved-road network through an annuity program. The government is planning to introduce five toll projects covering about 800 kilom
  • London boroughs to get funding to help improve transport, cycling
    January 4, 2016
    Transport services and town centres across London have been given a New Year boost, as the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) confirm US$218 million in funding for the London boroughs in 2016/17. The annual borough funding is provided by TfL to help the boroughs pay for local transport projects set out in their Local Implementation Plans (LIPs). LIPs are plans that show how the boroughs will support the Mayor’s Transport Strategy in their area. For 2016/17, TfL's financial support for the boroughs’ LI
  • MassDOT deploys adaptive traffic control
    July 1, 2014
    Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has selected Trafficware’s SynchroGreen for the State’s first adaptive signal system. With traffic engineering involvement from consulting firm VHB, the new system was activated earlier this year. Video cameras located at the intersection provide real-time traffic volumes information to on-street traffic controllers. The system then uses a centralised command and control server to process this volume/occupancy data to analyse and dynamically adjust p