Skip to main content

San Francisco and Inrix partner on expanding Bay Area 511 service

San Francisco Bay Area's popular 511 service is set to expand its traffic speed network. Coverage, now mostly limited to state roadways and interstates, will be expanded to include additional state roadways, major arterials, expressways and connectors. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), which runs the 512 service, assembles data from a variety of sources – Caltrans, CHP, and other partners – to provide the most accurate and reliable information about incidents and traffic disruptions in th
October 30, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
San Francisco Bay Area's popular 511 service is set to expand its traffic speed network. Coverage, now mostly limited to state roadways and interstates, will be expanded to include additional state roadways, major arterials, expressways and connectors.

The 343 Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), which runs the 512 service, assembles data from a variety of sources – 3879 Caltrans, CHP, and other partners – to provide the most accurate and reliable information about incidents and traffic disruptions in the Bay Area. To further enhance 511's traffic information, MTC's contractor, Leidos (formerly 6890 SAIC), is procuring traffic speed data from 163 Inrix, which began providing speed data in mid-July.

"The addition of speed data and driving times to additional state roadways, major arterials and key interregional connectors to 511 will be great news for the travelling public," said Melanie Crotty, Director of Operations at MTC. "We have provided traffic incidents and construction news, including lane closures, on several of these roadways for many years; the addition of speeds and driving times will complete the picture for motorists."

"In the third most congested metropolitan area in America, drivers depend on real-time traffic information to plan their daily commute," said Rick Schuman, Inrix vice president and general manager of Public Sector. "Through one of the most robust real-time traffic data and analytics platforms in the world, we will provide traffic speed data for 511, which when paired with 511's extensive breaking traffic news and incident, construction, and event information, will give drivers the insight they need to avoid frustrating delays. Not only will Inrix provide traffic speed data, the Inrix analytics platform will allow traffic engineers to measure and track congestion and assess system performance," said Schuman. "Given today's limited tax dollars, this analytics platform gives transportation planners the data they need to make Smart choices."

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Israel aspires to ITS-led future
    May 29, 2013
    Shay Soffer, Chief Scientist with the Israel National Road Safety Authority, talks to Jason Barnes about his country’s current ITS outlook and how he sees this developing in the future. Israel ranks alongside countries such as the US and France in the road safety stakes, with an average 7.1 deaths per billion kilometres driven. But at that point the similarities end, as the country’s overriding issue is pedestrian safety. This is driven by several factors, including being a relatively small country where pe
  • UK drivers get real time traffic information boost
    August 9, 2012
    The UK Highways Agency is trialling a system to add commercially available traffic data to its existing sources to monitor how well traffic is flowing on England's motorways and strategic roads. Similar data sources are already used by satellite navigation devices, smartphones, and applications like Google maps. Better real-time data will allow agency staff to respond more quickly to incidents and identify delays and communicate them to drivers so they can take alternative routes if necessary.
  • San Francisco cabinet deal for Swarco McCain
    February 17, 2023
    Third contract for ATC cabinets takes partnership with Californian city to 10 years
  • Road user charging potential solution to transportation problems
    December 14, 2012
    A number of new and highly significant open road tolling schemes have just been launched or are soon to ‘go live’. Systems of road user charging are flexing their muscles as the means to solve politically sensitive transportation problems, reports Jon Masters. Gothenburg, January 2013, will be the time and place for the launch of the next city congestion charging scheme in Europe. In a separate development, Los Angeles County’s tolled Metro ExpressLanes began operating in November 2012 – the latest in a ser