Skip to main content

Atlanta deploys Bluetooth-based DMS to help improve travel times

The Cobb County Department of Transportation (CCDOT) in Georgia, USA, has activated six full-colour dynamic message signs (DMS) in the metropolitan Atlanta area in a bid to improve travel times and enable motorists to choose less-congested routes. The LED signs have been installed on Cobb Parkway, South Marietta Parkway, Roswell Road and Spring Road to provide travel time information for common destinations and indicate the congestion level related to specific routes in real time. Travel times on I-75 and C
May 10, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The Cobb County Department of Transportation (CCDOT) in Georgia, USA, has activated six full-colour dynamic message signs (DMS) in the metropolitan Atlanta area in a bid to improve travel times and enable motorists to choose less-congested routes.


The LED signs have been installed on Cobb Parkway, South Marietta Parkway, Roswell Road and Spring Road to provide travel time information for common destinations and indicate the congestion level related to specific routes in real time.

Travel times on I-75 and Cobb Parkway appear in digits that are green, yellow or red, depending on the average speed of the roadway. Green digits indicate near free-flow speeds, yellow digits indicate moderate speeds and red digits indicate slow conditions. Public service announcements as well as information related to incidents, construction and special events also will appear on the signs.

The travel time messages use real-time data collected by a recently expanded travel time system, which now covers many major arterials within Cobb County and freeways in the Atlanta metro area. The data comes from detectors that collect anonymous electronic addresses from motorists’ 1835 Bluetooth and wi-fi-enabled mobile devices.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Solar-powered traffic detection improves communication
    January 31, 2012
    Pete Goldin reports on a new wireless, solar-powered traffic detection system being used by Caltrans District 12. As more and more traffic data is necessary to satisfy the needs of traffic management centres and traveller information systems, and as traffic detection technology becomes more ubiquitous, transportation authorities are pressured to find more economical ways of expanding their detection systems. Caltrans District 12 is leading this push by deploying the latest detection system from Case Global
  • Qatar invests $70 billion to pave the way to world beating transportation
    July 26, 2013
    Eng. Zeina Nazer looks at what Qatar’s recently-announced investment in transport infrastructure will mean on the ground. Qatar is experiencing a rapid economic and industrial growth. This growth is characterised by a rapid population increase and by the urgent need towards the development of both infrastructure projects and major transport projects. In order to handle this rate of development within Qatar, Public Works Authority (Ashghal) is developing a fully-integrated multimodal transportation system in
  • Intelligent parking guidance relieves congestion, reduces costs
    July 24, 2012
    O R Tambo International Airport, near the city of Johannesburg, is the largest airport in Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and is one of 10 airports operated by Airports Company South Africa (ACSA). This airport places a massive demand on road infrastructure and parking facilities since a majority of travellers get to the airport by motor vehicle. The demand for parking left many people searching for a parking space for eight minutes or 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.