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

  • Social media mooted for traffic management
    November 13, 2012
    SQLstream’s Ronnie Beggs discusses with Jason Barnes the potential and pitfalls of using social media for traffic monitoring and management. cataclysmic events such as hurricanes and tsunami have challenged perceptions of what constitutes robust traffic management infrastructure in recent times. Presumptions that only fixed systems could offer high levels of unbroken service, accuracy and communication bandwidth, have been taught some hard lessons by nature. In many respects wireless systems now represent t
  • Tunnel network to relieve Istanbul's traffic congestion
    August 14, 2012
    A series of road tunnels is taking shape to help relieve Istanbul from crippling road congestion, with an extensive array of safety and management systems operating from a single ITS platform. Nino Sehagic reports. Traffic in Istanbul has historically been described simply as jammed. Severe congestion and chaotic use of available road space are characteristics of a city of more than one and a half million cars. Istanbul’s existing road network could not cope and was in urgent need of expansion, leading the
  • Pioneering IntelliDrive technologies in Michigan
    February 2, 2012
    Pete Goldin reports on upgrades to the USDOT's Michigan Test Bed, where IntelliDrive technologies are being pioneered
  • New Zealand launches Bluetooth ITS trial
    June 13, 2013
    A trial using wireless communications technology to deliver real-time traffic information has been launched by New Zealand’s Ministry of Transport and ITS consultants AraFlow. The Co-operative Intelligent Transport Systems trial will investigate whether providing accurate real-time information about traffic conditions to participating commercial transport operators improves the productivity of freight movements. Ministry of Transport Chief Executive Martin Matthews says “We are testing whether this informat