Skip to main content

Michigan improves real time traffic information

Michigan’s Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) has revamped its online real-time traffic map, making the congestion-monitoring tool simpler, easier and faster to use. The changes allow users to see congestion levels on county roads across Oakland County, thanks to data provided by RCOC’s Faster and Safer Travel through Traffic Routing and Advanced Controls (Fast-Trac) adaptive traffic-signal system. Fast-Trac detects the volume of traffic moving in each direction at equipped intersections and uses th
June 24, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Michigan’s Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) has revamped its online real-time traffic map, making the congestion-monitoring tool simpler, easier and faster to use.

The changes allow users to see congestion levels on county roads across Oakland County, thanks to data provided by RCOC’s Faster and Safer Travel through Traffic Routing and Advanced Controls (Fast-Trac) adaptive traffic-signal system. Fast-Trac detects the volume of traffic moving in each direction at equipped intersections and uses that data to determine, in real time, the most efficient timing for the traffic signal or corridor.

A cooperative agreement with the 1688 Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) means the map also shows real-time traffic congestion data for MDOT freeways in the county, making it one of the few in the country that shows real-time congestion levels for both local roads and freeways. The map also provides access to MDOT freeway cameras, changeable message signs and construction project information.

“Ours was the first real-time traffic-information map for non-freeway roads in the nation when it was launched in 1999,” observed RCOC chairman Greg Jamian. “We have regularly updated it over the years as the technology has evolved.”

“Not only is our Fast-Trac system improving the safety and efficiency of our road system, it’s also providing useful travel information to motorists,” Jamian said. “This is one of the most advanced traffic signal systems in the country, and the second largest such system in North America. This type of real-time congestion information for non-freeway roads is simply not available in most of the country.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Lack of communication jeopardises road weather information
    February 3, 2012
    A lack of communications means that the case for more widespread use of road weather information systems is still not happening, says Vaisala's Jon Tarleton. More effective exchanges up and down the political scale are needed, he adds
  • Developing ‘next generation’ traffic control centre technology
    July 4, 2012
    The Rijkswaterstaat and Highways Agency have joined forces to investigate what the market can do to realise an idealistic vision for traffic control centre technology. Jon Masters reports One particular seminar session of the Intertraffic show in Amsterdam in March was notably over subscribed. So heavy was the press to attend that your author, making his way over late from another appointment, could not get in and found himself craning over other heads locked outside to overhear what was being said. The
  • Autonomous vehicles will not prevent half of real-world crashes
    April 5, 2017
    Alan Thomas of CAVT looks at the reality behind the safety claims fuelling the drive towards autonomous vehicles
  • MDOT unveils I-94 truck parking information and management system
    September 5, 2014
    The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has launched its I-94 truck parking information and management system (TPIMS), a system that assesses truck parking availability along the I-94 corridor in southwest Michigan and delivers real-time parking availability information to truck drivers. The project is federally funded under the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Truck Parking Facilities Discretionary Grants Program.