Travel Time Sign

[realjd]

I want to say NYSDOT has one on the Northern State Pkwy.

If you really want to, go ahead and say it! Don't be nervous, we're all friends here! 

[nyratk1]

I want to say NYSDOT has one on the Northern State Pkwy.

If you really want to, go ahead and say it! Don't be nervous, we're all friends here! 

Even with the people who like Clearview signage?

[ctsignguy]

Years ago (late 60s-early 70s), before I-70 was completed (when you had to jump off at Ohio 29 and ride US 40 all the way downtown to catch the next stretch), West Broad St in Columbus had a series of overhead signs posted that would inform motorists if they kept to the legal speed limit of 30-35, they would have nothing but green lights all the way downtown....

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Years ago (late 60s-early 70s), before I-70 was completed (when you had to jump off at Ohio 29 and ride US 40 all the way downtown to catch the next stretch), West Broad St in Columbus had a series of overhead signs posted that would inform motorists if they kept to the legal speed limit of 30-35, they would have nothing but green lights all the way downtown....

I can't say that I saw those in person, but going through the Columbus traffic Engineer reports from the 60s & 70s showed a photo of one of those signs

[Alps]

Years ago (late 60s-early 70s), before I-70 was completed (when you had to jump off at Ohio 29 and ride US 40 all the way downtown to catch the next stretch), West Broad St in Columbus had a series of overhead signs posted that would inform motorists if they kept to the legal speed limit of 30-35, they would have nothing but green lights all the way downtown....

I can't say that I saw those in person, but going through the Columbus traffic Engineer reports from the 60s & 70s showed a photo of one of those signs

They're still on PA 3 entering Philly.  But I know for a fact the signals are nowhere near timed anymore.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Years ago (late 60s-early 70s), before I-70 was completed (when you had to jump off at Ohio 29 and ride US 40 all the way downtown to catch the next stretch), West Broad St in Columbus had a series of overhead signs posted that would inform motorists if they kept to the legal speed limit of 30-35, they would have nothing but green lights all the way downtown....

I can't say that I saw those in person, but going through the Columbus traffic Engineer reports from the 60s & 70s showed a photo of one of those signs

They're still on PA 3 entering Philly.  But I know for a fact the signals are nowhere near timed anymore.

I have a photo of one of those signs I took in 2002 or '03.

[tdindy88]

Just a quick update on the subject from the Hoosier State. The first sign like this has been installed in Indianapolis, on Interstate 465 on the northside between Meridian Street and Keystone Avenue for eastbound travellers, annoucing the distance and time to I-69 and I-70. The sign is not operational yet, but I suppose it will, if nothing else before the Super Bowl next year. The sign is also located in the highway median as opposed to on the side as in the orginial picture, but the sign looks just like that one. Also, I changed the title of this subject just to get rid of any confusion that this subject was about an entirely different matter.

[Henry]

These are commonly used around the Seattle area, too, on the Interstates, anyway.  I don't believe they do this on SR 520.  WADot even posts the Seattle-Area VMS signs on the website: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/vms/

I've seen that a lot. Personally, it's a pretty neat idea!

[r-dub]

Colorado usually uses VMSs to tell us about travel time, but I-25 from Denver to Colorado Springs has new signage that's been active for about 4 months now:

At first I was pretty impressed with this, until I saw that Indy one...

And CDOT has plenty of toys on their cotrip.org site--vms information (including the travel time ones), cameras, streaming cameras, and weather stations. It's all under the Devices tab at the top.

[tdindy88]

It's been a while I know, but I wanted to provide an update on this subject from Indianapolis. More of these signs have been popping up, with me now counting at least four I've seen, and at least another two I haven't. And this morning I saw a news article on WTHR-13 talking about the signs themselves. They aren't supposed to be up and working though until the end of next year.

http://www.wthr.com/story/16351359/new-signs-give-travel-time-estimates

[wh15395]

It's been a while I know, but I wanted to provide an update on this subject from Indianapolis. More of these signs have been popping up, with me now counting at least four I've seen, and at least another two I haven't. And this morning I saw a news article on WTHR-13 talking about the signs themselves. They aren't supposed to be up and working though until the end of next year.

http://www.wthr.com/story/16351359/new-signs-give-travel-time-estimates

I saw that too. It's disappointing how long it takes INDOT to do anything. The first sign got installed almost a year ago and none of them will be working until another year from now. And they've been installing the technology for "decades." On top of that, outside of Indianapolis (and at times in the metro area), INDOT fails at most things.

[roadman65]

I think that minuets should not be used solely cause everyone drives at different speeds. 

How do we know at what speed limit the minuet printing is calculated for?  Is it for the posted legal speed limit, or for what the majority travels at?  In Virginia I once saw a billboard for McDonalds that was "15 Minuets Ahead" and took over 20 minuets to arrive at doing the posted 55. It was obvious how they calculated that at, but this is private enterprise and not public.  With this being stated, I am sure some DOT employee calculates in the real like the marketer for this McDonalds has done someplace out there.

[Duke87]

Travel times on VMS signs are based on INRIX data which means it's at the average speed at which traffic is actually currently moving.

If the average is above the speed limit it will take longer to drive the posted limit. And you can beat the time if you drive at above average speed (assuming traffic is open enough to allow that).

[agentsteel53]

In Virginia I once saw a billboard for McDonalds that was "15 Minuets Ahead" and took over 20 minuets to arrive at doing the posted 55.

I once saw an ad for a motel that was 110 miles and "1 hour away".  now, I can understand fudging the math a little... 85 miles would fly for 1 hour in rural Wyoming or wherever this was, but 110 is really pushing it!

[roadman65]

To answer the last post.


That is put up by marketers.  I was in marketing once and you have to bend the truth always and make the deal sound as good as it can get!  Just remember that $20 piece of merchandise on TV is for $19.99 and why businesses do not include the tax in the price.

[myosh_tino]

I once saw an ad for a motel that was 110 miles and "1 hour away".  now, I can understand fudging the math a little... 85 miles would fly for 1 hour in rural Wyoming or wherever this was, but 110 is really pushing it!

Maybe the marketer was thinking metric... 110 km is approximately 65-70 miles which makes 1 hour more realistic.

[NE2]

[SidS1045]

I-93 in Massachusetts is introducing them.  Right now they're on trailer-mounted VMS's, but the Commonwealth is erecting gantry-mounted VMS's which will eventually take over for the trailers.  The system used to determine driving times is supposedly a means of anonymously tracking cell phones.  The system latches onto cell-phone signals and tracks (and averages) their travel times, without revealing to anyone the phone numbers or user data.  I'm told MassDOT was able to get the cell-phone carriers to let them hook into the signal-tracking-and-cell-handoff equipment so they can follow individual phones even when they switch cells.

[deathtopumpkins]

Actually, speaking as a MassDOT employee who spent this past Friday in the Highway Operations Center, you're close but not quite correct.

The portable message boards currently used are the permanent solution - they operate on an entirely different system than the overhead VMSes. The overhead VMSes have messages manually programmed, not automatically generated by the intelligent traffic system that feeds the portable ones. So if they were to be integrated in the immediate future it would require an operator to periodically check the travel time data and manually update the signs accordingly (which is done on Route 3 heading towards the Cape as an interim - eventually this route will get the same system I-93 has). Future integration is possible, but this is only a 2-year pilot program that will need to be renewed and expanded before it is integrated with the overhead VMS system. There are still several systems operating concurrently as a result of the recent agency merger that formed MassDOT. The travel time system was only supposed to be temporary during the Fast 14 bridge project, but was brought back due to motorist approval, which is another reason it was not permanently integrated from the get-go.

The data is drawn from tracking Bluetooth devices (not all cell phones) anonymously.

[on_wisconsin]

mmm perty.. I would like to shake hands with who ever decided to put that up. (where is that? btw)

[NE2]

mmm perty.. I would like to shake hands with who ever decided to put that up. (where is that? btw)

Near US 192. (Orlando.) I also saw a toll 528 shield, but that photo turned out crappy.

[sp_redelectric]

I wish Oregon and Washington would install them prior to I-205 (northbound in Wilsonville, OR; southbound in Hazel Dell, WA.)

[KEK Inc.]

Washington has a few in the Seattle area. 

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/lkwamgt/traveltime/

Here's another style used on I-90.

[1995hoo]

One thing I think is important for travel time signs is the inclusion of the distance to the place in question because otherwise it doesn't help anyone other than the local driver who uses the road all the time. For example, on Saturday I saw an overhead VMS on southbound I-95 in Virginia that said "Route 610/20 miles/41 minutes." You may not have a clue where Route 610 is, but if it's estimated to take 41 minutes to go 20 miles it's at least a good indicator that you can expect slow traffic ahead and that if you don't have a map or sat-nav you might want to keep an eye on where all the local driver start bailing out.

The Colorado sign posted further up this page by "r-dub" is an example of a sign that wouldn't tell me anything useful as someone who doesn't know the Denver area very well. Certainly well-intentioned, mind you, just not the best-thought-out in practice.

[formulanone]

This was on I-15 southbound, just a little south of CA 78: