A new state website has been launched, and it could make your morning and afternoon drives less stressful.It’s called "Go Akamai" and it promises to keep drivers informed about traffic problems.
Technology is ever changing.
The State Transportation Department is aware of that and has launched into the technology age in a big way.
"For many of the people it will help them make better decisions on am I going to go right now, leave a little later, take a different route, and they'll be able to at last have that information,” said state transportation director, Brennon Morioka.
http://GoAkamai.org is the site.
Real time data is collected from doppler radars posted along the H-1, H-2, and Moanalua Freeways.
They're also along dozens of streets around Honolulu.
Color coded maps let you know just how fast traffic is moving.
Green equals 42 to 55 miles per hour.
If a segment of freeway is covered in yellow that means moderate traffic, 28 to 41 miles per hour.
Red is a signal of heavy traffic, slugging along at 14 to 27 miles per hour.
And black is the worst, stop and go traffic zero to 13 miles per hour.
Creators of this new system studied other, similar systems for inspiration.
"The Bay Area 5-1-1 system and New Jersey 5-1-1 where a lot of work has been done over the past decade. Hawaii has really been put in a position to take advantage of the lessons learned from those sites. And those have been implemented in this system,” said Glen Fromm, CEO of I.C.X. Transportation Group.
And it's a new system that has room to grow.
"Text messaging, Facebook, twitters, whatever medium is out there to get information to the public is where we want to be. And some will continue to expand our efforts in ensuring we get information to the public however they need to receive it,” said Morioka.
And the new website incorporates many modes of transportation.
"Bus transit, van pooling, car pooling, bicycles, walking, all these and intelligent transportation systems. All of these work together to help in their own way, when you put them all together to address and manage congestion in the area,” said city transportation director, Wayne Yoshioka.
It cost $1.25 million to start up http://goakamai.org with 80 percent of that cost paid for by the U.S. Highways Administration.
