Travelers' notice when roadway events affect their trips and their traveler information needs are not met. State Departments of Transportation are working to serve those needs through the use of highway advisory radio, variable message signs, dial-up telephony, local media and website dissemination. As travel and the use of traveler information services continue to increase, the demand for more detailed and real-time information continues to grow. In 1999, the States of Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Washington joined forces with public partner Castle Rock Consultants to establish the REPORT Pooled Fund Study SPR-3(079) to develop a system tailored to the informational needs of state personnel and the traveling public. Each state contributed funds to develop a system that could centrally house all traveler information, be designed to meet their specific needs, be expanded as new uses for the system are found, and allow for sharing data among states. This application is the Condition Acquisition and Reporting System (CARS). Minnesota is experiencing the potential offered by CARS. Since the system was deployed in 2001, it has been expanded to add over-dimension permits information and the user interface has been modified to meet the needs of over 200 active users. This paper describes the CARS technology and how Minnesota is achieving the system's potential as a centralized, comprehensive data source for traveler information.
Abstract