The Wall Street Journal-20080129-I-95 Panel Plans Satellite Traffic-Report Network

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I-95 Panel Plans Satellite Traffic-Report Network

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In one of the biggest rollouts yet for technology designed to help motorists avoid traffic jams, the I-95 Corridor Coalition will announce plans today to disseminate real-time data on traffic flows and accidents along the East Coast using a satellite network by Inrix Inc.

The rollout this summer will cover 2,500 miles, including many major roads and a continuous stretch of heavily congested Interstate Highway 95 between New Jersey and North Carolina. Coverage may extend to every major road to Florida from Maine. The deal marks a big step in a broader effort to help motorists steer around traffic tie-ups.

Traffic congestion in major U.S. cities costs $78 billion in lost hours and wasted gasoline, according to a study last year by the Texas Transportation Institute.

Under the agreement, Inrix, of Kirkland, Wash., will beam real-time data to transportation departments on traffic speeds, with incident reports and other data about traffic flows. This will allow the government agencies to offer up-to-the-minute information via the Internet, mobile alerts and road signs.

Inrix plans to offer expanded data on traffic flows in the I-95 corridor to vendors of navigation services and products such as TomTom International BV, Garmin Ltd., and Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s Total Traffic Network.

Transportation departments generally rely on investments they have made in road sensors, cameras and first-hand reports, which usually only cover small stretches of road and produce spotty, unreliable data. The result is "511" phone channels, road signs or Web sites that may have incomplete, untimely or useless information.

"The coverage isn't great," said William Stoeckert, a spokesman for the 16-state I-95 coalition. "There are gaps."

The system operated by Inrix, which is emerging as a dominant player in high-tech traffic data, relies heavily on signals from Global Positioning System, or GPS, transponders on trucks, taxis, delivery vans and other regular highway users.

"We're really excited about this opportunity," said Jo Ann Oerter, an engineer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation. "It will enable us to be proactive."

Ms. Oerter estimates that her department only gets regular traffic data for 1% of the roads in the state, and little to no information is provided to the public about conditions in the Charlotte area. With real-time data on I-95 and other roads, she says, the state can offer motorists mobile alerts and timely road-sign information. The state's emergency response will be more efficient, she said.

"We'll be able to see where traffic is building and work within our system to say these are routes you should avoid," she said, adding that her department plans to expand coverage throughout the state.

While this deal is an endorsement of the satellite-based model championed by Inrix, the technology wars will go on. Other companies, including TomTom, an Inrix customer, are testing real-time traffic systems relying on anonymous cellphone data. Houston and some other municipalities are getting data from scanners that read toll transponders to determine traffic speeds.

The I-95 coalition's move to coordinate across state and bureaucratic lines reflects a cooperative trend being encouraged by federal regulators. The U.S. Department of Transportation is examining a Dallas-area team and seven other "pioneer" sites that are testing ways to give consumers real-time data on various transportation options, including highway, rail and mass transit.

"If you can give people the right information about all travel options and routes, they can make the best decision," said Christopher Poe, a researcher at the Texas Transportation Institute.