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A Publication Featuring The Information Services Technology of Maine State Government
| Volume V, Issue 5 | May 2002 |
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Just dial 511 to get immediate access to travel information for Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and other states across the country! That's the concept behind a multi-state agreement involving the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) and eight other states called CARS-511. That's an acronym for Condition Acquisition and Reporting System using the designated 511 nationwide number. |
"The Federal Communications Commission approved the designation of 511 as a universal access number for travel information, much the same way 911 is used to report emergencies," explains MDOT Commissioner John G. Melrose. "The 511 designation established a common point of reference for travelers, but the actual development and implementation of the response system was left to individual states. We felt it was important to Maine's local and visiting drivers to have access to this system, but were concerned about the cost of independently creating a stand-alone system just for Maine."
"Now we're part of an eight state effort to develop a system to provide real-time information on statewide and multi-state traffic and roadway conditions using the 511 phone number, websites, and e-mail services," Melrose notes. "The team approach not only will allow us to get a system up and running more quickly, it will provide operational savings as well. We're going to be leveraging state and federal resources to get maximum value for the money we spend."
Maine’s share of the initial annual operating costs of the shared system will be less than $100,000, according to Melrose. He compared that to preliminary annual operating estimates of $300,000 if Maine had created its 511 service without involving other states.
"Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont were already working together on development of advanced traveler information systems when 511 came along," (see http://www.maine.gov/newsletter/december2001/trio.htm) explains Russell Charette, Project Manager. "We saw the 511 multi-state effort as an opportunity to expand that cooperation even further and save some money. The real advantage comes from having partners literally from Maine to Alaska and New Mexico to Minnesota. The original group was Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Minnesota, Iowa, and New Mexico. Alaska joined last December and recently Kentucky joined."
The multi-state consortium has received $800,000 from the Federal Highway Administration to help with system design, software development, and the initial launch of the 511 traveler information services. Charette says matching funds from the participating states will boost that total to about $1 million for the initial effort. "The combined efforts ensure that states are not creating systems that won't interact with other states’ systems. Instead of getting several stand-alone systems, we want to develop a common operational standard which can be used by any states wishing to become part of our group."
A key operational savings will be derived from the use of a national 511 call-center. "A major problem with single-state or even adjacent state operations is making enough incoming phone lines available to handle peaks in the volume of incoming calls. By using one national call center, member states can share the incoming lines as the demand changes across different time zones from state to state," Charette notes. "Our states span five time zones, from Eastern to Alaska time," Charette explains. "When morning drive time calls peak on the east coast, drivers in Albuquerque will just be waking, while Alaska drivers will still be sleeping. As the morning drive time moves westward, calls from the eastern time zone will decline as drivers reach their destinations."
The same concept applies to call volumes related to severe weather events. "Existing travel condition reporting systems already know that a winter storm can generate hundreds of additional phone calls on any given day. But for individual states to provide a center capable of handling those peak loads would be very costly, especially since many of the lines would sit unused when the weather is better," Charette continues. "But winter storms rarely hit all eight member states simultaneously. "The single, nationwide call-center concept allows all participating states to share access to literally hundreds of phone lines, with use fluctuating as weather systems move across the country."
CARS-511 also offers a safety component. Charette says "This system will also allow us to provide drivers with real-time information about road construction and maintenance projects which may affect their route choices. The information regarding ongoing work would be provided by someone actually at the project site who would be able to judge the degree and severity of work impacts on traffic. We can't eliminate all delays during major projects, but we can provide drivers with more and better information so they can make appropriate route decisions. On the regional level, we are continuing work on bringing tourism-related information to the 511 system. Maine’s Department of Economic and Community Development, along with the tourism offices in New Hampshire and Vermont, are partners with the DOT’s in that effort."
Working with Castle Rock Consultants, known for its work on "Intelligent Transportation Systems," the eight-state group hopes to have its initial 511 response system operational sometime in the Fall. "It's a classic case of the sum of the parts being larger, more effective, and less costly than if each state set out to do this on its own," Charette concluded.
Russell D. Charette works in the Office of Passenger Transportation at MDOT. He may be reached by calling 624-3250 or by e-mailing russ.charette@state.me.us.
