Date:
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Contact:
Contacts: Lauren Penning, WSDOT Communications, (206) 440-4473 (Seattle)
SEATTLE – As promised, WSDOT traffic engineers rescheduled testing the new traffic computer due to significant weather and emergency roadwork. Engineers had planned to finish testing a new server-based system to control the WSDOT traffic map, freeway cameras, ramp meters, electronic message signs and travel times by the end of this year.
“We have completed over 500 hours of simulated tests of the new system,” said WSDOT software engineer Mark Morse. “However, we were unable to complete live tests because we didn’t want to temporarily remove any travel information from our Web site during recent months’ bad weather, collisions and emergency repair work.”
To confirm everything will function properly before the switch is made engineers will run a week of daily live tests and a full weekend of live tests in January. During these tests sections of the color-coded traffic flow map will appear white and travel times for those commutes will be unavailable as engineers test live data on the new system. If there is an emergency or foul weather the tests will be rescheduled.
WSDOT’s current mainframe computer is over 15 years old and handles eight times more data then when it was first turned on. The new software-based system will allow WSDOT to expand the traffic flow map and add new traffic cameras in the future.
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