Major changes in traffic patterns resulting from extensive bridge reconstruction bring with them the responsibility of keeping the public informed and the opportunity to provide impressive image-filled progress updates.
Any given day in the U.S. hundreds of thousands of vehicles must be diverted, especially with projects the size of the seismic retrofit of the south access to the Golden Gate Bridge and the massive seismic renovation of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Between the two projects more than 380,000 vehicles are involved daily. More than 100, 000 vehicles use the Doyle Drive (Rte. 101) approach to the Golden Gate Bridge, while some 280,000 vehicles rely on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
In both cases, Caltrans and bridge authorities have turned to live EarthCam webcams and software not only to manage the jobs but to inform the public of daily conditions and provide real-time visual progress.
Construction of Presidio Parkway, the re-envisioning of the 74-year-old drive, began in December 2009. The Parkway is now on its way to becoming a world-class roadway engineered for improved seismic and structural safety as well as pedestrian and bicycle routes. The project, including a detour structure expected to be opened in 2011, is scheduled for completion in 2013.
To the east, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge construction website provides the same service at baybridgeinfo.org/construction-cams .
The San Francisco-Oakland Bay project employs seven EarthCam cameras including 72 megapixel panorama systems, an Advanced Megapixel 8 camera, and ConstructionCams providing live streaming video. More than 1.5 million images to date including dramatic panoramas of the project have been archived since the webcam program began in April 2008.
The solar-powered, wireless cameras at Presidio Parkway and Oakland Bay are among multiple bridge webcam systems in North America. They provide live video remote management for authorities and real-time visual information for the public.
In Canada during the 2010 Olympic Games, for example, the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation turned to EarthCam systems for security and traffic management in critical areas such as the Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver. The cameras also performed reliably elsewhere for the Ministry in challenging weather, terrain and isolation in the Simon Frazier Bridge project in St George, B.C., and Kicking Horse Canyon Park Bridge in Golden, B.C.
Authorities responsible for major projects from coast to coast are experiencing the value of webcams for management, live public monitoring and promotion. The capability of live remote monitoring, sharing information with colleagues, archiving progress, keeping the public informed and creating time-lapse movies to document projects serves both authorities and the public.
