Warnings Ahead

By: Roads & Bridges

Highway Information Systems (HIS) Inc., Durham, N.C., and a member of Quixote Transportation Technologies Inc., designed a unique travel information system to help alleviate traffic headaches for the North Carolina Department of Transportation when a rockslide and mudslide caused damage on I-40 near the North Carolina-Tennessee border close to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

An IntelliZone Dynamic Detour Alert System provided by HIS was designed to inform motorists about travel choices and avoid construction delays. The system consisted of two roadside controllers, six traffic sensors, three portable changeable message signs and three portable signs with flashing beacons. The system also incorporated three existing mobile highway advisory radios and portable signs with flashing beacon systems.

The roadside controllers retrieved data from the traffic sensors, calculated the travel time delay and updated the variable message signs, highway advisory radios and flashing beacons to reflect the current conditions. If the travel delay on I-40 was 45 minutes or longer, motorists traveling eastbound in Tennessee or westbound from North Carolina were informed of the delay and a detour route was provided.

“We believe that this provided an invaluable service to travelers,” said Kelly Damron, state ITS operations engineer for the DOT. “We have worked with HIS for many years and purchased our highway advisory radios from them. HIS is great to work with and they always meet or exceed our expectations. They are customer focused and understand the need for up-to-date, reliable travel information for motorists.”