The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced Thursday that the agency is partnering with Waze, the Google-owned app that provides users with real-time traffic conditions, in order to ease congestion on the state’s roadways and bridges by tapping data.
The data-sharing partnership will be a two-way venture: Waze will provide MassDOT with anonymized information from its users about slow-downs and other traffic conditions. MassDOT will provide Waze with information about construction and road closures. The partnership is part of Waze's Connected Citizen Program, which has similar partnerships worldwide.
The MassDOT-Waze joint venture builds off of a partnership Waze already has with the city of Boston, a collaboration that began last year. Since then, Boston has been using Waze data to assess traffic flow and ease congestion in places like the Seaport District. Currently, there are more than 709,000 monthly active users of the Waze app in Boston, according to the company.
