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Week of Feb. 19, 2007
County enhances traffic camera Web site  Keeping tabs on road conditions in King County just got easier thanks to several enhancements on the popular “My Commute” Web page.
The King County Road Services Division has been steadily increasing the number of online traffic cameras on county roads since the service debuted in 2001. Starting with just six cameras, the My Commute page now features 34 cameras keeping county residents constantly in touch with current traffic conditions. Roads staff recently upgraded the features on the Web site to offer more info in a more user-friendly format, including: • Higher quality and larger maps to provide more detail;
• Cameras from other jurisdictions displayed on the map;
• Road closure information integrated directly into the site;
• Improved ease of use; and
• An alternate format for small-screen devices like PDAs and cell phones with Web browsers. “We know from comments e-mailed to us that people use the traffic cameras to monitor traffic conditions for things like going to and from work, seeing if they need to leave early to get their kids to school, and during adverse weather to learn about road conditions beyond their neighborhoods before venturing out,” said King County’s Harry Clark, who managed the project to update the My Commute service.  Clark said his team wanted to update the My Commute map to accommodate the growing number of traffic cameras, and make general usability better. The team also wanted to provide this and other resources in a format that could be easily viewed from Web-enabled small screen devices, such as Blackberrys and cell phones with Internet access.
The county’s system of traffic cameras is well used, particularly when travel conditions are uncertain. During last November’s storms, the eastbound camera at Woodinville-Duvall Road and West Snoqualmie Valley Road received 1.18 million page views. Another camera that was visited regularly during that time period was the camera at West Snoqualmie Valley Road Northeast and Northeast 124th Street, which received 663,486 page views. The county’s camera network is not just for motorists. Images from the cameras are fed into the Roads Division’s Traffic Control Center, where staff monitor the real-time traffic conditions and can intervene quickly to deal with emerging problems. Staff can adjust traffic signal timings, dispatch law enforcement or emergency medical personnel, and advise motorists. Upon detection of an incident or other disruption to the flow of traffic, the operators in the Traffic Control Center can notify the appropriate authorities to clear the incident. The cameras are used as a public safety tool and are not intended to identify speeders or enforce traffic laws. The expansion of the My Commute system will continue this year. New cameras will be installed and activated as capital improvement projects are completed. In 2007, the division expects to install two new cameras on Avondale Road at Novelty Hill Road, one new camera at Novelty Hill Road at Redmond Road, and one new camera at 124th Ave Southeast and Southeast 320th Street. Additional projects are in the works to further expand coverage along the congested corridors in the years ahead.
A section of Southeast May Valley Road between Renton and Issaquah will be closed for five days starting Monday, Feb. 26, while the King County Road Services Division fixes damage to the roadway and shoulder from recent winter storms. The road will be closed from 7 a.m. Monday, Feb. 26 to 3 p.m. Friday, March 2. It will be closed just west of the intersection with Southeast 128th Way. Motorists can detour around the closure via Southeast 128th Way to 164th Avenue Southeast and then travel on State Route 900 back to Southeast May Valley Road. During the closure, Road Division crews will remove the pavement on the south lane and excavate below the roadway to rebuild and reinforce the roadbed to prevent sliding. There will also be some improvements made to the drainage system in that area.
Work continues on Preston-Fall City Road Winter storms have endangered a section of the Preston-Fall City Road northeast of the town of Preston, and repairs kick into high gear this week. The storms in recent months caused a slide of the supporting hillside in the 7600 block of Preston-Fall City Road, which sits above the Raging River. Crews from the King County Road Services Division have prepared the site for repairs by installing a temporary roadway so traffic can be bypassed through the work area. Now that the bypass lane is being used, crews are excavating and repairing the roadway. There should be little disruption for motorists, but please watch for signs and flaggers and use caution driving through the area. The work should be completed in a couple of weeks. |
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Metro continues service to Home Show this weekend The annual Seattle Spring Home Show continues at the Qwest Field Events Center, and Metro is offering free weekend shuttles from Bellevue, Northgate and Renton. Metro can help you beat the crowds and save on parking with either regular transit service or the weekend shuttles to the show from three suburban park-and-ride lots. For regular service and routes, use Metro's online Trip Planner. Or, call Metro Rider Information at (206) 553-3000 for trip planning assistance. Full details about service to the show are posted on Metro Online. The special shuttles will be available Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 24-25. They travel between Qwest Field and the Northgate Transit Center, South Bellevue Park-and-Ride, and the South Renton Park-and-Ride. The free shuttles will operate from approximately 9:20 a.m. until the show closes for the day. | Subscribe to DOT DashSign-up to receive an e-mail text version of "Transportation Today," along with other significant DOT news by sending an e-mail to us with subscribe King County DOT Dash in the subject line.
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