Just in time for Labor Day weekend, the Washington Department Of Transportation is offering Wi-Fi at 28 of the state’s 42 rest stops. It’s free to access to road conditions and highway information.
This service is provided by a private contractor, Road Connect, at no cost to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). All others pay cash.
Prices for general WiFi access vary from $1.99 for 20 minutes — up to $29.99 for a month.
Oregon’s Travel Information Council’s Wi-Fi program provides wireless internet access at nine select Rest Areas and State Parks. Travelers using the wireless service can access four travel-related websites for free, and have access the rest of the world wide web at similar rates to Washington state.
Coach Connect/Road Connect has installed rest area WiFi in, Texas, Oregon, Washington and Florida. They use a satellite-based system.
WSDOT hopes that the opportunity for wireless service will also foster safety on the road. By providing wireless Internet at the rest areas, travelers are now given another reason to pull off the highway and take a break instead of driving while fatigued. Right. Like those red light cameras.
Washington State’s Good to Go Program is an electronic toll taker for bridges. A small RFID badge adheres to the inside of a vehicle’s windshield and can be read by an antenna mounted over the roadway. It’s similar to EZPass and electronic toll systems in other states.
The city of Bellevue, WA, has an online real-time traffic map that alerts drivers to congestion on city streets. “We believe we are the first city in Washington state to do it,” said Mark Poch, the city’s traffic engineering manager. Bellevue’s map (right), is similar to the popular online map provided by the real-time W-DOT freeway congestion maps.
An interactive online bicycle trip planner has been created by byCycle, based in Portland, Oregon. The bicycle trip planner, which works with Google Maps, is currently available for the Portland, OR, Milwaukee, WI, and Pittsburgh, PA.
Future versions of the trip planner will let users modify routes according to length, traffic volume, elevation, and other preferences. Users will also be able to find routes to and from points of interest, such as local businesses and parks, by entering the name.
The Trip Planner is currently unfunded. It was developed with support from Metro, Portland’s regional government.
With Portland’s free WiFi cloud, all manner of location services could soon be developed for all manner of transport.
Related resources include the US Department of Transportation, State Transportation Web Sites, ITS DOT, ITS America, ITS On-Line, Bernie Wagenblast’s excellent Transportation Communications Newsletter, Techworld’s All about Wi-Fi location tracking, Telematicswire and Directions Magazine.
Related Dailywireless stories includes; WiFi Public Transport, 487 mile Hwy Cloud, Iowa’s Highway Free Spots, Kentucky Parks Get WiFi, Unwired Transportation, 5.9 GHz Hits the Road Intelligent Transportation, Truck Stop Wi-Fi, WiMaxion Car, WiFi City Applications, Wireless Virtual Tour, Google Traffic on Cell, Intelligent Transportation Gets 802.11p, WiFi Caravan II, Transit Wireless, Wireless Monorail, WiFi on Canadian Trains, Underground Wireless, Wi-Fi on Trains, Wi-Fi Ferry, On The Bus, Cybercar, Limousine Wi-Fi, Highspeed Mobile Roaming, Internet Rickshaw, Transit Mapping, Transportation MESH, Mapping Inter-Op Oregon’s Statewide Wireless Net, Tracking RF-ID, Sharing a satellite van, Digital Pony Express, Seattle Transit WiFied and DOT’s Fiber Networks.
.gif)
