Public can view road conditions from MnDOT snowplow cameras

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The public can now view winter road conditions from the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s new “plow cams” available through the 511mn.org website. MnDOT announced today that some of the agency’s 838 snowplows are equipped with cameras that show real-time road conditions along plow routes.

“The plow cams are another way for travelers to make good decisions about their travel plans during the snow and ice season,” said Kelly Braunig, 511 program manager. “If they go on the 511 site and see that travel is not advised, they can actually see an image of the road the cameras take as the plow is traveling. Seeing is believing.”

Travelers can already see road conditions on major highways from the Road Weather Information System, which is also part of 511. These are fixed cameras at 97 locations across the state that show live rotating photos. While the RWIS cameras show a small area of the road, the plow cams show real-time road conditions as snowplows plow their routes.

“The RWIS and plow cameras are both used for maintenance purposes, and the public also benefits,” said Steve Lund, state maintenance engineer. “They give maintenance managers and supervisors a quick snapshot of what’s going on in the field but the plow cams will show the road conditions from the driver’s seat along a route.”

The plow cams are available on the 511 website’s full-featured and streamlined pages and the 511 app. They are also available on the “Personalize Your 511” feature, which is on the full-featured and truckers’ pages.

To access the plow cams, go to www.511mn.org and click on “Plow Cameras” on the left menu. A window will open to show photos and a map where the plow is. Underneath the current photo and map is a “film strip,” showing images every five minutes. The camera will activate when the plow is going at least 10 miles per hour or based on other filtering criteria.

Photos have captions that give the plow number, the date, time and location of the plow. Images will be displayed for two hours. If a new image is not taken for 15 minutes because, for example, a snowplow has stopped to refuel, the snowplow icon will be removed from the map until the plow is active again.

The active trucks displayed on 511 only represent a portion of MnDOT’s fleet for snow and ice and other maintenance activities. Not all of the cameras are fully implemented in the trucks, but 200 cameras were purchased for this winter season. MnDOT is in the testing stage this season, which will allow the agency to make decisions on whether to install additional cameras.

“All the new features we’re putting on 511 come down to intelligent transportation,” said Braunig. “We want to be on the cutting edge of that. If motorists can just pick one or two features to use, they can make better travel decisions.”

For more information on other features of the 511 system go to www.511mn.org.

MnDOT’s 511 system adds real-time road condition cameras

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Motorists driving throughout the state this winter will benefit from the addition of cameras displaying real-time photos of road conditions from 92 locations to help them plan their travel. The photos are available on the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s 511 traveler information website at www.511mn.org.

These camera locations are in addition to the more than 800 traffic cameras already displayed on MnDOT’s 511 system.

The Road Weather Information Stations or RWIS are located along state roads and interstates. The stations are used by MnDOT’s maintenance crews but now the public also can take advantage of the live rotating camera shots. Various weather data is also available with the photos.

“RWIS is perfect for Greater Minnesota, where camera images were lacking in the past,” said Kelly Braunig, 511 program manager. “Seeing is believing, so the photos will help motorists know what the road conditions are for where they are traveling.”

The RWIS are among several recent enhancements to the 511 system. Other updates are:

·         Metro traffic map - Uses Google Speed technology to show congestion levels caused by crashes, closures, construction and maintenance projects within the Twin Cities metro area. Users can zoom in to specific incidents or events. This feature can be viewed by clicking on the quick link “Metro Traffic Map” on the left side of the full-featured version of the 511 website.

·         Greater Minnesota traffic speeds – Uses Google Speed technology to show congestion levels along Minnesota highways. Users can zoom in and out to specific cities. Users can view this by turning on the “Traffic Speeds” layer from the dropdown list on the full-featured version of the 511 website.

·         Weather warnings – Show warnings imported from National Weather Service sites. The warnings are displayed as a shaded overlay on top of the full-featured version of the 511 website in the areas that are affected. These warnings reinforce the message about the road condition report. For example, if a blizzard warning is issued for St. Louis County, a user would see that county shaded along with a weather warning icon. The user might also see “completely covered” or “travel not advised” road conditions in that area. This feature is available year-round and also shows severe storm, flash flood, high wind and tornado warnings.

·         Traffic delays – Is a Google Speed feature that recognizes when there is a backup due to an existing traffic event on 511. The events are highlighted with an orange glow. Clicking on the glowing icon will show details about how long a delay is expected. This is available only on interstates statewide.

·         511 smartphone app – Shows a detour route as a blue line. Detours can also be seen on the 511 website. This feature is available statewide.

“These improvements will give users more quality information,” said Braunig. “The more information we can give the public, the better chance they have to make good decisions on their travel.”