SHA to keep travel time signs up, will review them
The State Highway Administration will not pull the plug on the estimated-travel-time messages it has been flashing on its electronic highway signs despite misgivings expressed by Gov. Martin O'Malley.
O'Malley has told WTOP Radio in Washington that he had concerns about the messages after hearing complaints from motorists that they were slowing traffic and causing backups.
Dave Buck, an SHA spokesman, said the agency would continue to display the travel time messages but will monitor them closesly to make sure they were not causing delays. He said the messages, which tell motorists how long the trip is expected to take to a point such as a major interchange, were discontinued at one location on the Capital Beltway near Lanham.
Buck said the SHA, the Maryland Department of Transportation and the governor's office agree on the plan for the signs. "We're all on the same page in terms of moving forward cautiously with this," he said.
The spokesman said the agency had received few complaints and a lot of "positive feedback" when it tested the travel messages on Interstate 95 between the Baltimore and Capital beltways. However, he said, complaints increased once the program expanded to the beltways and other highway locations.
Buck said the electronic signs are place near "decision points" where traffic normally slows down, perhaps causing motorists to conclude the signs are the cause. He said there's "always a transition" when the signs change.
"Historically any time we've put something different on our messages, we've got a mixed reaction," Buck said. He said the agency would monitor the signs "extremely closely" for signs they might be holding up traffic. The agency has cameras deployed at locations around the state that can quickly detect slowdowns on the highways.
O'Malley had told WTOP the program should be discontinued if the messages were creating a distraction on the road.
"I think those boards should be used only for essential messages with regard to safety or traffic re-routing, or things of that nature," the governor told the radio audience.
