Press Releases

For Immediate Release

511 Driving Times^SM Doubles Coverage Area

Latest Additions Blanket Most of Bay Area Freeway Network

Contact:

John Goodwin, MTC, 510.817.5862
Shauna Callow, MTC, 510.817.5704

OAKLAND, Calif., January 17, 2006…The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has roughly doubled the size of the coverage area for its popular 511 Driving Times^SM service, with the addition of data for nearly 250 miles of freeway around the Bay Area. 511 Driving Times^SM, which delivers free, on-demand information — via phone at 511 or on the Web at www.511.org — about point-to-point travel times on the Bay Area’s freeway network now provides complete coverage of Interstates 280, 580, 680, 780, 880, 980 and 238; and State Routes 13, 24, 85 and 242; as well as extensive coverage of Interstate 80, U.S. 101, and State Routes 4, 17 and 84. For a complete map of the 511 Driving Times^SM coverage area, highlighting the latest additions to the network, click here.

“The world’s most sophisticated intelligent transportation systems were on display this past fall at the ITS World Congress in San Francisco,” said MTC vice-chair John McLemore, who represents the cities of Santa Clara County on the Commission and recently retired after a long career as a high-tech industry executive. “The Bay Area 511 system is one of the things that really wowed the delegates. It’s a world-class tool that’s continually adding new capabilities. And the new Driving Times coverage makes it better than ever.”

511 Driving Times^SM coverage along Interstate 280 now stretches the length of the freeway from San Francisco to San Jose. Coverage on Interstate 580 extends east as far as the Alameda/San Joaquin county line and west to the U.S. 101 junction in San Rafael. Coverage on Interstate 680 now extends from the Interstate 80 interchange near Fairfield south to San Jose. Interstate 880 coverage has been extended from Oakland to San Jose. With the addition of 511 Driving Times^SM coverage along U.S. 101 through Santa Clara County, the service now covers all freeway segments of U.S. 101 from San Francisco south past Gilroy and from San Francisco north to Santa Rosa (including the Golden Gate Bridge). 511 Driving Times^SM information is now available for State Route 4 from Antioch west to the Interstate 80 junction in Hercules, and along State Route 84 from Interstate 880 in Fremont to U.S. 101 in Menlo Park (including the Dumbarton Bridge).

The 511 Driving Times^SM service debuted in March 2004 with coverage on Interstates 80, 680 and 880, and has been expanded several times since. The system taps data from FasTrak® toll transponders, constantly updated information from Caltrans and solar-powered radar devices deployed by Cupertino-based SpeedInfo Inc. to tell motorists the current travel time between cities or major landmarks in the Bay Area. Continually updated information from the California Highway Patrol informs callers and Web users whether there are any incidents along the route.

In addition to the 511 phone service and the www.511.org Web site, 511 Driving Times^SM information for select destinations is posted on changeable message signs located along several Bay Area freeways.

MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

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