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For Immediate Release

511 Driving Times Service Updated to Include MacArthur Maze Detours

Portable Units Cover West Grand Avenue, Seventh Street Detours

Contacts:
John Goodwin, MTC, 510.817.5862
Benjamin McKeever, MTC, 510.817.5852

OAKLAND, Calif., May 14, 2007 . . . The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has installed portable electronic devices along the designated Interstate 580 detour routes in Oakland to restore 511 Driving TimesSM service interrupted by the closure of the connector between eastbound Interstate 80 and eastbound Interstate 580. The new data collectors allow the Bay Area’s award-winning 511 system to deliver up-to-the-minute information about driving times for trips connecting via city streets to both Interstate 580 and State Route 24 through Oakland. The 511 Driving Times service is available toll free 24/7 on the phone at 511 or on the Web at 511.org.

Installation of the new data collection devices comes just two weeks after the I-580 connector collapsed following the fiery tanker truck accident in the MacArthur Maze on April 29. One of the new devices is located along Northgate Avenue just prior to the 27th Street on- ramp. The other is along Castro Street just prior to the 12th Street on-ramp. Travelers requesting current driving times for trips between, say, San Francisco and Walnut Creek or between the Bay Bridge and Castro Valley will be given two separate total driving times for trips involving each detour:

  • I-80 east to Bay Bridge to I-880 south to the West Grand Avenue detour to I-980 east to Highway 24 east (for Walnut Creek) or I-580 east (for Castro Valley); and
  • I-80 east to Bay Bridge to 1-880 south to the Seventh Street detour to I-980 east to Highway 24 east (for Walnut Creek) or I-580 east (for Castro Valley).

“The portable readers collect information about the time it takes to travel to each location from our permanent reader at the I-80/I-880 split,” explained Melanie Crotty, director of Traveler Coordination and Information for MTC. “Once the I-80/I-580 connector is replaced, we will revert to the established 511 Driving Times database, which gives freeway-only travel times through the MacArthur Maze. The portable readers will be removed and stored for future use.”

Detour times on the West Grand Avenue and Seventh Street routes currently range from six to seven minutes in late morning to about 15 minutes during the afternoon peak. Updated detour times are available through the 511 Driving Times tool on both the phone and the Web.

The Bay Area is the largest metropolitan area in the country — and was the first in California — to activate a 511 system. The service currently handles more than 450,000 calls and 1.5 million Web visits each month.

MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. MTC operates the regional 511 system in partnership with Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol and Bay Area transit agencies.

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