Most every Road Runner column ends with the “Down the Road” section, which gives readers an idea of the major road projects starting soon and their likely traffic impacts. Many of you have reached out to say that it’s a handy resource for planning trips, and that’s heartening to hear.
Down the Road isn’t going anywhere, but the Road Runner has learned of a new resource that will likely be even more useful to local motorists.
The great flaw of Down the Road is that it only tells you what work is starting, not what work is ongoing. Now there’s an online, interactive map that provides an overview of many current projects, and it’s poised to grow more comprehensive in the near future: It’s TransView, which can be accessed at transview.org
Since around the start of the year, the Pima Association of Governments has worked with the transportation departments in Tucson, Marana and Pima County, whose staffs now input basic information — like duration, traffic impacts and jurisdiction — about upcoming road projects. The information is then mapped, along with incidents like collisions, traffic light malfunctions, and storm data, providing drivers with much of what they’ll need to know to plan their commutes.
“That’s what we’re trying to create here, so people don’t have to chase it down, and they’re never sure if they have all the information or not,” Paul Casertano, PAG’s transportation program manager, told the Road Runner.
On Friday afternoon, visitors to the site could see information about the pavement-preservation project on the Nogales Highway, a crash in the 6300 block of East Speedway and work on the South Houghton Road bridge over the Union Pacific train tracks, among many other entries. Images from the Arizona Department of Transportation’s highway camera system are also incorporated.
“It’s one-stop shopping for the public to go to and get information on the important projects throughout the region,” said Mike Graham, a spokeswoman with Tucson’s transportation department, which participates in TransView.
Soon, the site will include information on ADOT construction projects, and ADOT in turn will be able to incorporate TransView data in its interactive state map. Also likely to come is information about private utility work, as well as non-road projects that nevertheless have traffic impacts.
Marana has already added information about a gas line project at the intersection of North Sandario and West Marana roads.
While users can go directly to the site to get information, many may soon consume the data without even knowing its source is TransView. That’s because PAG intends to make the data “machine-readable” so that Google, Apple and other companies can incorporate construction, accidents and other traffic-impacting incidents into the mapping.
“We’re trying to serve it up to be consumed by those groups, where the private market can do this more effectively,” Casertano said.
All that being said, here’s another edition of Down the Road.
DOWN THE ROAD
- Between North Silverbell Road and Interstate 10, West Ina Road will be narrowed to one lane in both directions starting Monday morning. The restrictions will be in place from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Friday to accommodate the setting of bridge girders as part of the interchange project.
- There will be overnight lane closures on Interstate 19 at Sahuarita Road Monday and Tuesday evening from 8 p.m. to 10 a.m. the following day.
- As a part of Phase II of the Grant Road Improvement Project, North Fourth Avenue south of East Grant will be closed starting Monday at 5:30 a.m. until Tuesday at 4 p.m. as a contractor installs water lines. On the same days and as a part of the same project, a contractor will install temporary traffic signals at the North First Avenue-Grant intersection between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. There will be intermittent left turn restrictions as a result.
