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TxDOT Works to Provide More Timely, Responsive My35 Updates

Back to Volume 7, Number 10


As part of its ongoing effort to keep Central Texas travelers better informed, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) implemented real-time incident alerts during its I-35 Expansion Project. The system notifies drivers about lane closures, incidents, and other events that affect their commute. By regularly soliciting input from end-users via surveys, TxDOT has worked hard with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) to make its Traveler Information System informative and responsive to user needs over the life of the project. Some 60,000 to 132,000 vehicles per day travel the hundred-mile stretch of I-35 from Hillsboro to Salado. The eight-year, $2.1 billion project has already begun to increase mobility and facilitate economic development along the corridor, as well as make commutes safer for Texans. Getting timely, accurate information to travelers about construction slow-downs and traffic incidents has been a primary goal.

I-35 text alert

With Twilio's help, TxDOT's I-35 text alerts are now more reliable, more responsive, and more popular than ever.


"TxDOT wants to be as responsive and helpful as we can to our fellow Texans during the reconstruction process," says Jodi Wheatley, TxDOT's I-35 public information officer. "That would be much more difficult without our Traveler Information System. TTI's expertise has made I-35 construction in the Waco District safer, easier to negotiate, and more predictable for travelers."

Recently, TTI's Senior Research Scientist Bob Brydia and Software Applications Developer James Moughon proactively approached the challenge of improving on the existing system for TxDOT. The TTI team found that many commuters prefer receiving traffic alerts by text message, so Brydia and Moughon knew they needed to add short message service (SMS)—what most people refer to as text messaging—as a channel for real-time alerts. To implement SMS alerts, Moughon turned to Twilio—a text-message service—due to the platform's flexibility, accessible documentation, and ease of use for developers.

"Twilio has thought through so many aspects of the solutions for mass text messaging," says Moughon. "There's a lot of support and examples...and they're willing to work and talk with people to use their services."

After the initial incorporation of Twilio Programmable SMS into TxDOT's alert system, the response was immediate. Within a few hours, 600 drivers had subscribed to the My35 text-message service. Within a month, more than 2,500 had subscribed, exceeding the number of email subscribers that had signed up over the previous two and a half years. Now with over 5,700 subscribers, the system is keeping travelers in the Waco District better informed.

The downside of popularity: pushing notifications out to that many subscribers began to cause delays in distribution, so TxDOT and TTI agreed to participate in a test of a recent enhancement of Twilio's system. Immediately, messages that had sometimes taken up to 20 minutes to deliver, began popping up on subscribers' cell phones in less than 60 seconds.

"It's been tremendously well-received by the driving public," says Brydia. "I have messages saved from people saying, 'Thank goodness for all the work that you folks are doing out there to keep us informed. These messages and the alerts have saved me countless hours of time in more than one situation.'"

The system is highly customizable, allowing users to selectively receive alerts according to when and where they drive along the 96-mile stretch of highway. Tailoring the information to meet individual users' needs makes the experience far more useful and more personal. "It's almost a conversation," says Moughon. "At any period of time I can renegotiate how I receive messages by simply texting one word back."

Brydia sees mobile communications continuing to grow as a delivery mechanism for time-sensitive alerts. Looking forward, TxDOT and TTI plan to enhance the My35 system by using some of the latest offerings from Twilio to increase text message delivery speed at reduced costs.

"Timeliness, accuracy, and reliability—these are our guiding principles for how we keep Texans informed," says Wheatley. "TTI and Twilio are helping us meet that commitment."

Back to Volume 7, Number 10

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Central Texas News

Contact

Jake Smith
I-35 Public Information Officer
254-867-2705
Contact My35

TxDOT Waco District
100 S. Loop Drive
Waco, TX 76704

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