New 511 System To Help Navigate Traffic

BANNING – Bernie Gartner drives a lot.

“I have an ‘ 06 truck and it’s got 247,000 miles on it. So, does that give you some idea on how much I drive.”

He’s all over Southern California helping install cell phone towers.

And, he doesn’t have much time to check road conditions.

“If the road is good or bad, I still go where I have to go. It’s kind of immaterial to somebody such as myself,” says Gartner.

Riverside County Traffic Commission hopes to win over drivers like Gartner with their new I.E. 511 system.

It’s accessible from your smart phone or computer.

You can see multicolored travel times and live traffic cameras.

It also gives bus, rail and ridesharing information.

And, for the lonely drivers, a commuter calculator to add up travel costs and encourage carpooling.

While most of the information is available in the palm of your hand, Traffic Commission Service Director Robert Yates says you shouldn’t use it on the road.

“Our mantra is know before you go. Pick up your phone if you need to look at the traffic, look at it before you start your car,” says Yates.

A countywide sales tax helps pay for the service.

While the site covers much of the Inland Empire, there are parts it leaves out.

Yates says magnetometers, used to help regulate traffic lights in the city and count cars on the freeway, aren’t on the I-10 running through the Coachella Valley.

Yates says RCTC will continuing looking for cheaper alternatives to the magnetometers until federal funding comes through.

The site gets it’s information from Cal Trans and the California Highway Patrol.

Even though travel times aren’t available for desert drivers, the site still lists construction and crash alerts.

Some drivers, like Audrey Garcia like the idea of the system.

“If I know I was going to travel and I wanted to check the traffic conditions I definitely would use something like that, yeah,” says Garcia.

But, it might take more to convince people like Bernie Gartner.

“Now if someone was going on some sort of vacation or something or looking for road conditions due to weather conditions, it makes logical sense,” says Gartner.

You can also call 511 if you live in the Inland Empire.

People using AT&T landlines or calling from outside the counties must call (877) 694 3511.

Again that’s (877) 694 3511.