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An Answer to "Are We There Yet?" on Connecticut Highways

Jeff Cohen
/
WNPR
Some state highway signs now give travel time to motorists.
The state has about 40 variable message signs that relay travel times to motorists.

If you're driving on one of the state's major highways and you see one of those electronic message boards overhead, it may now offer you something new: real-time information about how long a trip will take. 

It used to be that the signs just had emergency notices or public service announcements. As of October 15, some of those signs have travel times.

For example, if you're driving on I-84 in Hartford, the sign will tell you how long it will take to get to I-91.

"Over the years, we've been looking for ways to improve technologies and to use technologies to better inform the motoring public of incidents, occurrences, and congestion on the roadways," said Kevin Nursick, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. "We are now able to relay travel times from basically major destination points within the state to motorists utilizing those electronic signs. Folks will have a general idea, for example, how long it will take to get form I-84 in Farmington to the I-91 interchange in Hartford."

Nursick said the state has around 140 of what it calls variable message signs in use. Of them, about 40 are used to relay travel times to motorists.

More are planned in the future. Nursick said the signs will use real-time data based on the current flow of traffic.

Jeff Cohen started in newspapers in 2001 and joined Connecticut Public in 2010, where he worked as a reporter and fill-in host. In 2017, he was named news director. Then, in 2022, he became a senior enterprise reporter.

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