Road users across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory now have a website for road disruption information.
Transport for NSW has launched a live traffic website, www.livetraffic.com.
Minister for Roads, Andrew Constance, said the Live Traffic NSW website will help drivers avoid congestion by showing the impact of fire, flood, snow, roadworks, crashes and more on roads across five jurisdictions.
“During the unprecedented summer bushfires Live Traffic usage was up 25 per cent, with about 195,000 customers accessing the website, and a further 170,000 using the mobile apps,” said Constance.
“We’re very proud that Transport for NSW has brought together different government agencies to provide more information to communities during an emergency situation and drivers travelling interstate.”
The website is reportedly optimised for mobile, tablet and desktop, and users are able explore a map and list of incidents or input a journey to discover incidents on their route which may impact their travel.
Acting Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional Roads, Paul Toole, said this was the first time a transport agency had been able to consolidate multiple data feeds into one government platform, with about 1,500 incidents across five jurisdictions taking place on any given day.
“In the last year alone, regional NSW has been hit by unprecedented challenges of drought, bushfires, flood and now Covid-19,” Toole said.
“This new service will allow locals, as well as tourists, to better plan how they move around the regions.
“This will become particularly important when we see travel restrictions start to ease, so we can more safely explore our own backyard and help regenerate regional economies,” he said.
The Transport Management Centre and interstate counterparts publish information first-hand from emergency services and our front line staff making Live Traffic more accurate, timely and reliable than information published by third party services.
Transport for NSW is continuing to improve the coverage of incidents by working with data providers across the country.
The Live Traffic NSW mobile apps are being updated for iOS and Android for release later this year.