Description
The Route Builder Utility allows you to define a route along roadways that are
covered by Houston Transtar's Traffic Monitoring System. As you define the
route, you are shown a list of the sensor locations along the route and
detailed travel information about the route. Route Builder can help you
determine how long, under current traffic conditions, it may take to travel a
specific route to your destination. If you travel a route regularly, it is a
good idea to save the final route report as a bookmark in your browser for
quick reference at a later time. This way, you do not have to rebuild the route
later.
Using Route Builder
Selecting the Route Origin
To build (define) your route, you must first select a location to begin your
route. This is done through the Select Route Origin
Page. This page shows a list of all roadways that are currently
monitored by the system. First select the desired roadway. You will then be
shown a list of cross streets where you can begin your route. Now, select a
cross street in the desired direction of travel.
Note : Route Builder can only define routes between sensor locations. The cross
streets shown when selecting the origin and subsequent locations are determined
by where system sensors are located.
Building the Route
After selecting the origin of your route, you are shown the main Route Builder
report page. From this screen you can begin adding to the route, one sensor
location at a time.
Click here to view an example Route Builder report page with US-290 Northwest
Freeway Eastbound at Barker Cypress as the route origin and Beltway 8 at SH-249 as the route destination. Shown at the
top of the report page is a list of valid sensors that may be selected as the
next location in your route. Below the sensor list, is a detailed report of
your route so far.
To add to the route, simply select a new location from the list and you will be
shown a new report page with your selected location added to the route
description and a new sensor list to select from. As with the example above,
many times, there will only be one sensor to select from. When an intersection
to another roadway that is covered by the system is ahead, you will be able to
select sensors on intersecting roadway to add to your route.
Now, simply select sensor locations as you like to build a route to your
destination.
Route Builder Report
The Route Builder report shows the current travel data for the route that you
have defined. Column descriptions are listed below.
-
Sensor Locations - the sensors that you selected along the route. The sensor
location includes a roadway name and a cross street. If multiple locations are
shown for a roadway, the roadway is only listed once. All cross streets are
shown indented under the roadway name.
-
Last Data Time - the time (hh:ss) in military time that data was received for
the roadway segment.
-
Distance - the distance, in miles, from the last sensor to the current sensor.
-
Travel Time - the latest travel time (mm:ss) from the previous sensor to the
current sensor.
-
Speed - the average speed, in miles per hour, between the previous sensor and
the current sensor.
Saving your Route
When you are done building your route, you may want to save it for future
reference. By saving the route, you can access it again quickly without having
to rebuild the route.
To save your route, simply create a Bookmark (Netscape) or Favorite
(MS-Explorer) or your browsers equivelant. When you want to access information
about the route again, simply pull up the bookmark and the route details and
current travel data will be calculated and shown.
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