By CINDY GONZALEZ
Nebraska Examiner
OMAHA — Long gone are the “wild, wild West” days when families loaded up their station wagons and could only pray their vacation route would not be disrupted by car accidents or storms, John Selmer, Nebraska’s director of transportation, said Tuesday.
He said technological breakthroughs have increased information available to Nebraska travelers today. A state transportation team, for instance, now monitors nearly 380 cameras and updates 330 message boards along state roadways to help get motorists to their destinations safely and efficiently.
Gov. Pete Ricketts and Selmer announced a change Tuesday that is expected to make the journey through Nebraska even smoother.
Around-the-clock watch
A new State Operations Center, at 4411 S. 108th St., has been formed to create one centralized command center that monitors the state highway network. Previously, those functions were split between offices in Lincoln and Omaha.
Hours will be expanded to create an around-the-clock system in which a team of about 10 workers watch roadways as they are reflected through the network of cameras and onto a wall of video screens. Those same workers receive and dispatch relevant information from and to partner agencies to help smooth traffic flow and avert or control catastrophes.
Ricketts and Selmer said the enhancements for travelers and motorists will come mostly through streamlining, and without any added cost to taxpayers.
As traffic overall continues to increase, Ricketts said, so has the need for consistent management of the roadway network that Nebraskans use daily for commerce, commuting, school and recreation.
Smart decisions behind the wheel
“Providing timely information helps drivers make smart decisions behind the wheel so they can stay safe and avoid traffic,” he said.
Selmer said “communication is vital.” He noted that the state operations center team, now working at one site, shares relevant information with law enforcement and other agencies that help keep traffic moving and clear roads of hazards that can range from fatal pileup crashes to a runaway tire.
The team also feeds information to various travel social media and outreach tools including Nebraska 511, a website that shows road closures and conditions, construction and detour information.
“This center will be a hub in making sure that not only our local partners have the information they need to coordinate with us but to educate or provide information to the traveling public,” said Selmer.
He said the operations center is on alert and prepared to respond to traffic needs and emergencies during big events such as the upcoming College World Series, which starts Friday.
“There is nothing worse than to come up on an incident unawares and where you wish you could have taken that exit just prior to the incident,” Selmer said.
Located in an existing state office building, the central hub has been 20 years in the making, said manager Jessica Sherwood.
‘Next phase of evolution’
Two decades ago, she said, one person took calls and updated the 511 system while relying on people in eight districts working on call on evenings and weekends. Initially the district centers did not operate on a full-time basis and activated for major crashes or weather events in their areas.
“Today we are here for that next phase of evolution,” Sherwood said.
Selmer said his goal for the Nebraska Department of Transportation and the operations center is to provide even more predictive information.
He’d like systems to read road conditions and not only inform Nebraskans of conditions in their path, but also to suggest alternative days or hours to travel.
“It’s an interesting time to be in transportation,” he said. “There are a lot of things around the corner.”
Download The Post app for iOs or Android
