511 Traffic Coverage Expands to Napa County

The 511 traveler information system is now reporting traffic speeds and conditions for select Napa County roadways — on Highway 29 and a portion of Highway 12 (along Jameson Canyon Road between Interstate 80 and State Route 29), the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency (NCTPA) announced last week.

511 is the free regional transportation information portal available on both the phone and web (www.511.org), and is operated by MTC.

On the phone (dial 511), callers can request “traffic conditions” and then ask for either “Highway 29” or “Highway 12” to hear about congestion and incidents. Information on these two highways will be incorporated into 511 Driving Times by the end of January, which calculates the time required to drive from point A to point B given current traffic conditions.

Napa County’s Highway 221 (Napa Vallejo Highway) and Hwy 121 were not part of this phase of 511 coverage expansion, but according Melanie Crotty, director of Operations at MTC, “MTC hopes to have the funds to add these critical highways to the network — this additional work would be performed together with the remaining roadways in the Bay Area, expected to be completed by June 1, 2015.”

Kate Miller, NCTPA’s executive director, welcomed the addition of the two roadways to the 511 system. “Napa’s road conditions don’t seem so bad compared to the central Bay Area until there’s an incident — then they become particularly problematic because we have so few options to get in out of the county. 511 Traffic will be a huge boon for relieving congestion in the county because it will help divert traffic to an alternate route or encourage drivers to delay trips until the road is clear,” she said. “We really appreciate MTC’s responsiveness to our request to accelerate this project.”

About 511

511 is a one-stop phone and web source for up-to-the-minute Bay Area traffic, transit, rideshare, bicycling and parking information. It’s free of charge and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week from anywhere in the nine-county Bay Area. Call 511 or visit 511.org. 511 is managed by a partnership of public agencies led by MTC, the California Highway Patrol, public transit agencies and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).