What’s Up: Travel-time board’s time has not yet come — but soon

Last winter, an electronic reader board was put up on westbound state Highway 14 between 164th Avenue and 192nd Avenue that will tell the number of minutes to the intersection of Interstate 5 and Interstate 84, via either I-5 or Interstate 205. After all this time, the sign still has not been turned on. –Jill, Camas

The signs have been in place since February, but it’s impressively timed that you asked about them right now, Jill. The signs are part of a bistate travel-time program, with the Washington and Oregon departments of transportation working together. Bart Treece, spokesman for the Washington State Department of Transportation, said they are going to start testing the information they’ve gathered so far this month, with hopes of turning on the signs at the end of the summer.

“We installed them in key decision points on both sides of the (Columbia) River, so drivers can compare routes,” Treece said. “This way, drivers can deviate and go take the route with a lower travel time. This is a congestion management tool. This isn’t going to solve all the problems, but we think it can help.”

The reason the signs haven’t been activated yet is that both departments are still collecting traffic pattern information. There are computer systems on both sides of the river, and Treece said they want to make sure the information is consistent and accurate before turning on the signs.

“We need to test it,” he said. “We don’t want to turn it on without reliable information. We want to make sure those signs are a tool drivers can depend on.”

To test the signs, Treece said they won’t actually turn them on. Instead, they will take the information they have so far and can see in-house, and try out what it predicts.

Similar signs in the Seattle area have helped with congestion, Treece said, and while the goal is to activate the signs by the end of the summer, there’s no timetable for how long the testing will last.

“We want to test it until it’s right,” he said.