The Commentators: Traffic Blues

Commentary by Wesley Hyatt

Here’s my wish for the North Carolina Department of Transportation in 2017: put traffic information on your traffic information signs.

I’ve noticed in my morning and afternoon commutes on the highways that these signs are often blank, even while traffic is at a standstill. Apparently someone at the NCDOT thinks it’s normal for backups to occur and so nothing gets posted, even if there are accidents ahead which people may want to avoid and take alternate routes. This is not the way this should be working. The signs should be warning us of what to expect that’s not normal.

If the NCDOT doesn’t know how to do this, may I suggest listening to Nicki Morse in the morning and Aaron Keck in the afternoon? Both of them are able somehow in the confines of the WCHL studios to relay succinctly any traffic jams as they happen. It’s a real convenience to me and many other listeners, and it’s what the NCDOT traffic information signs should be doing right now.

So come January, NCDOT, take a few minutes to listen to Nicki and Aaron, paraphrase what they say is going on in Orange, Durham, and Wake county highways, and put that on your traffic information signs. For an agency with a dubious public image for quality service, it can only help your mission.