Wolf Announces PennDOT Partnering With Waze App for Traffic Info

Crowdsourcing has changed the face of everything from restaurant reviews to fundraising. Now the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is using its power to keep motorists better informed of road conditions on highways all over the state.

PennDOT announced today that it was joining Waze’s Connected Citizens Program for sharing of real-time information on highway traffic conditions. Waze is a smartphone app that uses information submitted anonymously by individual drivers to update users on such things as accidents, road work and slow-moving traffic. The Connected Citizens Program provides a two-way connection between users, known as Wazers, and city and state traffic control centers. Government agencies and private road operators can receive field reports on road conditions from Wazers to supplement their own data, and Wazers in turn get up-to-the-minute information from the traffic control centers as well as other users.

“PennDOT is always looking for ways to make it easier and safer to travel on our roadways,” PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said in a news release. “This partnership will advance our efforts in showing a government that works by improving our data while providing verified information through the app.”

“As travelers rely more and more on their smartphones for real-time traffic data, this new partnership represents yet another way PennDOT is modernizing to keep up with the demands of its customers,” Governor Tom Wolf said in the release.

Partners in the Connected Citizens Program are expected to use Waze data to improve city efficiency and to  share their findings with other municipalities. Waze reports that it has more than 417,000 active users per month in Philadelphia.

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