Tampa traffic improvement tool

TAMPA, Fla. – The city of Tampa signed a three-year contract with One.network, a platform that allows officials to send information about road and lane closures to GPS providers, so drivers can better navigate Tampa’s roads. 

“We understand the pain,” Tampa interim mobility director Brandon Campbell said of traffic woes in Tampa. “We work pretty hard on the front end to try to coordinate when and where those work zones will happen. This is a real-time tool though for coordinating the impact of those work zones.”

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The backstory:

In the past, city officials had to manually give road closure information to Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Waze, which meant updates happened more slowly. In some cases, this process included spreadsheets and emails, according to the city. 

One.network allows the city’s traffic managers and construction crews to update road closures and other traffic issues through a few simple clicks. This information is then sent directly to GPS providers within minutes. 

“We know we’ll be working with them, continuing to refine the product as needed over the next three years,” Campbell said of One.network. 

READ: The 100 deadliest highways in the US – see the list

Dig deeper:

The information that One.network sends to GPS apps can be found on the city’s road closures website. Users can click on different road projects for more details on traffic impacts and timelines. 

Local perspective:

Earlier this year, a study by ConsumerAffairs ranked Tampa as having the 13th-worst traffic after studying data in the nation’s 50 most populous metropolitan areas.

“Me and all my friends think it’s so much faster to walk because, by the time you get in the car and drive – all the lights and the traffic and all the detours you have to take just to get out of the way of what they’re doing — it takes longer,” driver Ava Sills told FOX 13. “You might as well walk.”

The Source: The information in this story was gathered through an interview with Tampa’s interim mobility director and drivers. It also includes details from previous FOX 13 News reports. 

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