Document text
53 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, January 28, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 18, 2004 Motorists bound for the Siskiyou Summit can now listen to updated road and weather condition reports at the Suncrest rest area on Interstate 5 near Talent. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Recording helps I-5 travelers scale summit By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Travelers contemplating a trip over the Siskiyou Summit can now get news about road and weather conditions at highway rest areas on both sides of the pass. State transportation departments in Oregon and California have installed information stations in a joint project with the National Weather Service station in Medford. The highway departments provide the road reports; the weather service supplies the forecasts. On the Oregon side, the information station has been installed at the Interstate 5 rest area near Talent. In California, it’s at the I-5 rest area near Weed. The Talent site uses telephone lines to connect the rest area to state highway departments and the weather service. Travelers push a button and hear the most recent road report and weather forecast. Advertisement Inspiration for the project came from several sources. Medford meteorologist Jim Reynolds saw a similar project at a Kansas highway rest area during a vacation. "When I saw that," Reynolds said, "I thought, ‘We can do that, too.’ " When Reynolds approached state highway officials about broadcasting weather information at rest areas, he discovered they had been talking about providing road information at the same sites. The agencies decided to work together to provide all the news at one place. "We’re giving people everything they need to know," said Galen McGill, who manages ODOT "intelligent transportation" projects such as the reader board posted above the freeway north of Medford. The weather service forecasts include current information and an outlook for the next two days and will be updated at 3 p.m. and 4 a.m. It’s the same information for the Siskiyous that’s used on the National Weather Service radio broadcasts. The road report includes conditions for I-5 at the Siskiyou Summit — the same data that is included in ODOT’s "511" telephone road report. McGill said those reports are updated around 4 a.m., 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and as conditions warrant. McGill estimated the cost of the site at about $1,000, including construction materials, labor and the telephone dialer/speaker. The station was kept deliberately simple to make it less vulnerable to vandalism. The Talent site could become a model for other information stations on Oregon highways, McGill said. "It’s the first one. It’s a bit of a pilot. We want to see how useful it is." There are still some details to be worked out, he said, most notably that the station is hard to see. It’s located at the south end of the Talent rest area, and the only sign that identifies it faces the rest rooms instead of the parking area. "We’re thinking it needs better signage," he said. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers