![](https://westseattleblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/signcameras.jpg)
We’re learning more about the type of traffic information the city’s new technology is supposed to bring us in the future – today, thanks to a question e-mailed by Dave, who wrote, “Heading down the (Admiral Way) hill toward the bridge today, I noticed two cameras mounted behind the new reader board. I am guessing speed cameras, as there is one for each lane.” (The small cameras are hard to see in our photo – but they’re side by side on the metal overhang just past the message board.) We checked with SDOT. Nope – something else, explains Marybeth Turner:
The cameras are part of the travel time network the city of Seattle is putting together to provide the public with travel time information (how long it is taking to get to certain destinations). The West Seattle Dynamic Message Sign will be outfitted with travel time information–how long it is taking to get to SR-99 exit, First Ave South and I-5. This information will help folks to make a decision on which route to select. We anticipate this information will be available to the public at the end of September. We will also provide the travel time information on Traveler’s Information Map.
To come up with the travel-time info – cameras like these, and others, snap your license plate. Turner says, “We read a license plate from point A to point B to figure out the travel time of a segment of a road. The data is encrypted and never stored.”
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