When traffic drives you car-azy

Interactive map shows hot spots in Lauderdale

Lauderdale’s app shows road jams.

Lauderdale has launched its LauderStreet interactive map that shows every scheduled road and sidewalk closure in the city.

It’s designed to reduce traf- gridlock for commuters and tourists by advising them which streets are closed for construction, infrastructure repairs, and special events.

Users can enter the name of a street or intersection or click on color-coded dots, said Juan Rodriguez, of the city’s Transportation and Mobility Department.

“You click on a dot and it will give you all the information you need on the right hand side [of the screen],” he said. “CloFort sure dates, start times, end times, work descriptions and even alternative routes you can use in order to avoid that traffic delay because of that closure.”

There are links to highway cameras and satellite views.

But, the map does not show real-time street closures caused by vehicle collisions, fires, water main breaks or other unforeseen emergencies.

And, it’s not a navigational device showing or telling drivers about shortcuts to destinafic tions like Waze or GPS systems.

Information is based on the number of permit applications the city receives.

City officials said there has been a 900 percent increase in Maintenance of Traffic permits issued since 2014, when there were 64.

More than 600 permits are expected to be processed this year.

“It’s a significant uptick,” said Debora Griner, the city’s transportation manager.

Besides aiding motorists, the map keeps city officials and contractors better organized so there aren’t multiple projects going on at the same time on the same street, such as road-closing construction on Las Olas Boulevard during the St. Patrick’s Day parade, for example.

The LauderStreet program took city staff about a year to build and was created in response to the annual Neighbor Survey where respondents asked for ways to anticipate and prevent traffic congestion caused by the exponential increase in development.

LauderStreet is designed to work with any web browser on any device, including computers, mobile phones, and tablets.

It only maps out closures within the city but there are plans to input road closure information from Broward County and the Florida Department of Transportation.

To access the LauderStreet map, go to fortlauderdale.gov and click LauderStreet on the homepage.