Highway Advisory Radio back on — for now
There was static on 1680 AM for two days in January after the voice on the Virginia Department of Transportation Highway Advisory Radio announced it was “signing off.”
The broadcast spent more than 20 years warning Hampton Roads drivers of crashes and tunnel delays before the state transportation department announced it would go out of service. After hearing the broadcast was still on the air nearly a year later, one local motorist wanted to know if VDOT had changed its mind about discontinuing the service, so they submitted their question through the Glad You Asked initiative.
At this point, the future of the Highway Advisory Radio in Hampton Roads is uncertain.
VDOT wanted to better understand how people feel about the radio broadcast and how they’re using it, so it conducted studies during the summer using the Southeastern Institute of Research, VDOT spokeswoman Holly Christopher said in an email. There was no way for VDOT to know how many people were tuning into the station, it just heard from people who were unhappy to hear the service was ending.
The service once existed across the state — transmitters placed along interstate highways and major construction projects sent information to AM radio station 1620 in VDOT’s northern, southwestern and central regions. But the service was discontinued in those areas over the course of several years beginning in 2010, only to remain in the eastern region.
Christopher said when the radio broadcast was discontinued in other regions, VDOT did not receive the same amount of public feedback that it did from Hampton Roads motorists. As a result of the public response, VDOT is testing alternatives to the Highway Advisory Radio exclusively in Hampton Roads and has no plans to explore those options in other regions.
Hampton Roads motorists can call 5-1-1 and either touch or say “nine” to be directed to the “Hampton Roads Regional Report,” which contains the same information they would hear on the radio station, Christopher said. The new option was implemented in the fall and VDOT will evaluate its use until February when it is expected to make a decision about the future of the Highway Advisory Radio.
VDOT also recommends using the 511 Virginia app, 511virginia.org, before traveling — the app provides live traffic updates. It also uses electronic signs along the road with updated traffic information.