COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — It's lunchtime and the busy on-ramp to I-25 from Bijou is blocked by a crash. Officers direct cars around the wreck while the tow truck driver hooks up the damaged car.
The roughly 10,000 people who follow the Colorado Springs Traffic Management Center would've known to avoid this intersection Friday afternoon if they had checked the phone before heading out.
The center manages the city's network of traffic cameras which are installed near or above strategic stoplights. The receive alerts from the city's automated dispatch system and traffic engineer Todd Frisbie explained they can use those alerts to look at a wreck even before first responders can arrive.
"Those cameras set up across the city give us an extra set of eyes out there to help provide more information," he said.
They can rely details of what they're seeing on the cameras to police officers and firefighters who might benefit from the info. But that same information can help keep the city moving even during a bad snow storm.
"You can imagine, you have more crashes on a snow day," Frisbie said.
In addition to tweeting out the crash information, the center also sends their data to the city's website where the public can view traffic conditions and cameras.
"If we can find out some information, we'll tweet out, hey crash at such and such location or crash on I-25," said Frisbie.
CLICK HERE FOLLOW THE COLORADO SPRINGS TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CENTER ON TWITTER
