The program is part of the state’s Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) system pilot program Wolf announced in October.
“This initiative will improve PennDOT’s operations by looking for efficiencies in how the agency’s fleet is operating during the winter months, while promoting transparency by allowing the public access to this information,” Wolf says. “This is a step forward in showing Pennsylvanians how hard PennDOT is working to keep them safe during the winter season.”
PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards says the program will show on-duty trucks in “near” real-time, but won’t show the “full breadth” of the agency’s services on the state’s roadways.
“During winter weather, interstates and expressways are our top priority,” Richards says. “That means that we often move trucks from lower-traffic roads onto interstates, and those trucks won’t be shown on 511. Additionally, due to differing staff schedules, storms or equipment usage, the location of all of the trucks will not be visible at all times. We’re excited to educate the public about our operations with this pilot, but they won’t see all of our more than 2,000 trucks across the state.”
PennDOT has more than 2,200 total department-force trucks and rents approximately 270 trucks and their operators to maintain the more than 40,000 miles of roadway for which the department is responsible.
