The New York State Department of Transportation’s (NYSDOT) INformation FOR Motorists (INFORM) is a traffic management system that covers Long Island’s 60-mile central corridor, encompassing a network of east-west highways and north-south connectors, including the Long Island Expressway.
INFORM monitors traffic conditions using some 3,300 electronic sensors embedded in roadways at half-mile intervals. When a vehicle moves over a sensor, it sends a signal to the INFORM center, where computers constantly measure and analyze traffic. Cameras at 194 sites provide the center with closed-circuit television feeds. Other sources of traffic information include video detectors, passive acoustic detectors and radar traffic monitoring devices. Information is relayed to motorists via variable message signs, the local media and 511, and daily messages typically number about 4,000. INFORM’s Travel Time System provides estimates on the time it will take motorists to reach their destination.
INFORM has been operating around-the-clock since 1987, making it one of the oldest traffic management systems in the U.S.
