The New York State Department of Transportation is working on expanding its INFORM (INformation FOR Motorists) System to include the Southern State Parkway, Hempstead Turnpike, and Sunrise Highway by the end of this year.

The INFORM System is an advanced transportation management system that has been in place on the Long Island Expressway, the Grand Central Parkway and the Northern State Parkway since 1987. It also, according to Emilio Sosa, the director of the INFORM System, encompasses short segments of the North-South roads such as the Meadowbrook Parkway, the Wantagh Parkway, the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway, the Sagtikos Parkway and Route 110.

The system involves sensors in the roadways that indicate to the DOT, the average vehicle speed within a link area. Those sensors drive a color-coded map at the operation center, which is monitored by operators 24-hours a day. Different colors appear on the map, depending on the average speed in that area and if anything out of the ordinary is happening then the operators transmit a variable message that appears on a sign hanging over the roadway. This makes drivers aware of any upcoming traffic conditions.

Under the expansion plans, there will be 111 cameras installed, with 75 percent being video-based traffic sensors that do not transmit images, only traffic information. On the Southern State Parkway, the system will run from the Cross Island to Route 110. On Hempstead Turnpike the system will run from just west of the Meadowbrook in East Meadow to just east of Bethpage Parkway. On Sunrise Highway the system will be installed from the Meadowbrook near Freeport to Route 110 in Amityville.

"What the system will entail, is cameras so we can see how the traffic is flowing and some variable message signs so we can tell people, as they are approaching the Meadowbrook or Wantagh, or the Seaford-Oyster Bay, that the Southern State has a problem on it, or the Northern State may have a problem on it, you may want to use an alternate," said Sosa.

Besides informing motorists of any traffic conditions, the expansion of the INFORM System will, in some cases, enable the DOT to correct the condition by modifying the signal times on roadways such as Sunrise Highway or Hempstead Turnpike, to help reduce congestion.

The DOT chose these roads to expand the system because the Southern State Parkway is such a heavily traveled roadway and, according to Sosa, by doing it in a corridor approach (not just one road and then another) they have an integral system that will help alleviate traffic concerns in all directions.

Another aspect of the expansion is that on the Southern State Parkway the DOT will have a highway advisory radio station to inform motorists of any additional traffic conditions.

Most of the work has already been completed for the expansion. More work may have to be done, that could cause some lane closings, but according to Sosa, because of the way the expansion has been deployed, the work won't have any serious impact on traffic.

Sosa noted that they expect to have the expanded INFORM System up and running by late fall this year.