Travelers find a view with road cams

By Susan Chambers, Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 | 6 comment(s)

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They’re watching you.

More accurately, the new cameras that Oregon Department of Transportation crews installed over the summer and the last few weeks are keeping an eye on local roads.

The department’s http://www.tripcheck.com Web site is a favorite among travelers.

If you’re headed across Oregon, you can log onto the Internet to look at travel conditions, weather warnings and check out at road conditions thanks to cameras mounted on major highways throughout the state.

Over the summer ODOT set up a camera in Reedsport at the agency’s maintenance yard. There’s now one on the McCullough Memorial Bridge in North Bend and one in Coquille at the intersection of state Highway 42 and 42 South.

More recently, the state installed a camera at Camas Mountain on state Highway 42. On Sunday, it showed a snow-covered road.

The one at Camas Mountain was part of a project, said Galen McGill, a transportation systems manager for ODOT.

“We added a weather station there. It gathers data for our maintenance crews to use,” he said. “It was fairly easy to add a camera to it.”

There’s also a new feature on all the cameras — a time-delayed image of the last picture taken during daylight hours. For four hours after sunset, a link to the last daylight image appears in the pop-up window below the night image. Once four hours have passed, the link goes away.

McGill said he hasn’t had much feedback about the new cameras that show traffic density and local weather, but when a camera quits working, the e-mails start pouring in from folks using the Web site.

“For the most part, people are pretty supportive,” McGill said. “The cameras are pretty popular.”
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who cares wrote on Dec 17, 2008 10:07 AM:

cameras are EVERYWHERE in our society. I have no problem with people being ticketed for speeding (breaking the law) with photo radar. Heck, put them at the stoplights on Newmark or Virginia and watch the cash roll in. I've almost been hit at intersections countless times on those streets because people do not know what red means. Consider it an idiot tax.

Scamera wrote on Dec 17, 2008 7:01 AM:

Oh yea, these cameras are cool, right up till the State Gov. learns how much money than can make with photo radar. You watch, they will have photo radar from portland down to Medford.

north bend man wrote on Dec 16, 2008 3:19 PM:

I use trip check alot during the winter and it is very helpful. I have to travel alot for work and i need to know the road conditions ahead of me. I think that it's a great site !!

Former Resident wrote on Dec 16, 2008 2:53 PM:

"Tripcheck" is a great site. I now live in California and before we make our way up I-5 toward Oregon/Coos Bay in the winter we always check the cameras along the route...especially along the Siskiyou's. A great way to see exactly what lies ahead of us! And you can view the cameras on your cell/blackberry real time! Keep up the good work ODOT!

What a Shame wrote on Dec 16, 2008 2:17 PM:

ODOT says about the cam picture that you are looking "South". Acutally a person is looking Northwest. Evidently ODOT needs to buy a compass. This picture is the cam in Coquille.

because of... wrote on Dec 16, 2008 1:28 PM:

they are really watching the illegal immigrants, making sure they behave!


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