There is no shortage of creativity in transportation communications. In this example, the folks at Oregon Department of Transportation and Metro – the Portland area regional government – turned to a Northwest icon to help educate motorists about pedestrian crossings.
Transportation organizations have important information to share with the traveling public. That’s especially true during natural disasters when maintenance crews and first responders are often the first people surveying damage and assessing the status of infrastructure leading to people’s homes and businesses.
Last month, Pew Research Center and the Knight Foundation published the latest report that shows nearly half of U.S. adults are getting their news from Facebook. Meanwhile, the annual State of the News Media report found a continued decline in local daily newspaper circulation (down 7 percent) and local TV news viewership (down 5 percent late night and down 2 percent mornings).
One of the tremendous opportunities offered by online video is the ability to take transportation stakeholders to places they might never go and to see things they might never see.
The Washington State Department of Transportation recently gave its stakeholders a unique view of the State Route 99 tunnel currently under construction. So far, the simple aerial view inside the tunnel has earned more than 154,000 views on YouTube.
According to WSDOT, the massive tunnel boring machine Bertha had carved nearly a third of the length of the nearly 2-mile-long tunnel that will ultimately replace the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct that runs north and south along Seattle’s iconic waterfront.
National Work Zone Awareness week runs April 11-15 and its theme this year is “Don’t Be That Driver.”
The Ohio Department of Transportation, the host of this year’s national kick-off event near Toledo, has developed a number of creative and thought-provoking public service announcements that use humor to make the point that driving safely through work zones is the responsibility of all drivers.
More information on the National Work Zone Awareness week and the coalition of supporting organizations is available from American Traffic Safety Services Association, including details on a new 2016 initiative that encourages people and organizations to display orange to support the work zone safety theme.
Talking Transportation 