CommuterLink keeps freeway wheels rolling

It's kind of like a laundry detergent — it gets results, even if you can't see it working.

CommuterLink, the Utah Department of Transportation's traffic management program, is the stain fighter of the state's highway system.

Tucked away in the UDOT traffic operations center near U-201 and 3200 West, its 35 employees — along with a dozen or so Utah Highway Patrol dispatchers — work feverishly to keep Utah's Interstates free and clear of traffic accidents while warning motorists of potential hazards and helping those in need of assistance.

In its first five years (CommuterLink celebrated its fifth birthday May 4,) the high-tech traffic management network likely has saved the lives of 15 Utahns, according to a study performed by University of Utah civil engineering professor Joseph Perrin. The system prevents 948 traffic accidents each year, Perrin concluded.

But Utahns don't always see CommuterLink in action. They simply enjoy the positive results.

"It tends to make travel a little more predictable and reliable," UDOT traffic management engineer David Kinnecom said. "So even though you may not, on any particular day, get where you're going faster, the fact that we identify where the incidents are and get to them quicker and clean them up quicker and manage traffic control around them tends to make the system more reliable.

"That's a benefit people don't always recognize because the incident may have been cleared out of the way very quickly (and it's something) that they never see."

The CommuterLink network includes 238 closed-circuit TV cameras that dot I-15 from Farmington to 10600 South and parts of Utah County, I-80 from Salt Lake City International Airport to U.S. 40 at Silver Creek and the entire I-215 belt route.

Operating seven days a week from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., CommuterLink controls 623 coordinated traffic signals and 23 freeway ramp meters, uses 62 electronic road signs and 13,162 miles of fiber-optic cable, broadcasts its highway advisory radio station in 11 locations and offers a 5-1-1 travel information line.

"We're warning people in advance of incidents so they can slow down and shift lanes," Kinnecom said. "We're able to detour people around an accident scene, and we're able to reduce some of the queuing at interchanges on the offramps."

CommuterLink also monitors the speed of traffic through in-road sensors at 243 freeway locations. And it employs 13 workers on its incident management team. They are available to respond to traffic accidents the second they occur.

"The system saves Utahns $179 million and 9.8 million hours every year because of fewer delays, increased safety