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Worried construction will slow your commute? There's an app for that

Traffic app will help travelling avoid bottlenecks
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The City of Greater Sudbury has launched a new web-based, mobile friendly, traffic application that identifies areas where road and traffic restrictions are in Greater Sudbury. File photo

The City of Greater Sudbury has launched a new web-based, mobile friendly, traffic application that identifies areas where road and traffic restrictions are in Greater Sudbury.

The Road and Traffic Restrictions (RATR) app allows residents and local businesses to identify areas where road work is planned or ongoing.

“RATR will appeal to motorists, pedestrians and cyclists and will allow people to plan the best route, according to where traffic delays may be experienced. RATR also offers suggested detours and an outlook on where future road projects will take place,” the city said in a news release.

“This is an important piece of our city’s open government model and making information available to the public,” said Mayor Brian Bigger in the release. “By providing easy access to use and share this information, we are helping residents and businesses to effectively plan their commute around construction that may be underway in our community.”

City staff, including the information technology division and engineering division, created the app. It combines the city’s MapIT, a cloud-based location platform, with internal enterprise systems, “to provide a comprehensive view of the city's road and traffic restrictions,” the release said.

“MapIT puts I.T. in mapping and broadens geographic information systems (GIS) use to a new ecosystem of users by providing easy to use tools for both employees and the public.”

“The creation and implementation of this application involved many departments coming together to bring valuable information to our residents,” said Tony Cecutti, general manager of Infrastructure Services. “This application is a great example of departments working together to not only bring a new service to the public, but also to improve internal operations for staff.”

Other features on the map include city capital projects, proposed subdivision development, as well as those currently under construction, and identifies where businesses with permits for sidewalk cafés/outdoor patios can be found.

The link to RATR is available here.


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