Traffic Alerts

As the snow starts to fall in many part of the country, many of us will end up with longer than normal commute times. That's bad. Especially with the price of gas still so high. Wouldn't it be nice to be alerted to traffic slowdowns before you leave work? With that knowledge you could 1) leave early to account for the extra time needed, 2) leave later once things are clear, or 3) mentally prepare yourself for the long ride home. Traffic.com to the rescue!

On Traffic.com you can set up customized routes that will be monitored for traffic snares. You build your route by identifying the metro area, then the major road, then the entry point and exit point for that road, then rinse and repeat adding more roads to the trip. Save your route and then set up your alerts -- daily, regardless of delays, only if delays exist beyond a threshold, only on certain days, certain times, etc! The alerts can be sent to your phone, or an email address. You can click through to see the specific portion of your trip that's going to be slow, but the email itself will identify a delay in minutes, travel time and average speed.

I have my alerts set to notify me at work an hour before I normally leave when the Jam Factor (their custom 1-10 rating) is a 5 or greater during the week. I'm not in a position to be able to leave early, but I can at least psych my self up for the trip.

If you have a local blog or personal site, you can add a sticker (read: widget/gadget) that will show the jam Factor for your route, or metro area real time for all to see.