Finding out what roads are closed in Victoria due to floods, fires, major crashes or road damage will now be far quicker using a new map-based website.
“The new VicRoads ‘Road Closures and Traffic Alerts’ website will be Victoria’s official source for road closure information during emergencies,” Victorian Minister for Roads, Terry Mulder, said. “Natural disasters have presented many challenges across Victoria and Australia over the past 12 months, and it is critical that the community receives accurate and timely information about road closures.
“During the peak of this year’s floods there were land slips, bridges washed away and almost 400 roads closed across Victoria. This meant safety concerns for drivers and a challenge for VicRoads to ensure the ever-changing list of road closures and openings was up to date.”
Mr Mulder said VicRoads had reviewed its response and recovery procedures, including providing information during emergencies, and spent $924,000 on the new real-time website.
During major emergencies such as fires or floods the website will include information about all road closures, regardless of whether they are state controlled or council roads. It will also provide traffic alert information during non-emergency times for incidents such as crashes and breakdowns.
VicRoads will update information as it receives it from its own staff and agencies such as Victoria Police, Country Fire Authority or local government. Road closures and incident information will be displayed as an interactive map as well as a sortable list. Many of the features included on the site are a direct result of suggestions from the public and other stakeholders including the media.
The map-based application will also be accessible on web-enabled mobile phones by going to the VicRoads website. Alerts will also be available on Twitter. People without internet access can call VicRoads Traffic Management Centre 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on 13 11 70. This number can also be used to report a fault, hazard or problem on the roads.
To access the new application visit alerts.vicroads.vic.gov.au
