Is a highway information system needed?

The Prince Edward Island government should proceed with caution as it considers setting up a 511-highway information line. Just because other provinces offer the service doesn't mean this little province needs it, or can afford the cost of setting up the system. Islanders have various options now for checking road conditions, such as calling the Transportation and Public Works dispatch office and getting the information, checking the provincial government's website or checking the weather channel which carries road reports on a regular basis. Local media and police also inform Islanders about road conditions. It's easy for Islanders to call in and report poor road conditions. There is a point where it becomes an issue of information overload.

Many other Canadian provinces such as Nova Scotia and Quebec do have the service. Nova Scotia established its 511 service last January. By entering any highway number along their route, people can access up-to-the-minute road condition information on that road. In Quebec, the 511 system also includes major events in progress on the road network.

But there is a key difference with other provinces, which are much larger than P.E.I. and have widely varying road conditions. Here, dispatch offices are centralized and close together. In other sprawling provinces, 511 is certainly more of a necessary aid for motorists. Occasionally, we have a slight difference in weather patterns between West Prince and Eastern Kings, but it's not a big deal. It's a far bigger issue in Nova Scotia, for example, when comparing northern Cape Breton with the south shore around Yarmouth, or Montreal with northern Ungava Bay in Quebec.

Here, with the costs unknown, it might not be worth the money or the effort, as long as highway crews do their jobs. This province has opted once again to re-invent the wheel by studying the issue and see how the system operates in other provinces. So a 511 system won't happen this year and perhaps, like many other government plans, this flavour of the day will pass as well.