Perth County has a new road closure information system.
A one-year pilot project of the Municipal 511 system has been launched, making the county the first in southwestern Ontario to use the innovative map-based approach.
The municipalities of North Perth, Perth East, Perth South and West Perth, along with Perth's partner municipality of St. Marys are working together to ensure critical road information is available without delay. Stratford is not involved at this point.
The system would modernize the current methods of communication, which involves the public or media searching for the information through emails or tweets, and then manually tracking the location and redistribution of the message.
Perth County Emergency Management Coordinator Dave Colvin says that was time intensive and allowed for the possibility of messages being missed. He adds the municipal notification system will help emergency responders pinpoint exactly where any roads are blocked.
"If you have an emergency response delayed because of say a bridge replacement or culvert replacement and they have to go all around the concession roads, that can add five to ten minutes to the response," he explains.
He says the municipal notification system aligns with the provincial 511 system and he expects other are municipalities to get onboard.
"It not only send out faxes and emails, but posts it to a public website so members of the public would be able to access that information, and it would also include the provincial closures," he explains.
Colvin adds the information will also be pushed to applications like google traffic to save time for motorists.
“It is a real challenge tracking road closures, especially during construction and winter storms. The Municipal 511 system will be a great tool for paramedic services,” says Paramedic Services’ Chief Linda Rockwood.
The information used by emergency responders will also be available to the public at municipal511.ca.
