Raido weather and traffic info!!!

[Don___Barb_Bogu]

The boss and I are traveling north on I-5 to Washington, and returning on 101. In the LA area on AM 710 they broadcast weather and road info as they say on the 5.. Meaning 5 after 15 after 25 after and so on. Other cities must do the same.. Any one care to list any city or town stations..

[ktmrfs]

derh20 wrote:
Try to schedule yourself not to go through Portland after 2PM. The traffic north is terrible. The same is true for I-205 in case you look at that as an alternative. There are a lot of people that live in Vancouver WA and work in Portland--hence the problem.

for the next month or so traffic on I5/84/205 through portland will be very bad from early early morning until late at night. they are doing major repaving, closing major exits/entrances on I5 and 84.

[ktmrfs]

we use:
1) google maps with traffic. as long as we have cell reception it has very up to date easy to see traffic. And places with no cell reception very seldom have traffic issues.
2) our onstar nav also shows traffic.
3) there is always 511 for road conditions
4) if we see bad traffic like stopped traffic as far as the eye can see, I call onstar, get someone on onstar to give an update and route me around it. 95% of the time they have very up to date info including how long the delay might be and what is causing it. AND so far when I say I'm pulling a 30ft trailer, give me a truck route the can do it. On one time when I-90 was blocked for 30 miles due to an accident, onstar gave an estimate of when the traffic would start moving. Called at that time, they were able to give me traffic speed, road clearing how long to wait before starting again. (We were stopped at a small town truck stop). We left when they recomended, traffic speed was up to 30mph or so for 10 miles or so then quickly picked up to normal speeds.

[derh20]

Try to schedule yourself not to go through Portland after 2PM. The traffic north is terrible. The same is true for I-205 in case you look at that as an alternative. There are a lot of people that live in Vancouver WA and work in Portland--hence the problem.

[Grit_dog]

Use your phone, check for traffic on...well any app that has it. Can punch in "directions" along your route to get route suggestions to avoid traffic.
Not sure why the on the 5s weather forecast is needed unless you're trying to out run a tornado or something.. But your phone is a good weather machine tooo.

[Don___Barb_Bogu]

Thanks to all, I didn't know about the 511 system will try using it locally. This should please she who must be obeyed.....

[seaeagle2]

If you're talking I5 in Western Washington, there's no alternate route, just tough it out.

[#8]

Optimistic Paranoid wrote:
As an alternative to trying to find a radio station in a strange area, are you familiar with the 5-1-1 system?

https://www.dmv.org/travel/511.php

This is nice and useful!!

Thanks

[yr2017]

Don & Barb Bogue wrote:
The boss and I are traveling north on I-5 to Washington, and returning on 101. In the LA area on AM 710 they broadcast weather and road info as they say on the 5.. Meaning 5 after 15 after 25 after and so on. Other cities must do the same.. Any one care to list any city or town stations..

I use 511

[Optimistic_Para]

As an alternative to trying to find a radio station in a strange area, are you familiar with the 5-1-1 system?

https://www.dmv.org/travel/511.php

[wa8yxm]

I think WWJ (950 AM) in Detroit does roads on the 8's but it's been long enough since I lived in D that I'm not sure.

[Islandman]

KOMO Radio at AM 1000 has excellent weather and traffic reports for nearly all of I-5 in western WA; I think the traffic on the four minute mark (ie 9:04, 9:14, 9:24, and every ten minutes throughout the day). The station also broadcasts the traffic situation for I-5 and any other major highways in the area. For Oregon there's a similar high-power AM station; think it's KXL but not sure as it's been a long time since I was down in that area. Generally speaking the traffic moves pretty well before 6AM, between 10AM and 2PM and after 7PM on weekdays on I-5 from Tacoma up thru the Everett area. Rest of the highway is generally smooth flowing except maybe just during the commute hours of 7-8 and 4-6 in the Olympia area. Have a good trip and just stay with the flow. US 101 is no big deal for traffic from west of Port Townsend Wa all the way down to the Olympia area.

[BB_TX]

I use google maps traffic info to look at road conditions ahead. Green = good, yellow = slowdown, red = problem, dark red = major problem.

The problem with radio around Dallas/Ft Worth is that they frequently use highway names rather than highway numbers. "Accident on northbound Stemmons freeway near Airport Freeway", "truck overturned on westbound R L Thornton at Grand Ave", etc. So unless you are a local, you often have no idea where the problem is. And sometimes even if you are a local if you can't remember all the highway names.

Some GPS have traffic alerts if you have entered a destination for routing and there is a problem in the intended route.

[jplante4]

Sirius/XM has a channel for all major metro areas.

[TNGW1500SE]

I use google maps with traffic turned on and also the WAZE app. I also have a CB radio that I hardly ever turn on.