Going Online To Get Through I-20 Traffic Mess

By Barclay Bishop
WJBF News Channel 6 reporter
Published: January 8, 2009

Augusta, GA—Imagine waking up in the morning and just going to the internet to find out where the traffic is, at that time of day. Well now you can, and Thursday, we put it to the test.

Car after car….and usually it’s just a long line of waiting.

Joanna Ordonez, Augusta:  “Just the fact that there’s so much of it, and so much road work going on that you know, it’s kind of hard to get around and traffic just kind of clumps up everywhere.”

Mary Williams, Augusta:  “I take an alternate route. I don’t even hit the I-20, Bobby Jones. I take Belair and Dyess parkway and completely just go around it.”

But, there may be a way to save you time and all of that frustration.

Barclay Bishop, reporting:  “What if I told you there was a website where you could actually see the average speed of the traffic along certain spots of I-20 and I-520?”

Alina Mobley, Augusta:  “I would probably use it from time to time, going to class and stuff or any time I’m going down I-20.”

I20Augusta.com shows you every traffic jam and the average speed along Georgia’s major interstate.

Bishop:  “We wanted to check and see just how accurate that website is so we came out here to i-20 during rush hour traffic to get the speed of one of the cars out here. Alright…53 miles per hour, so now let’s go to the website and check for the same spot on I-20 to see if it matches up.  Alright so now it’s time to check the speed.  We’re going to go to I-20augusta.com at the same spot where we were standing, and it says 56 miles per hour is the average, which is only 3 off from what that car was going, so it is pretty accurate.“

Ordonez: “I go around Augusta a lot so it probably would help a lot.”

There may be a few years of these jams ahead of us, but websites like this one, can help alleviate the traffic pains.

Bishop: “Will you start using it?”

Williams:  “Yeah, definitely.”

For real time traffic visit I20Augusta.com

For lane closures and traffic shifts that will be starting this Monday, click here or click here.

You can always call 511 and get updated traffic information over the phone.