Overview
Mohave County in northwest Arizona operates over 2,000 road miles in the fifth largest county by area in the contiguous United States. Frequent summer monsoons create need for communicating accurate and timely information on weather induced road closures and openings for benefit of residents, public safety services, and public works staff directing incident response. In Fall 2013, Mohave County developed mobile application software designed for road maintenance supervisors to prepare on‐scene and broadcast through their smartphone standard, time‐stamped messages communicating a specific road segment closure or reopening. Such messages adhere to a defined sentence structure and, when executed, electronically generate an e‐mail to message subscribers as well as County social media posts. The application permits message retraction, and it interfaces with the County’s GIS database to facilitate street name autosuggest and accurate spelling. Application users must possess an active County e‐mail account and authenticate upon every login.
Benefits Realized or Expected:
The Road Closure Mobile Application allows 24/7 notification of active, countywide road closures and openings by public works staff effecting such activity in the field. The software supports road operations under planned and unplanned events, and it may be programmed to allow reporting on specific freeway lane(s) status. This software proves beneficial for road status monitoring outside normal business hours and in rural areas where remote surveillance does not exist.