Station One, located in Springfield, is the Illinois Department of Transportation’s main communications hub for providing traffic information to travelers. In 2020, the Illinois DOT worked to overhaul Station One with upgraded technologies to not only save the public time sitting in traffic, but more importantly, keep them safer by being able to communicate both emergency and non-emergency updates faster and with better accuracy. This $7 million improvement project included a state-of-the-art conference room, equipment room and a 7-foot by 40-foot video wall that allows live tracking of the Illinois DOT’s fleet via GPS; a previously unavailable feature. Satellite phones and radios are now in each of the nine highway district offices across the state so if regional communications go down, calls are automatically transferred to Station One. It also has the capability to sign into the radio system through satellite. Calls no longer fail even in the event of a flood or earthquake, while the addition of a backup generator and uninterrupted power supply also meaning no signals are lost in the event of power failures.
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