Local Traffic Watchers Wanted

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
February 25, 2009

Have you ever driven down Route 47 through Woodstock and heard the traffic report on Star 105.5 or Y103.9 alerting you about slow traffic through Lake Avenue or U.S. 14? And you had just breezed through the intersections at the speed limit (hopefully) with no delays whatsoever? Or wondered why you were hearing traffic reports for Naperville or Melrose Park while you are driving around McHenry County?

Beginning March 2 local traffic reporting will return to Star 105.5 and Y103.9 and be handled through the stations, rather than through Chicago or the Northwest Suburban Traffic reporting system.

Remember the old Star Watcher organization on Star 105.5? Well, it's being rejuvenated as the "Y Traffic Eye" on www.y1039.com and as the Star Watcher program on www.star105.com Go to either website for more information. Also, you can express interest in being a reporter of traffic news.

If you commute regularly in McHenry County and would like to report information about crashes, fires, traffic jams, traffic lights out, etc., you can help other drivers to avoid delays. And you can avoid delays by hearing real-time traffic reports from other drivers.

I drive at different times during morning and afternoon "rush" hours and have questioned accuracy of reports about McHenry traffic conditions. I also was curious about references to the Tollway as "the I-90", a phrase I only heard in California about the speedways there.

In a recent survey on Woodstock Advocate, 36 readers participated and vote on "I-90" versus "the I-90". The results?

In response to the question, "How do you refer to I-90?",
34 (94%) readers voted for "I-90"
2 (6%) readers voted for "the I-90"

Guess that answers that!