Use of Social Media by Transportation Agencies for Traffic Management

Social media have become an integral part of modern communication. There is, however, no clear consensus among transportation managers about how social media could or should be used to collect or disseminate actionable information. To provide guidance on the potential use of social media in transportation, a better understanding is needed of the content of the message as well as the path taken from the sender to the potential user of actionable information during crises and other nonroutine events in the transportation system. This paper assesses how social media are used to support traffic management operations during planned special events, such as concerts and sporting events, and during unplanned disruptive events, such as accidents and weather events. This paper also examines best practices for traffic operations among various agencies and presents practices used to disseminate real-time, actionable information to motorists in a useful and engaging format via social media.