Transport: Advice from Above

Threading his way through congested Sunday traffic near Chicago last week, many a motorist with an automobile radio heard a voice interrupt the program with such comments as: “All motorists from Joliet bound for points east of Hammond should use U. S. Highway No. 6 to avoid a detour on Route No. 30 between New Lenox and Frankfort.”

This advice came from a large transport plane circling over Cook County. In it, getting a bird’s eye view of the area, were a county highway chief and a local judge. When either of them spotted a traffic jam below or detected excessive road friction due to accident or highway construction, he spoke into a short-wave radio transmitter, ordered police-squad automobiles to the spot or offered advice directly to motorists by means of a rebroadcast by Station WBBM.

So pleased were the two officials by the results of the new traffic control method that they announced it would be used every Sunday until the end of summer.