SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — The Illinois Department of Transportation will soon develop a mobile application to inform drivers of road conditions.
A state law that goes into effect Jan. 1 requires IDOT to create an app that lets drivers get information about accidents, construction zones, lane closures and weather conditions.
While Republican lawmakers were concerned about the cost, Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana) believes it’s common sense.
Ammons said many college students create their own mobile apps every year.
“I don’t think it’s going to cost millions of dollars,” Ammons said. “It takes some effort to recruit engineering and computer science students to create this app and maintain it if you want to do it.”
House Republicans believe IDOT cannot create an app that has the same backbone as an app designed by Google or Apple.
“We’re exposing them to failure,” said Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore). “And we’re not going to build an app that everyone uses, not because it’s not valuable, but because there’s so much other information out there.”
Mr. Keicher suggested that IDOT should visit one of the online vendors and try implementing the plug-in into the application. Some lawmakers estimate that launching the app could cost more than $2 million.
Senate Bill 1526 passed the House on May 11 by a vote of 69-40, with one member voting and present. The plan passed the Senate in his 53-4 vote on March 29th.
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