Wayne County Roads Division in Michigan, US, has unveiled a high-tech command centre, which will allow drivers greater awareness of road conditions, especially in the winter months.

The new command centre features a 10ft by 4ft video wall, several computer stations and video conferencing equipment, and serves as a call-in centre so that drivers can report problems on roadways round-the-clock.

Thought to be the first of its kind in the country, the system is connected with the Michigan Department of Transportation’s freeway video camera network so that the county’s road division can determine any problems, such as traffic jams or crashes.

The centre is located at the Central Maintenance Yard on Goddard Road across the Metropolitan Airport in Detroit.

The high-tech development will not only allow the county’s road division staff to consolidate snow and ice operations, but also enable them to monitor surveillance cameras, snowploughs and salt trucks to prepare plans well before impending storms.

Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano was quoted by The Detroit News as saying that the command centre has not been designed only for the winter but for operations all through the year.

"The centre is located at the Central Maintenance Yard on Goddard Road across the Metropolitan Airport in Detroit."

The $224,000 command centre is the third in a series of technological upgrades taken up by Michigan. Last year, the county introduced a web-based compass technology.

With the help of this technology, people can track the location of trucks, traffic congestion on roads and find out where the department has undertaken salting and ploughing tasks in real time.

The second technology upgrade unveiled by the county was a toll-free, call-in data system to report problems.

This spring, the department expects to introduce a phone app for the system at the command centre.

Wayne County Roads Division also plans to network the command centre with other county departments in order to display power and water lines and traffic signals.