Rolling Blackouts May Affect Area Travel
Travelers may experience traffic signal failures, reduced Web information

ERCOT (the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas) has mandated rolling power blackouts because of several power plant failures caused by extreme weather. These outages, which typically last 10‐45 minutes, may cause traffic signals to go black. Once power is restored, some signals resume normal operation while others may go on flash mode.

Both the City of Houston and Harris County report signal outages, and are working to restore those signals which must be reset after power is restored. Drivers should use caution when approaching intersections. Non‐working (blacked‐out) signals should be treated as a stop sign.

The power loss also affects the Houston TranStar Real Time Traffic Map, both for camera views and traffic speed information. Because the blackouts are moving through the region, different segments may be affected at different times.

ERCOT has no timetable for when the rotating outages will end.