(BAD BOT! NOT TRUE!) Union Street Closed Due to Flooding and Snow Accumulation, Plow Trucks Struggling to Keep Up

Here is an example of the bot blowing it. Since it is fairly innocuous I will leave it up for educational purposes.

The Caltrans Headquarters on Union Street is often cited as the prime location in CHP logs that round up general-purpose situations around the county. Here’s an example of a weather-related one of those; other times it’s for an Amber Alert or something like that. Union Street is not closed.

The bot interpreted “199 SI AT R1 AS OFF APPROX 1228 HRS” to refer to State Route 1, which it does not. It means to say that Highway 101 is under R-1 chain controls, meaning chains are required on larger vehicles.

We’ve been testing it for a few weeks now, and errors of this sort are relatively rare. We will work to make them rarer still. But we still thought it was worth it to launch the bot now, so as to get sometimes critical information to people in a way they can understand it. We do have the power to delete or amend the bot’s work if it is wrong.

— Hank Sims

AI SUMMARY: At 1656 Union St, the dispatch log reported multiple road closures and lane restrictions due to flooding and slides. US Highway 101 had lanes closed in both directions at certain mile markers, with traffic being rerouted onto different lanes. State Route 36 had a section closed at mile marker 7.54 due to flooding, but was later reopened. Additional closures were reported on Hookton Road and Redwood Drive due to flooding and slides. Various agencies were notified and were working to address the closures and reevaluate the situation in the morning.

— LoCOBot. AI-generated headline and summary of the CHP dispatch log below as of 7:59 a.m. Did the bot blow it? That’s going to happen from time to time. Please let us know.


4:53 a.m.
[21] PER CT US101 85.5 MM BOTH NB LNS CLOSED/USING SB LNS FOR THRU TRAFF
4:54 a.m.
[22] PER CT US101 MENDO 104MM-105MM #2 LN CLOSED
5:08 a.m.
[23] PER HSO SR36 AT MM 7.54 ADV CAN BE REOPENED FLOODING NOT COVERING THE WHOLE RDWY
5:09 a.m.
[24] 1039 CT
6:16 a.m.
[26] PER CT NB HOOKTON OFR NOW OPEN
7:20 a.m.
[27] PER CT RDWY OPEN AT SR36 MM 7.54
7:55 a.m.
[29] 1039 HSO
7:56 a.m.
[30] 1039 CF
2:05 p.m.
[2] DOT WAS ALSO ADVS AT 1228 HRS THAT CURR PLOW TRUCKS CANT KEEP UP AND MAY NEED ADDTL
2:05 p.m.
[1] 199 SI AT R1 AS OFF APPROX 1228 HRS
2:06 p.m.
[4] HOOKTON AT EEL RIVER CLOSED DUE TO FLOODING APPROX 1240 HRS
2:06 p.m.
[3] ATT 1240 UNIT ADVS HOOKTON OFR FRM SB 101 CLOSED DUE TO FLOODING
4:26 p.m.
[5] HOOKTON NB OFR NOW CLOSED DUE TO FLOODING
4:27 p.m.
[7] 1039 HSO WITH CLOSERS HOOKTON AREA
4:29 p.m.
[8] 1039 CF
4:29 p.m.
[9] 1039 CITY 1141
5:55 p.m.
[11] PER DOT 36 AT MM 23ISH JWO CARLOTTA CLOSED DUE TO SLIDE UKN ETO
6:21 p.m.
[13] [Notification] [CHP]-PER DOT 36 CLOSED AT 7.54, 20.32,20.21
7:21 p.m.
[14] 1039 HSO, 1039 CF,1039 STAR,1039 EKA, CITY 1141
7:26 p.m.
[15] 1039 ST PKS RE NEW CLOSURES AFTER LN 12 AS WELL AS ALL ALLIEDS IN LN 14
9:17 p.m.
[16] PER CORDS / REDWOOD DR CLOSED BTWN EVERGREEN AND BEAR CANYON FOR SLIDE, WILL REEVALUATE IN MORNING
9:18 p.m.
[18] 1039 HSO / 1039 CALFIRE

See: Common CHP Codes and Shorthand

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