Highway of high-tech for Fieldays travel

The initiatives are part of Fieldays and the NZ Transport Agency joint venture to make visitors' journeys to this week's event safer and easier.

A network of units , which use Bluetooth technology, have been placed at Fieldays and key central North Island towns such as Hamilton, Rotorua, Cambridge and Tauranga.

The devices use Bluetooth technology to record actual travel times for vehicles between the location of the trackers and Mystery Creek. This information will be regularly updated at drivelive.nz/fieldays. The website will go live on June 9.

The Transport Agency's Waikato highways manager, Kaye Clark says social media users heading to Fieldays can share their travel experiences and get live travel advice and information by using the hashtag #Fieldaystravel.

"This hashtag will be monitored by our National Travel Information Service team, who will be standing by to answer any queries and let people know about any incidents or flooding on the key routes to and from the Fieldays so they can try another road if need be," she says.

"We will also be looking to share travel information on electronic message boards around the Waikato, as far north as Auckland, and in other areas such as the Bay of Plenty. These will help people to make informed decisions about what route to take and how long they might expect to spend on their journey.

"Yes, the traffic will be busy during Fieldays and there will be hold ups for some people. This is such a popular event that attracts thousands to our region and we can't change the amount of traffic, but we can make the trip more predictable for people.

"These new initiatives will ensure people can plan when to leave and what time they will arrive. Not only will travellers know what to expect, they will be able to share that information with others."

The dedicated hashtag for social media users to get up to date travel information is #Fieldaystravel.