The Virginia Department of Transportation’s Highway Advisory Radio station in Hampton Roads has been upgraded and moved to a new channel.

Traffic information for South Hampton Roads and the Peninsula, including the George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge, is now available at 1680AM, said Jennifer Gwaltney, a VDOT spokesman.

The information was previously heard at 610AM, she said, but the Coleman Bridge was not then linked to the regional radio network and had its bridge specific information broadcast at 530AM. The Coleman Bridge, which carries Route 17 over the York River between Gloucester Point and Yorktown, is maintained by VDOT’s Hampton Roads District.

Under the new, expanded arrangement, Gwaltney said, a bridge opening at the Coleman would be included along with delays at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and other bridges and tunnels in the region, plus major traffic accidents.

The transition to 1680 began in late April, Gwaltney said, and was completed on the Southside and Peninsula on May 4.

The radio station is designed to advise the public of current traffic conditions on Hampton Roads highways and toll facilities, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Gwaltney said.

Not only is there a new channel, Gwaltney said, but the signal also comes in clearer at the higher frequency.

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