Remember waaaaaaaaay back in the mid-1990s, when the only way to dodge a bad traffic jam involved a couple of guys and gals in helicopters talking to you on the TV or the radio?

Today, there's a veritable cornucopia of information and options to plot highway routes and dodge construction.

You can ask someone to send you a daily text or e-mail alert.

You can call the 511 traffic hot line and ask about conditions on an array of major routes.

You can get on the 'net and check out more than 100 live cameras throughout South Florida -- including nine strategically located ones in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties that permanently stream images.

The idea behind these so-called Intelligent Transportation Systems is fairly simple.

Instead of paying to widen roads in areas where no more land exists, try to manage the congestion with technology.

Give drivers as much real-time information as possible. Give them fair warning of backups due to accidents, construction, special events and routine bottlenecks.

In Miami-Dade, there are more than 100 cameras available for public viewing on the Internet that are posted on Interstate 95, the Palmetto Expressway (State Road 826), the Dolphin Expressway (State Road 836), U.S. 1 south of downtown to Southwest 112th Avenue, Interstate 75, the Julia Tuttle Causeway (Interstate 195), plus a handful of other locations.

In Broward, 32 cameras are available from Hallandale Beach to Deerfield Beach on I-95, plus another 12 on the entirety of Interstate 595.

In the Keys, there are 42 cameras posted on the entirety of U.S. 1, plus five more on Card Sound Road.

Another nine cameras are streaming live video from strategically located sites in Miami-Dade and Monroe.

Overall, the volume of 511 calls is down. It dipped dramatically two years ago when most of the state switched from the old keypad-your-route system to Instant Voice Recognition software.

It took awhile for the engineers to work out the kinks with voice-recognition programs -- they're still hard to use for people with heavy accents, or for anyone trying to use a speakerphone in an open vehicle.

The old keypad method is still available, but not encouraged for obvious safety reasons. But there's nothing preventing a driver from checking it on the way out the door in the morning, or from the desk as you're wrapping up work.

Website hits and telephone volume are down slightly at 511 call-in centers and government-run websites throughout Florida.

Mike Millard, the South Florida radio veteran who heads the Sunguide 511 system for Westwood One, believes the latest dip coincides with the spike in gas prices and public transit use earlier this year.

Another reason, according to Steve Corbin, who heads the state Department of Transportation Intelligent Transportation Systems programs in Broward and Palm Beach counties: fewer people are calling the 511 center or using the live Web cameras because they are subscribing to direct e-mail and text-alert programs.

The government-run systems, and several commercial competitors, are far from perfect.

But they're improving all the time.

Check them out.

They might actually save you some time and occasionally some peace of mind.

Do you have a commuting question or an idea for a future column? Contact Larry Lebowitz at streetwise@MiamiHerald.com or call him at 305-376-3410 or 954-764-7026, ext. 3410.

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