News and Announcements
This page provides the latest news and updates regarding DEP functionality and data, as well as known issues and data outages. Check back frequently for updates.
Last updated: March 18, 2026
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March 9, 2026: RWIS Data Enhancement
On March 9, 2026, the VDOT RWIS data set was expanded to provide many additional fields. Special thanks go out to the VDOT and Vaisala teams for their assistance in making this possible. Updated information on RWIS output fields is available in the /rm3p/weather endpoint section of the API Documentation page. Additional guidance on how to access API documentation and data dictionaries will be provided in an upcoming announcement.
February 19, 2026 – VDOT Parking Occupancy Profiles Now Available
On February 13, 2026, the DEP API was updated to include parking occupancy profiles for VDOT Parking Data. This appears as a new element in VDOT Parking Data API feed. The data is generated by VDOT based on periodic parking lot usage counts.
January 16, 2026 – Detector Data Available on a Per-Lane Basis
On January 9th, 2026, the DEP API added per-lane detector data to the historical detector endpoint. Lane data is now returned as part of the regular request, and is available to all DEP API users.
January 15, 2026 – VRE Parking Data Update
We are working closely with Virginia Railway Express (VRE) to resolve ongoing issues with parking data. VRE is actively working on hardware replacement and system updates across several parking lots. If you see ongoing issues with the DEP, please report them to DEP support at dep-support@ritis.org.
November 14, 2025 – VDOT RWIS Data Update
On November 14, 2025, DEP API was updated to use SmarterRoads as the source of VDOT RWIS data in response to VDOT’s migration of RWIS stations described in November 6th announcement. The DEP development team switched the source interface in a way that preserved the DEP API output and prevented need for any rework from the downstream users. VDOT has confirmed that the element mappings and units are correct. As of November 14, 2025, VDOT RWIS data is once again available in the DEP API output.
November 13, 2025 – Scheduled DEP Maintenance
On November 13, 2025 from 7pm to 7:45pm, the DEP will undergo brief maintenance to deploy additional redundancy hardware to further harden and improve the stability of the overall system. In addition to the new hardware, during this maintenance DEP will apply security patches to continue to maintain strong security posture. While it is unlikely that the maintenance will cause any down time, there is a possibility of brief connectivity interruptions as DNS changes are propagating.
