PORTLAND – New cameras set up along the Maine Turnpike will allow Web surfers to check out traffic before hitting the road.

Effective Friday, cameras at five of the turnpike’s busiest locations were up and running, giving motorists another tool for getting the latest traffic information on the toll road from York to Augusta.

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” said Samuel Zaitlin, chairman of the board of the Maine Turnpike Authority.

The Turnpike “traffic cam” comes just in time for the busiest period of vacation travel in Maine.

The cameras are set up at mile 23 in Kennebunk, miles 29 and 31 in Biddeford, mile 36 in Saco and mile 41 in Scarborough. The snapshot images are refreshed every 60 seconds.

Officials, who will be experimenting with the traffic cams over the next two months, believe the images will be useful to emergency dispatchers, as well as tourists, truckers and commuters.

Zaitlin said information technology is emerging as an important tool for reducing traffic congestion and improving safety.

“When motorists have good information, they generally make wise choices,” Zaitlin said.

“The traffic cams will give people the information they need, when they need it,” Zaitlin said

For now, people sitting at their computers won’t be able to see how far traffic is backed up at the York toll plaza. But the authority plans to put a camera there, as well.