I. Pre-Listening Exercises [Top]

What information would you expect to hear in a radio traffic report? (The recording for this report is fictitious, but is based, in part, on common situations and places in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.)

HELPFUL TIP: If you really want to practice your listening skills, try tuning into local traffic reports in English. You can find out about traffic and weather conditions in your area.

II. Listening Exercises [Top]

1. Listen to the conversation by pressing the “Play Audio” button and answer the questions. Press the “Final Score” button to check your quiz.

1. What is causing the delays near Interstate 215?

A. road construction

B. a small accident

C. inclement weather conditions
2. Where do these delays clear up?

A. around 7200 South

B. right after 3300 South

C. near 9600 South

3. What caused the accident on Northbound I-15?

A. slick ice

B. a stalled vehicle

C. limited visibility

4. What weather conditions are predicted during the night and morning hours?

A. heavy fog

B. periodic sleet

C. strong winds

5. What situation has resulted because of the extremely cold temperatures snow in the mountains?

A. A group of animals has come down into the valley.

B. Sudden avalanches are expected around Riverside Park.

C. Road closures are making travelling difficult in that area.

Score =

Correct answers:

This is SkyCam from Channel 11 News, reporting to you live over the valley. For those of you heading south on I-15 on your commute home from work, expect some delays around the 215 Interchange. Road crews are making repairs on the left lane, so commuters should be prepared to shift over to the right around 7200 South. This bottleneck appears to clear up at around 9600 south. You should expect such delays at least until the end of the week.Northbound I-15 looks good until you reach around 3300 south. A minor fender-bender, perhaps resulting from the poor visibility out there, has traffic backed up a mile or so. Also, some reports have come in on patches of black ice on roads in that area. Forecasters predict sporadic freezing rain later into the night and early morning hours. And one more note, the frigid temperatures and heavy snow in the mountains have forced a herd of elk down into Riverside Park, so extreme caution should be taken if you are travelling around that area.

And that’s all from SkyCam 11, providing you with traffic updates on the hour.

Key Vocabulary [Top]
  • heading (verb): going or traveling toward
    - Let’s head east to avoid the traffic.
  • commute (noun): the trip back and forth between work and home
    - The commute to work this morning was really slow due to back weather.
  • interchange (noun): a crossing of highways allowing traffic to move from one to another
    - The downtown interchange is closed due to construction.
  • shift (verb): to move in another direction
    - We ought to shift to the center lane to pass these slow-moving cars.
  • bottleneck (noun): a slowdown in traffic caused by some form of obstruction like an accident
    - There is a huge bottleneck in traffic at the intersection of Center and State Street.
  • fender-bender (noun): a small accident causing little damage
    - I got in a small fender-bender with a truck on my way home from work.
  • black ice (noun): thin transparent ice often found on streets
    - I hit a patch of black ice and slid off the road into a ditch.
  • sporadic (adjective): occurring periodically with no regular, predictable pattern
    - Buses usually are on time, but they are quite sporadic today because of the bad weather.
  • frigid (adjective): extremely cold
    - Waiting for the bus in the frigid weather is very unpleasant.
  • herd (noun): a group of animals
    - A herd of cattle crossed in front of my car.
III. Post-Listening Exercises [Top]

What are some of the most common modes of transportation in your country? What are the traffic conditions like in both major cities and rural areas? Do you think that building more roads or widening them is the solution to traffic congestion? Find a Website that describes these conditions and summarize your findings.