Layers are the key to customizing www.511ia.org for safer winter travel
AMES, Iowa – Dec. 28, 2021 – All the information you need to more easily travel Iowa’s state and U.S. highways and interstates is now on one, cohesive website www.511ia.org. For many years Iowa’s authoritative source of traveler information has been available in different formats depending on the needs of the driver and the bandwidth of your internet service. To streamline your travel decision tools, earlier this year, www.511ia.org became your one-stop-shop as a single website. Previous versions which included a “Streamlined” version for lower bandwidth connections and “Full Featured” versions for travelers and commercial drivers were retired.
The updated site, which can easily be viewed on any device, has been ramping up its functionality over the past year and a half. Anyone who had bookmarked the old sites will automatically be redirected to the new www.511ia.org.
Understanding how the layers on www.511ia.org function is the key to getting the best information to help you make safer travel decisions this winter. With the change in seasons, a new default set of layers has been established when you open the site. Those layers include unplanned traffic events, winter road conditions for Iowa, towing not recommended, plow locations, and weather radar.
TIP: You can customize your own www.511ia.org experience by choosing the layers you want to see and then bookmarking that view in your browser favorites.
The 511 system also allows you to set up an account that alerts you of activity such as incidents on routes or areas you have saved. A new option for alerts this winter is towing not recommended, which helps our towing partners understand when conditions make it unsafe to remove vehicles on or near the roadway. In addition, you can save your favorite cameras to more easily see the traffic situation or snow coverage on routes you want to monitor. If you had an account previously set up on 511, your account was transitioned to the new site back in March. To find out more about these features, click on the “Help” link in the top right corner of the website, and select “Website Help”.
The popular 511 app for iOS and Android is in the process of being updated with new features and will be available in early 2022.
As a reminder, www.511ia.org tracks traffic incidents, highway construction, and weather impacts on state and U.S. highways, and interstates. Traffic events on county roads and city streets are not shown on www.511ia.org.
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Contact: Sinclair Stolle at 515-239-1933 or [email protected].