5-1-1

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5-1-1, initially designated for road weather information, is a transit and traffic information telephone hotline in some regions of the United States. Travelers can dial the three-digit number 511 on traditional landline telephones and many mobile phones.

As of March 2001, at least three hundred telephone numbers existed for travel information systems in the United States. To overcome the confusion caused by this array of numbers, the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a national assignment of a single three-digit dialing code, N11. On July 20, 2000, the FCC assigned 511 as a nationwide telephone number for ITS traveler information. Its use is being promoted by the US Department of Transportation's Intelligent Transport Systems initiative.^[1]

Contents 1 System creation 2 Regions 2.1 San Francisco 2.2 Northern New England 2.3 Tennessee 2.4 Elsewhere in the United States 2.5 Canada 3 References 4 External links 4.1 Region-specific 511 sites 4.2 General information

[edit] System creation

The existing national guidelines for the federal 511 system was born from research proposed and conducted at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks through a Federal Highway Administration research grant under the name ATWIS (Advanced Transportation Weather Information System). This original system had a five-digit calling code, #7233, and was known as #SAFE (Pound Safe). Demonstrating the effectiveness of a statewide, and then a multi-state, system for traveler information, #SAFE provided route-specific road weather information to travelers via cellular telephones. As part of the federal mandate on the grant, ATWIS/#SAFE was required to demonstrate a feasibility of being privatized. After several companies were examined for the necessary capabilities and knowledge needed to implement and deploy this traveler information system, Meridian Environmental Technology, Inc. was deemed the only truly capable company.^{[citation needed]}

The system's guidelines were prepared by the 511 Working Group, which contains representatives from a highway association, a public transit association, the Department of Transportation, and the USDOT's vehicle-management technology system, ITS. ^[2]

[edit] Regions

[edit] San Francisco

In addition to the phone service, travelers in the San Francisco Bay Area can access transit information on a website, which provides information on mass transit schedules and an interactive trip planner, which will provide an optimal routing between a given origin, destination, and optional time constraints. In addition, 511.org provides information on bicycling, ridesharing, and the toll road system Fastrak. 511.org is a service of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and was designed by the transportation engineering company Parsons Brinckerhoff, Farradyne (now Telvent Farradyne ^[3]). The system had a fair amount of controversy when it was announced that it would use electronic toll tags to track vehicles as they traversed Bay Area freeways.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, the Bay Area's transit coordinator signed an $11,000,000 four-year contract with defense contractor Science Applications International Corporation to operate the local 511 system.^[4]

[edit] Northern New England

The Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine departments of transportation co-operate a 511 line, and each state operates its own website with information from all three states.

[edit] Tennessee

Implemented in August of 2006, Tennessee 511 uses an automated voice response system, meaning callers are guided through the menu through a series of requests. Callers can ask for specific roadways or regions, and the system will provide information about traffic incidents, closures and other important roadway conditions. Travelers have the option of accessing road and travel conditions using the Web at www.TN511.com or through the 511 phone service.

[edit] Elsewhere in the United States

Similar services are operated in other cities and states; for example, the Minnesota Department of Transportation operates a website for traffic and road condition information. Florida is claimed to have the most-used 511 system in the nation, on a per capita basis.^[5]

Washington and Oregon both operate their own 511 system. The Washington State 511 system has an option to transfer to the Oregon 511 system to help users in the Portland area to access the right system for them.

[edit] Canada

In January 2005 the Intelligent Transportation Systems Society of Canada (ITS Canada) consortium filed an application to assign 5-1-1 for a similar purpose in Canada. It proposed that in addition to traffic, the number would report weather, which also has a major impact on traffic, particularly in a country with such harsh winters. The application was approved by the CRTC in Canada on July 28, 2006. ^[6]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Region-specific 511 sites

• Arizona
• San Francisco Bay Area
• Florida
• Minnesota
• Montana
• North Carolina
• Northern New England – Vermont
• Northern New England – New Hampshire
• Northern New England – Maine
• Oregon
• Southwest Ohio - Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky
• Tennessee
• Wyoming
• Kansas

[edit] General information

• US Department of Transportation 511 website, a source of official information
• 511 Deployment Coalition, a 511 advocacy group
• ITS Canada, Intelligent Transportation Systems Society of Canada

N11 codes 2-1-1 | 3-1-1 | 4-1-1 | 5-1-1 | 6-1-1 | 7-1-1 | 8-1-1 | 9-1-1