Wolf announces traveling tools available to public
Gov. Tom Wolf has alerted drivers that more information is now available to them for their holiday and future travels through www.511PA.com, Pennsylvania’s statewide travel information service.
Motorists can now see any travel alerts on state roads along a specific route when they enter “start” and “end” points, and additional weather information is available for dozens of roadway sites across the state.
“Keeping goods and people moving safely and efficiently is a critical government function,” Gov. Wolf said, in a release recently issued by PennDOT. “We continue to look for ways to empower the public as they make travel choices, and these 511PA enhancements put valuable information at the public’s fingertips.”
To view travel information tailored to a driver’s specific route, PennDOT has added the “Check My Route” tool through which users enter “start” and “end” points and see travel alerts for state roadways along the defined route.
During the winter, the tool also shows when each road was last plowed.
511PA also now features images and information from 69 PennDOT Road Weather Information System Sites along major state roadways. Each “Weather Station” shows a photo along with temperature, wind and precipitation information for that specific location.
Wolf also announced that 511PAConnect, a service the administration unveiled a year ago that provides motorists with information during long-term road closures, received another award — the fifth since its implementation. The Intelligent Transportation Society of Pennsylvania named 511PAConnect its 2017 Project of the Year at a ceremony held this month.
“I’m very proud of the work that went into 511PAConnect and even prouder that we have this innovative service to assist travelers when needed,” Wolf said.
Motorists can visit www.511PA.com to see plow-truck locations and road-plowing data, and check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles.
511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 850 traffic cameras.
511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.