Any improvement to the 511 Idaho Traveler Information System represents a customer-service milestone for the thousands of Gem State drivers who have signed up for alerts through the system. One of the improvements from this past year also benefits ITD’s internal customers – engineers, inspectors, project managers, and maintenance personnel.
The improvement involves including an “end of project” notification via email and text, so users know how long the project will be impacting their commute or drive. If the project goes beyond the time expected, that information is also relayed. The email notification was accomplished fairly easily, but the text notification involves an update from the 511 vendor, which should be done within a few weeks.
The 511 user can signify the area they want notifications for by drawing it on a map once they log in to their account. “So if you wanted to know of any work within a 50-mile radius of your commute route, for instance, you could do that,” says 511 Coordinator Barton Phelps. The map to the left shows a “boundary” map selected in the system.
In addition to alerting users as to the end date for projects, an improvement was also added that provides a notice of upcoming projects that could impact the travel area up to 72 hours in advance of the start of the work.