Cactus Village Community

Dial 5-1-1 for Public Transit and State Highway Conditions

Jul 07, 2003

Getting information about highway conditions and public transit services in Arizona is now as simple as dialing 5-1-1, a new three-digit phone number dedicated for travel information.

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) says the toll-free 5-1-1 system is updated every five minutes with information about road conditions and construction restrictions on highways across Arizona. The information also is available online at www.az511.com.

Bus routes and schedules are also available on 5-1-1 via a connection to operators at the customer services centers for Valley Metro in the Phoenix metropolitan area and Sun Tran in the Tucson metropolitan area.

511 is an easy alternative to longer 1-888-411-ROAD number, which has been in use since 1998. The current 888 hotline will continue along with 5-1-1.

"511 is an easy phone number to remember and we're proud to be one of the first states to make it available to the traveling public," says ADOT Director Victor Mendez. "With the summer travel season approaching, we expect 511 to be a great tool for Arizonans to get information about highway conditions."

Arizona becomes the third state to make 5-1-1 service available statewide, joining Utah and Nebraska. 5-1-1 service also is offered in the Cincinnati metropolitan area and the I-81 corridor in Virginia.

"5-1-1 brings the benefits of information technology to ordinary people," says Elwyn Tinklenberg, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation and chairman of the 511 Deployment Coalition. "20 states are already planning 5-1-1 services and we expect the majority of Americans will have 5-1-1 available to them by 2005."

Later this year, Minnesota and Kentucky will launch statewide 5-1-1 services and the service will become available in the San Francisco metropolitan area.

In July 2000, the Federal Communications Commission granted the U.S. Department of Transportation's petition to designate 5-1-1 as a national travel information phone number.