Date:  Monday, August 10, 2009

Contact: Lloyd Brown, WSDOT Communications, 360-705-7076

OLYMPIA – Now it is even easier to know before you go. The Washington State Department of Transportation has added new tools to deliver real-time traffic and incident information to Northwest motorists.

Drivers can now subscribe from their computer to get collision and lane information delivered via e-mail to their inbox. And, WSDOT has developed a way for travelers to use Twitter, a Web-based micro-blogging site, to get real-time travel times.

“One way to manage congestion is to give people more real-time information about traffic conditions,” said Lloyd Brown, WSDOT communication director. “We think that with better information, motorists can make better choices about when and how they are going to travel.”

E-mail alerts

Drivers can sign up for e-mail alerts and have the incident information from the Seattle traffic Web page, www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/, sent directly to their inbox. Closure and incident information is delivered the moment traffic engineers post it to the Web for the public and media to see.

Twitter

WSDOT already uses Twitter to provide updated mountain pass reports, and U.S. border wait times. Now, with a simple text message, Twitter will send travel times for the major highway corridors in and around the central Puget Sound. Twitter users can send a direct text message from any Web browser or cell phone using key words. Within minutes, WSDOT sends a message providing information on current travel times. For example, a Twitter user might text WSDOT, “tt Seattle to Bellevue” and receive the travel times for I-90 and SR 520.

How to sign up

WSDOT offers subscribers more than 25 specialized e-mail news feeds, including news and information for freight haulers, construction-related traffic revisions, project updates from all around the state, and timely updates on pass conditions. To subscribe click the link for “E-mail updates” at the top right-hand part of the page next to the envelope.

Twitter users can follow WSDOT at www.twitter.com/wsdot. Go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/inform/twitter for more details.

For those not using Twitter, real-time traffic information and weather is also available at wsdot.wa.gov/traffic or by dialing 5-1-1. To learn more about what we’re doing, go to wsdot.wa.gov/news for pictures videos, news and blogs.

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WSDOT keeps people, businesses and the economy moving by operating and improving the state's transportation systems. To learn more about what we're doing, go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/news for pictures, videos, news and blogs. Real time traffic information is available at www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic or by dialing 5-1-1.

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