By Tom Hein,
Wichita Public Affairs Manager
Most travelers are familiar with the 511 phone resource,
the national roadway information system initiated by the U.S. Department of
Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration and operating in 35 states
(including Kansas). But many are not aware that alerts on highway closures or
other situations that might affect a trip or daily commute can be pushed
directly to their smartphone or home computer.
My
Kansas 511 is a free service providing drivers with up-to-the-minute
information via alerts by email or text messages. To subscribe to the service, create
an account at www.safetravelusa.com/ks/login.
You can now tailor this service to your needs, choosing
days of the week and time slots that you want alerts to be sent. Then you will
choose your preferences for notification on flooded roadways, highway closures,
severe weather conditions or specific traffic alerts, like the ones offered by
WICHway, Wichita’s intelligent transportation system management center.
Next you can choose the highways for which you need
information. Because Kansas highways often traverse the entire state, you can
choose only those segments that apply to your travels.
After setting your parameters, the service will push out
relevant information when an event or problem occurs. With your newly created
My Kansas 511 account, you can tweak these settings so that you’re never
overwhelmed with too much information. This can happen during volatile spring
weather if you choose to receive, for instance, all Kansas thunderstorm warnings.
Give the service a trial run – you can always unsubscribe. And
of course, we advise drivers to check these messages only when they are NOT
actively driving.
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