NJDOT’s 511 traveler information web page honored for customer service quality
Documents Association of New Jersey names 511nj.org as
"Best Official New Jersey website”

(Trenton) - The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) real-time traffic information webpage www.511nj.org has been recognized by the Documents Association of New Jersey (DANJ) for its usefulness in providing important and relevant information to the residents of New Jersey.

511 Project Manager James Hadden accepted the award for the Department at DANJ’s Fall Conference on November 4, 2011.

“The web page is an invaluable tool for the public to find up to the minute information about travel conditions on New Jersey roadways and we are grateful to be honored in this manner for the service that it provides,” Hadden stated.

Launching in 2008, the 511nj website was designed to complement the previously introduced 511NJ telephone service. It provides an easy, user friendly way for commuters to see where incidents, accidents, congestion and events like weather and construction are happening before they leave their home or office.

NJDOT greatly increased the video coverage available to motorists this summer, with feeds from 180 new cameras, raising the total number of traffic cameras to 430. New ‘Shore Travel Widgets’ featured on the 511 website provide current travel times along three major highways – the Garden State Parkway (GSP), I-195 and the Atlantic City Expressway – that lead to many popular Jersey Shore destinations.

The website employs interactive widgets, as well as the more traditional tabs across the top of the page, to interact with, and access, the region’s transportation information. In addition, an Interactive Map shows real time travel speeds on all Interstate and limited access highways. This includes the NJ Turnpike, Garden State Parkway and the Atlantic City Expressway.

Since the implementation of the website, annual views have climbed from 500,000 in 2009, to 3 million in 2010 and NJDOT expects that number to climb well over 3 million page views in 2011.

According to Hadden, the website now averages 300,000 visitors a month, with that number spiking to 446,000 during the Hurricane Irene storm period between August 26 and September 2. With other government websites linking to the 511NJ website before, during and after the storm, a special page was created with hurricane-related road closures, delays, press releases and other information.

Traffic and travel information offered on the www.511nj.org web site and telephone phone service is managed by a partnership of public agencies led by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, working with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, the South Jersey Transportation Authority, the New Jersey State Police, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission and the Delaware River Port Authority.

Each year the Documents Association of New Jersey gives an award to the best official New Jersey web site. This award recognizes the department or agency web site that documents librarians feel is especially useful or informative. The websites are judged on a number of criteria including their relevance to New Jersey’s citizens, enhancements to quality of life, use of hypertext links and graphics and their ease in navigation.