Nevada’s Revamped 511 Travel Information System Features ‘Trucker Mode’
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Aware of the needs of thousands of commercial drivers daily moving freight on Nevada roadways, state transportation officials unveiled a revamped 511 state travel information system featuring a special “Trucker Mode.”
“With Nevada being located at the crossroads of numerous Western freight routes, hundreds of millions of tons of freight originate or are delivered in the state each year,” Nevada Department of Transportation spokesperson Meg Ragonese told Transport Topics. “This results in more than half of vehicles on some Nevada interstate corridors consisting of trucks, with upward of 6,000 trucks traveling daily on each of the state’s busiest interstates.”
That’s why NDOT’s updated 511 Nevada Travel Information System, launched Oct. 13, includes many new enhancements to the decades-old version for truckers and ordinary drivers.
Ragonese
The 511 Nevada Travel Information services enables motorists to dial 511 toll-free and/or access it at nvroads.com to learn about timely state road conditions, online traffic cameras, roadway weather information, scheduled road closures and highway construction updates.
Operating now on a cloud-based platform, the system can handle more calls and logins, especially during bad weather when more people are seeking travel information. It also is available in an app via Apple or Google.
Users can select Trucker Mode, which automatically selects “Trucker Information” options (that can be unselected) for truck parking and oversize loads.
“Simply by selecting ‘truck parking,’ commercial drivers can see a map and listing of commercial truck parking facilities alongside Nevada interstates, along with amenities available at each facility. An ‘oversized load’ map layer displays the routes of active oversize loads currently traveling the state highway network,” Ragonese explained.
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If truck parking is selected, bubble-type shapes with the letter “P” appear on the map and when clicked list the name of the parking place as well as available amenities (restrooms, fuel, food services, showers, scales) and number of truck parking spaces. For example:
• Amargosa Valley rest area on U.S. Route 95 (the north-south road going through Las Vegas) lists restrooms and 15 truck parking spaces.
• Silver Sage travel center on U.S. routes 93/50 (on the southeastern part of the state) mentions food, restrooms, showers and 50 truck parking spaces.
• Sinclair truck stop on Interstate 80 (serving the Reno area) has restrooms, fuel, food and 60 truck parking spaces.
Ragonese said that in the future NDOT “will look to include a dynamic listing of truck parking spots currently available at truck facilities, as well as a map layer detailing active oversize and overdimensional vehicle prohibitions, such as weight or height restrictions through road work zones.”
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