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Friday, January 21, 2011

Traveling in Minnesota? Road Conditions Online

"Welcome to 511 Traveler Information"
Minnesota Department of Transportation

If you aren't planning to drive through parts of Minnesota, this online resource probably won't be much practical use to you.

But if you are, it's a pretty good resource: with display options for folks with dial-up Internet; the sort of "High Bandwidth" connection the Lemming's household has; another for "newer phones and smartphones;" and MetroTwitter (twitter.com/mndottraffic), for folks who want to know about "Minneapolis/St. Paul traffic incidents."

The "High Bandwidth" option uses Google Maps, and seems to notice where the viewer's ISP is: the Lemming's map is centered between Sauk Centre and St. Cloud, Minnesota: which is pretty close. The map can be dragged to show what's off the edge at first.

It looks like MN-DOT updates their data - better than they did a few years ago, happily. The Google Maps displays information about blocked or closed roads, "Danger" spots, weather, crashes, road construction - yes, it happens in winter - and driving conditions boiled down to "Normal/Good," , "Fair," and "Difficult."

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