NJ Department of Transportation 5-1-1 Travel Information Phone System (TIPS)
Commissioner Kris Kolluri announced that a beta version of NJDOT's 5-1-1 Travel Information Phone System is now available to drivers in New Jersey. People can call 5-1-1 to test the new system and provide feedback on your experience. NJDOT will continue to test, refine and improve the system and will formally offer it to motorists in early 2008. Since a well-informed driver is almost always a better driver, NJDOT developed this tool to supplement our Web site www.NJcommuter.com and provide another means to access real time traffic information.
By dialing just three numbers, travelers can get accurate, timely knowledge about traffic and construction conditions. Here's how it works. After a driver dials 5-1-1 from a land line or a cell phone, an Interactive Voice Response system answers and offers information about travel conditions for a specific road in addition to urban areas. For example, if the caller wants traffic information about New Brunswick, the Interactive Voice Response system will ask: "Do you want traffic or construction information?" If the caller seeks traffic conditions, he or she will receive information that includes the number of incidents - accidents, spills, vehicle breakdowns -- on Routes 1 and 18 in the New Brunswick area. Similar information is available for road construction, closures and detours.
The information is updated in real time. To validate the accuracy of the 5-1-1 report, NJDOT's Statewide Traffic Operations Division inputs new information continually from Monday through Friday from 4:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and on weekends from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.The federally funded system is safe to use in transit and costs little. A traveler can use a cell phone safely while driving, as the system is totally hands off after dialing 5-1-1, as a result of the voice recognition feature. A cell phone call to 5-1-1 costs the same as any other call charged by minutes and a land line call to 5-1-1 is toll free. What's next? In the future, NJDOT plans to send traffic alerts to an individual's iPOD, computer, cell phone, pager or PDA.
