FAQ
511WI is a free website that provides traffic and route personalization information. Call 511 or visit 511WI.gov to get all the information you need to make smart traveling decisions, check traffic speeds or plan a trip. 511 will help improve your commute and keep you informed about travel conditions both before you leave the house and while you are on the road.
WisDOT launched 511wi.gov in 2008 as part of a greater goal to reduce congestion and improve highway safety. Website traffic has grown steadily with more than 2.5 million visits in 2016 alone. Travelers and the freight community rely on 511 Wisconsin, especially during special events, construction and winter seasons. Due to its importance and high demand, the 511 Wisconsin website now offers a more modern website experience with customer-focused features and a new design suited for mobile devices, tablets, and laptops.
As part of the transition, 511wi.gov members will have to re-enroll on the new website. Simply put, the extensive design and programming changes made mass transfer of member data infeasible. However, re-enrollment is simple. Please see “How do I create a new account?” below.
Many of the previous features are still available. The new site includes updated and innovative traffic technology. Some of the new features on the website include:
| Weather Events and Forecasts | Users can see the weather forecast in designated areas and if there are major weather incidents occurring that might disrupt traffic. |
|---|---|
| Personalized Travel Time Routes | Users can create and save their own personalized travel routes with the arrival times and factors affecting travel time including: traffic and weather incidents, delays, construction and more. |
| Route-Specific Information | The mapping tool provides customizable routes with traveling directions, arrival time and traffic information. |
| Inclusion of Park and Rides, Weigh Stations and Rest Areas | One of the additional features on the map tool-thanks to customer feedback-is the opportunity to mark park and rides, weigh stations and rest areas along personalized routes. |
| Dynamic Routing | The routing system will allow users to determine multiple routes to their destination including public transit with ticket information. |
| Driving and Transit Trip Planning | Regardless if users take public transportation or drive their own vehicles, the mapping tool can now plan either mode of transportation based off of real-time information and personal routes. |
| Personalized Camera Snapshots | This tool can view traffic in real time, and includes a customizable camera option that can save feeds for personal routes and appears any time the map tool is in use. |
| Additional Speed Data | Tracks traffic data across more Wisconsin highways than ever before brining additional information to user’s and their traveling experience. |
| Content Management | Account holders now have more opportunities to customize and manage their personalized content through their new 511 Wisconsin accounts. |
| Newly Designed Mobile Site | The new website design provides a mobile-friendly site that will maintain all of the user’s traffic information on-the-go or in the comfort of their own home. Log into www.511wi.gov from a smartphone or tablet. WisDOT reminds you to know before you go or leave it in the hands of your passengers. |
| Enhanced Trucker Information | The new trucker information tab provides links and access to important freight-related information such as permits and other additional resources. |
| News Section | The news section will provide users information on traffic incidents, construction and other traffic related news that could impact travel. |
| Twitter Feed | 511 Wisconsin’s Twitter is now an additional traffic news feed that keeps users alerted on need-to-know traffic information across the state. |
511 provides information about live traffic, weather and cameras. 511 can give you traffic reports for specific highways.
You can get up-to-the-minute traffic info in the palm of your hand, you can call 511 or visit 511WI 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Always putting safety first, never access 511 information while driving.
Yes, the 511WI website is responsive and provides an optimal viewing experience across all devices including PC, tablet, or smartphone. Users are also able save the 511WI website as a shortcut on your homescreen. Always putting safety first, never access 511 information while driving.
Open Safari/Chrome browser, go to 511WI site. Tap the browser's menu button and tap "Add to Home screen". Always putting safety first, never access 511 information while driving.
With 511, you will receive considerably more route-specific information than you hear on the news, and you can access the information on-demand, whenever you need it.
Some traffic information, such as incidents and message signs, are updated every minute. Roadwork is updated every 10 minutes and other information, such as Winter Road Conditions, are updated less frequently.
511WI is designed to meet the accessibility policies of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Simply hold down the control key while pressing the plus (+) key. This will enlarge the site. To make it smaller, hold down the control key while pressing the minus (-) key.
You can provide your comments through the Contact Us link, which is located at the bottom of every page on the website.
WisDOT has partnered with Waze through their Waze for Cities program to publish Waze reported information on the 511WI website. This program is a free data exchange between Waze and government entities and private road owners and operators.
Waze is the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app. Waze gathers crowdsourced real-time traffic data and road information from its users. Waze incidents, standstill traffic jams and weather hazard data identified by the Waze app are now available to view on 511WI. This information is provided in addition to official information reported by WisDOT to better help people plan their travel in Wisconsin.
The weather data displayed on the Weather Radar, Weather Alerts and Weather Forecast layers of the 511WI map is provided by the National Weather Service.