FHWA recognizes travel sites

Federal Highway Administration

The Transportation Department's Federal Highway Administration announced the winners of its national awards for top traveler information Web sites.

Recognized as the top traveler information Web sites in the United States are:

• Georgia Navigator Web site
• Washington State DOT traffic information site
• Kentucky Transportation Cabinet TRIMARC site;
• Gary-Chicago-Milwaukee travel site, a cooperative effort of the GCM Priority Corridor Partners and the Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin departments of transportation.

"These outstanding sites were chosen because of their user friendliness, comprehensiveness and real-time reporting," said FHWA Deputy Administrator Richard Capka.

FHWA officials reviewed 276 Web sites to evaluate their content and usability. Content evaluation included updated information on incidents, construction notices, high occupancy vehicle lanes and toll roads. Usability criteria included the organization, navigation and presentation of information.

Georgia's Navigator features a new state map, camera views of traffic conditions and major alerts, with plans for real-time streaming video of traffic conditions among future improvements.

Washington's site receives as many as 67 million page views per month and Kentucky's TRIMARC provides travelers with information for the interstate highway system within the Louisville/Southern Indiana area.

The GCM Travel site won an award for the second year in a row and features a data sharing system that uses a Common Object Request Broker Architecture interface to let users link to information across the entire three-state region, including cameras, maps and message centers. The site also contains links to a traffic congestion map and to Chicago airports.