WEBSITE HELP — The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Traveler Information Website is provided to help motorists make better decisions about travel in Kentucky. This website automatically adjusts to accommodate your screen dimensions, but typically it is best viewed at a resolution of 1024 x 768. This site is optimized for Firefox 3 and compatible with Internet Explorer 7. For information about Firefox 3, Click here.

511 Home Page: This default page allows access to a variety of reports and information. It has been designed to work best on a high-speed Internet connection. If you do not have a high speed connection to the Internet, you may want to click on the "Low Bandwidth (Dial-Up)" version in the menu at the top of the page to speed your search for travel-related information.

On the left hand side of this page, check boxes allow selection of various types of information with a legend to provide a key to the symbols on the map. When selections are checked or unchecked symbols appear or disappear on the map to reveal the locations of the selected types of events. In a similar fashion, the check boxes in other parts of this menu allow selection of road conditions and planned future events such as roadwork and cameras.

A scrolling banner appears across the top of the screen if road closures or blockages are on any routes. If an AMBER Alert has been issued in Kentucky, a scrolling banner will also appear across the top of the screen with limited information about the alert. From the AMBER Alert banner, a link is provided to a screen with more detailed information about the AMBER Alert.

Pan and Zoom: The Google-based map allows pan and zoom functions to better view specific regions, highways or events. Simply click on the pan and zoom buttons provided in the upper left of the Google map to adjust the view to your preference. You can also click and drag anywhere on the map to pan the map to a new location. The last used pan and zoom settings will be retained when you return to the page, so you can create your own view for use on future visits to the Web site.

Clicking on map icons in this view activates an information bubble for that event. The information bubble provides additional detail about the event. You may also notice as you reorient the map-view that event icons appear in two different sizes. Icon size indicates the importance or priority level of events with larger icons representing higher-priority events and smaller icons showing lower-priority events. This priority level is intended to reflect the degree to which the event impacts traffic.

Users can also access several predefined views of regions within Kentucky from a drop down menu near the top of the page titled "Select Map". Pressing the "Go" button will cause the map to reset the zoom level and re-center the map, appropriate for the selected predefined area.

The red "Refresh" button will appear in the event that you have had the page open for a period of time without changing other settings. Pressing this button when it is offered will ensure that the event information is up to date and any new reports are displayed.

Route Reports or Map View: In the upper left of the page is a button labeled "Switch to Route Reports". Clicking this button changes the screen to display two main panels. The left most panel offers controls to allow you to select specific highways. A highway may be selected either by selecting it from a list, or by searching for a specific highway number. Selecting a highway adds it to the list of highways and their segments, located below the selection controls. These segments are used to help locate areas of interest more quickly and are also used on the associated 511 telephone system.

Clicking the "Switch to Map" button takes users back to the main map view.

Clicking on the segment name in the list first displays a close-up map, temporarily highlighting that segment in green. This highlighting is used to show the selected highway segment, and does not reflect roadway conditions. After several seconds, the highlighting disappears.

Any active events for the segment are shown both as list of event descriptions on the left, and as icons on the map in the right panel. Icons for events on other nearby highways are also visible on this map view. The event report shown in the left panel and the icons on the map are interactive. Clicking on a specific event either in the event list or on the map icon coordinates the map and list causing the event icon on the map to either be highlighted or circled in red, and the appropriate event report in the list to be highlighted.