BOISE, Idaho (KLIX) – If you use Idaho's 511 Traveler Services, which allows drivers to track driving conditions on highway routes, you’ll appreciate the improvements that the Idaho Transportation Department is making to the system.

ITD has partnered with the National Weather Service in Pocatello to offer weather forecasts. The partnership now allows the 511 platform to take specific weather information from areas along a section of highway and create an overall forecast for that route.

“I've been trying to get useful weather information to the public,” Tony Ernest, the system's manager, said in a prepared statement. “The weather forecast information is really important from a planning standpoint for a traveler.”

Weather forecasts, which can be activated on all 511 versions and the smartphone app, are available for 16 individual sections of Interstate 84.

Another improvement to the system is that drivers now have the option to set up a personalized account and program up to three phone numbers that the system will recognize. When a driver calls 511, according to ITD, the system recognizes the number and offers a menu on the highway routes that the caller programs into his or her account.

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