Minnesota 511 4+

Highways are presented as unlabeled green lines. There doesn’t seem to be an easy way to see what road is depicted except perhaps to view a traffic camera output identifies the roadway shown. Of course, in metro areas, cameras are so densely located that the camera location view summarizes how many traffic are in a given area. Expanding the map to select a given camera shows the green lines without context, and you must know what highway whose cameras are depicted. This is not for through travelers, but for locals thoroughly familiar with the shape of their major highways.

We use several routes quite often around the Twin Cities and collar counties. We have found the farther you are from Hennepin and 1st, the less current data there is and the less accurate the 511 data becomes. A prime, and truly frustrating, example is Hwy 65 north, a very, very busy artery. It is under construction and modifications and lane closures. Yet the 511 “system “ says it is just fine, just normal, no problem!! Then why are we sitting in crammed lanes, slow traffic and increasing road rage, fueled by huge pickups constantly cutting us off and aggressively pushing their privileged “status” “earned by” size. I just now looked again and 511 indicates “no problem.” I’m very disgusted with 511’s minimal and inaccurate coverage. You folks should be ashamed. As my son said yesterday as he traveled north from Cottage Grove, “well that drive from 694 up the 25 miles on 65 is another hour and a half I’ll never get to spend again.” And, he checked 511 for road slow downs and closures!! Not a good system when it actually leads us into problems. Dr. Wayne Samuelson and extended families.

I have to presume the poor rating for this app is based on previous versions. I’ve been using this app since the beginning of winter (2022). I work 45-60 minutes from home, with the flexibility to work from home if needed. I rely on this app regularly to look at the road conditions on my route, and I’ve always found it reliable and up-to-date (or minute in this case). I like that I have the option to chose the legend filters I’d like to see so I can specify what I want to know without the map map getting clogged with info that isn’t important to me.