How Can I Find Winter Road Conditions For The Northland? How A Change In Descriptions For Winter 2014-2015 Will Make It Easier To Understand Road Reports

Hazardous.  Difficult.  Good.  What do those terms really mean when Mother Nature has unleashed her brand of snow and ice on our Northland roads?  Starting this winter, you'll have a better guide.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has improved their road condition descriptions, starting with the 2014-2015 season.  Now, travelers will have a better understanding of road conditions using MNDOT's listings on the 511mn.org website and smartphone app.

The old winter road descriptions:  good, fair, difficult and hazardous/travel not advised, have been replaced with normal, partially covered, completely covered, travel not advised and closed.

The changes were made because the descriptions were subjective and the public didn’t always understand or look at the meanings listed on the 511 website, according to Kelly Braunig, 511 coordinator.

“We were getting a fair amount of complaints,” she said. “An interpretation of good or fair might be completely different from person to person. We listened to our users and made improvements.”

Braunig looked at what other states in the area used as descriptions for winter road conditions and adopted those from Iowa.

“We think the public will have a better understanding of the terms now,” Braunig said. “It’s easier to understand that roads are ‘partially covered’ rather than ‘fair,’ or ‘completely covered’ instead of ‘difficult.’”

More details of each road condition description are available here.