What is the history of 511 nationwide?
Before 511, there were more than 300 different phone numbers across the nation providing some sort of highway or public transportation-related information. Recognizing that travelers needed one number to call for travel information, regardless of where they were, the U.S. Department of Transportation petitioned the Federal Communications Commission on March 8, 1999, to designate a nationwide three-digit telephone number for traveler information and 511 was born.
