Oregon Public Broadcasting

The biggest storm of the winter season will slam the Northwest this weekend and make driving an adventure. But motorists in Washington and Idaho have new tools to help them determine their best travel routes. Correspondent Doug Nadvornick reports.

Say you’re driving east from Coeur d’Alene, headed toward Montana. You’re worried about crossing Lookout Pass on the Idaho/Montana border.

State Transportation Department spokesman Mel Coulter says you could pull out your cell phone and dial 5-1-1 for a road report. Or he says if you have web access on your phone, you can dial up the department’s website and see current pictures of the pass.

Mel Coulter: “We’ve been pretty aggressive in the last year or so trying to add new cameras where we could in strategic locations.”

Drivers in Washington can subscribe for free to a new service that sends traffic information via e-mail, text messages or Twitter.

Twitter is one of the social networking sites the government is attempting to reach tech savvy drivers.

Online:

Idaho mobile pass reports and cameras

Washington pass reports via e-mail -- click on the “e-mail updates” link

Oregon travel information