INFORMATION RELEASE

Office of the Director

ARKANSAS STATE HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT

P. O. Box 2261 – Little Rock, Arkansas                     Telephone (501) 569-2227

Contact:                                                                                                                         NR09-117

Randy Ort/David Nilles                                                                             September 15, 2009

AHTD USING TWITTER TO

ANNOUNCE HIGHWAY CONDITIONS

     LITTLE ROCK (9-15) –  The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department has begun using the Internet service Twitter to relay road conditions to motorists, according to AHTD Director Dan Flowers.

Using Twitter, in addition to traditional news media, will help the Department keep motorists informed of up-to-the-minute road conditions such as lane closures, traffic accidents and weather delays.

 “Using Twitter will allow the Department another way to deliver information quickly and efficiently,” stated AHTD Director Dan Flowers. 

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages. Messages are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page.  To follow Department postings, the account is under @AHTD at Twitter.com.