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Transporter transformed

The Transporter, which has provided news about the achievements of ITD employees for nearly a half-century continues to evolve as technology opens new communications options. This week, the Transporter takes another step forward by consolidating many of the internal and external news items in one convenient, easily accessible place – ITD’s Intranet Portal.

Viewers who access the Transporter from the Internet will notice a new, simpler format. Although the Transporter stories will be identical, the Internet version will not have all of the functionality, links and other benefits of the Intranet version.

Accessing the Transporter through the department's Intranet portal eliminates the need to move among several sites to obtain information. News about ITD employees and projects, department news releases or media coverage of transportation topics in Idaho, the Northwest and the nation are readily accessible. Here’s what you will find every time you open your Internet browser:

Transporter stories about employees, department projects (from highway construction to safety campaigns), budget and legislative issues, internal policies and external priorities will be displayed in the center of the portal. Their appearance will be very similar to that used the past two years.
News releases – Captured along with media coverage, all releases generated by the Public Affairs Office or departments and districts will appear on the right hand side of the Intranet portal. News releases will be posted daily and can be easily retrieved from the archives. The Internet site for news releases will be maintained for viewing by the public.
Media coverage – Similar to news clippings that ITD has gleaned from the state’s news media for many years. Public Affairs recently introduced a new electronic version, capturing stories from more than 60 online media sources. Gone are the days of receiving newspaper clippings, pasting them to legal pages, photocopying and collating the pages and distributing packages weekly throughout the department. The online version makes those stories immediately available, retrievable and searchable. Beginning this week, those stories appear on the Intranet Portal. They are updated daily.
Access to the road report/highway construction report (updated weekly during construction and daily through the winter).
An interactive calendar of events that enables you to review the day’s activities and to input information for viewing by others. This information source will continue to grow as more people experience the benefits of posting and reading events on a daily basis.
The familiar links to valuable ITD Intranet web sites and resources. Other special features can be incorporated into the Intranet Portal as needs are identified.

Web designers and programmers from Information Technology played a major role in implementing the Intranet Portal improvements. Technical touches were added by Steve Jackson, Peter Davidson and Joey Mazzarelli. The Public Affairs team of Jeff Stratten, Darla Christiansen and Mel Coulter helped shape the transition.

The goal is to provide information in formats that are useful and relevant for ITD employees. Toward that end, we welcome your input about the recent changes and your suggestions for future improvements. We also encourage employees to contact the Public Affairs Office with ideas for Transporter stories.

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