Canadians will soon be able to dial 511 to receive weather and travel information from across the country over the phone.

Environment Canada, along with the provinces and the Intelligent Transportation Systems Society, recently received approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to use that number.
 
Environment Canada spokesman Tony Chir said the agency's current system already receives millions of calls every year.

"[In] our current system, when we have significant weather, for example, in the province of Alberta, the phone lines get overloaded and we can only answer a certain number of calls per hour. With the new system, we hope to increase that capacity," Chir said.

The new system will offer more information, he said, including current weather conditions, five-day forecasts, watches, warnings and advisories, Chir said.

Each province could also contribute travel information, such as advisories about traffic, construction, closures and road conditions.

"One of the big things that we're looking at also is that you're not only confined to getting the information locally. You can ask us for weather information for pretty much any forecast area that we do do forecasts for in Canada," Chir said.

"If you are in Edmonton but you're travelling to Vancouver and you want to know the weather conditions, or weather warnings or weather advisories in Vancouver, you'd be able to get it from the system."

Similar systems already exist in several states in the U.S.

Environment Canada expects to roll out the 511 system in 2007.