1024px-arizona_department_of_transportation_logo-svgI’m no poet, so my ode will be done in long form.

Yesterday, there was a horrible 24-car accident on Interstate 17 Southbound here in Arizona that closed the road. There were cows involved (they’re all fine). If you know anything about the topography of northern Arizona or how our streets are set up, you’ll know that if that portion of I-17 is closed, there are no good alternatives. “Going around the long way” almost doubles the time of your trip. It more than doubles it if everyone else is rerouted that way as well. Switchbacks down the mountain, weird interchanges that have stop signs instead of overpasses, and cell phone dead zones. So our afternoon/evening yesterday sucked pretty badly.

But through it all, there was the shining light of the Arizona DOT Twitter account. They kept us informed with truth and levity. The people they have working on that account are friendly, helpful, current, and extremely responsive. They give frequent updates about what’s going on, often with photos or video. They answer every question or statement, even when people are nasty to them, in which case they manage to keep their cool. Their Twitter account is a fantastic example of how government should be done, along with a demonstration of the extreme usefulness of the internet and immediacy of Twitter.

So, thank you, Arizona DOT, for your magnificent Twitter account. You helped out a lot of people yesterday.