RALEIGH – With another treat of winter weather early this week, North Carolina motorists need to know before they go what kind of conditions they will face on the roads.

To gain that valuable, sometimes life-saving information, the N.C. Department of Transportation has launched a new tool called NCDOT Mobile that provides current conditions in real time straight from the cell phone.

“People expect instant information, and NCDOT Mobile gives it to them,” NCDOT Communications Director Greer Beaty said. “Now you don’t need a computer to get road closure or traffic updates before you get behind the wheel.”

NCDOT Mobile is a phone-friendly version of the NCDOT website. To access it, type m.ncdot.gov into the browser on your smartphone. Then, bookmark it and save it to your phone’s home screen for future reference.

Since it is web-based, NCDOT Mobile is designed to be compatible on a variety of smartphones, including the iPhone, Android and some newer Blackberry phones.

Key features include:

Real-time traffic information that works with Google Maps and the phone’s built-in GPS and wireless location services;

Searchable DMV office locations that also work with your phone’s mapping capabilities;

Searchable Rest Area locations;

Ferry and Amtrak schedule information;

NCDOT Twitter messages; and

NCDOT News.