For motorists who want to see what traffic looks like before getting on the highway, the 511 system available from your state's Department of Transportation may soon have an app for that.

It's already available and operating on the Florida 511 system. Their app now features traffic camera views associated with crashes, congestion and other incidents on all of Florida’s interstates and toll roads. The app is for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch and is available for free download.

In addition to Florida, other 511 systems with apps are Georgia, Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey (the app is called “Trumpit” there) and the Bay Area of San Francisco. Quebec 511 also has an app. Expect many other 511 providers to add mobile apps in 2012.

The 511 app uses the iPhone’s GPS tracking to provide users with traffic information within miles of their location. Users can set the app to provide information for a range of up to 200 miles from their location or receive traffic information based on their registered "My Florida 511" custom routes. Travel time information is also available based on location and direction of travel.

The Florida 511 app offers traffic information in four different ways: An audible recording of incidents; on-screen list of incidents; map view displaying incidents; and, traffic camera views associated with incidents.

To view traffic camera views, users can tap the traffic camera image on an incident to view traffic near that location. To ensure accurate traffic information based on GPS location, users should elect to provide the iPhone access to the user’s location. An app for the Android is in development.