KDOT launches networking Web site

Friday, January 30, 2009

The Fort Scott Tribune

Kansas Department of Transportation leaders want Kansas residents to talk to each other about transportation issues.

To facilitate that conversation, KDOT has launched one of the nation's first government-sponsored online communities.

The Kansas Transportation Online Community, K-TOC, is a professional networking site, a virtual meeting place and conversation center for everyone in the Kansas transportation community. The community, www.ktoc.net, is for public works directors, airport managers, transit operators, city and county engineers, commercial freight operators, road supervisors, short-line rail operators and all transportation-minded citizens, a KDOT statement said.

"Online communities are well-established in the business world and among non-profit associations, but they are a new communication tool in government," KDOT Secretary Deb Miller said. "KDOT is proud to sponsor one of the first."

K-TOC is home to daily news stories, regular updates on KDOT projects, informative blogs written by Kansas transportation experts, a calendar of notable upcoming industry events, and photos and videos documenting the people and projects that keep Kansas moving. K-TOC is also home to an ongoing conversation about T-LINK, the governor's task force charged with developing new approaches to transportation, the KDOT statement said.

K-TOC's forums host direct information exchanges between all levels of the transportation industry. It allows users to talk with the professionals who staff KDOT, the engineers who design and build the state's transportation infrastructure, the transportation managers who serve cities, towns and counties, and knowledgeable community leaders and private citizens who possess a wealth of information about the problems and opportunities in their hometowns. K-TOC enables thousands of key transportation stakeholders in hundreds of locations across the state to interact in real-time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.