Traffic on I-95 in Delaware has always been surprisingly terrible, made worse by the fact that you have to pay a two dollar toll for the privilege. So, when driving home from Delaware yesterday, I was excited to see this billboard:

DelDot is stepping up to improve the experience, dial down the congestion. I am on board. What’s the new plan? What’s the 5th lane? Upon arriving home, I quickly went to my computer to see, and disappointed and embarrassed found this:

Let’s go through what’s wrong here…

THE HOME PAGE
What it should be: A synopsis of what the project is, a map of the area it will impact and a timetable of when work will be ongoing, as well as an area for breaking or current news, such as where and when to expect construction delays.

What it is: An oversize version of the same horrid logo used on the billboard (it takes a rare stroke to make a logo that works equally poorly on both a black and white background).

THE INTERIOR PAGES:
What they should be: Presuming we want to keep the six links to different areas of known congestion in Delaware (which isn’t the best navigation, but works effectively), the subsequent pages could be a more focused look on how and why each of these areas will be impacted by the project, an explanation of where they fall in the overall timeline, and a map or diagram of what the results should look like.

What they are: Photo galleries. Each page has a series of photos of the current state of that area. No context (as in “Before” with “Projected After (coming soon)”), no explination and of no value to anyone.

I take that back, the photos and the information buried somewhere on the site about the winning bidder on the project are likely relevant information for contractors who want to ascertain as much as they can before they put in their bid. But, if the site is for contractors, then WHY BUY OUT A BILLBOARD ON 95 TO PROMOTE IT?

The costs of even one of those billboards (and there are more than one) for just one month will cost well beyond the cost of hiring a freelance web designer to properly architect, redesign and add real value to this site. And if you were thinking that perhaps DelDot will add that information once it has it defined, I will link you to this 43 page Powerpoint proposal in PDF format, buried on the site that includes relevant information, diagrams, maps, timetables and details that people will actually want to know about The 5th Lane Project.

On page 11 of the PDF it is mentions that this current state of I-95 is Level of Service F (for failing). I have to submit the same grade for current state of the I-95 DelDot website. I hope that as they put millions of dollars into fixing the former, they think to put a few hundred dollars into overhauling the latter.