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CONNECTIONS: The VDOT Library E-Newsletter

VDOT's Statewide News Releases Sent Directly To Your E-mail In Box

by Ken Winter on 2023-01-03T14:51:05-05:00 in Business, Construction, Economics, Engineering, Environmental, Intelligent Transportation Systems, Materials, Multimodal, Pavements, Planning, Safety & Security, Structures | 0 Comments

 

Screen capture showing the subscribe button for Statewide News Releases

To receive e-mail alerts for VDOT's Statewide VDOT News Releases click "Subscribe Now" (shown above) and follow the steps to register.

 

Want to keep up with VDOT News Releases but keep forgetting to visit VDOT's Statewide Press Release site?  Or maybe the super helpful (and focused) RSS feeds made available by VDOT many moons ago are simply not your style? 

 

RSS is a solid technology, but not as popular as it was back in the day, and while those feeds are still an awesome way to read, manage, and navigate online information (and far more "granular" than what's shown here) the almighty e-mail still reigns supreme for many of us! 

 

So when I discovered this simple hack to route VDOT Statewide News Releases directly to e-mail (anyone, not just VDOT employees) I thought I'd test it and share the results. Since it works so well, I'll lay out the steps here for you to test, if you want:  


Step 1: Got to the Statewide News Releases page: https://www.vdot.virginia.gov/newsroom/statewide and click on the button that says "Subscribe Now


Step 2: You should see an online form that looks like this. Fill it out with your contact information and preferred e-mail address, and click the "Sign Up" button: 

Screen capture showing the online fields that need to be filled out to receive news releases.

The fine print on this screen is standard opt-in/opt-out verbiage, reading: "By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Virginia Department of Transportation, 1401 E. Broad Street, Richmond, VA, 23219 United States. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact.


Step 3: If you filled out all the required fields and clicked "Sign Up" this message should appear on the screen:

Screen capture showing the confirmation of successful signup screen.


Step 4: Next, go to your e-mail in box and you'll see an automated message that looks like this: 

Screen capture showing the automated "welcome" email message sent by Constant Contact.

That's all there is to it!

Step 5: The next time a new Statewide News Release is produced by VDOT Communications it should appear directly in your e-mail inbox! Here's an example of a release sent that way to a VDOT Gmail account. Note that all such messages (about 30-40 a year) currently appear under the "Updates" tab in Gmail: 

Screen capture showing what a new email sent from this system looks like in a VDOT gmail in box.

Lastly, click on the message and read away!

Screen capture showing what a news release will look like in e-mail format.

 

What's the Catch You Ask? Not so much a catch, but a limitation perhaps...

 

At this time the e-mail subscription option is only available for "statewide" news releases, not releases focused on a specific VDOT district.

 

However, if you are comfortable with RSS Feeds, the fine folks in VDOT Communications have given you lots of RSS feed options for news releases and travel alerts by district, not to mention Real time traffic alerts by Region and Statewide Public Involvement Notices

Need a hand? Feel free to contact the library. 

 

Ken Winter
(434) 962-8979
VDOT Research Library


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