glossary
511
Before you drive out of the metro in winter, this is the number that decides whether you should.
Short answer
511 is the official traveler information service for road conditions, closures, and travel advisories, operated separately by each state. North Dakota and Minnesota each run their own 511, and drivers around Fargo–Moorhead often need both. In winter it is the authority on whether a highway is open, not a rumor or a weather app.
What it tells you
Whether roads are covered, icy, or closed; where travel is not advised; and where crews and crashes are. In a winter storm here, no-travel advisories and interstate closures are real, official, and enforced.
How to use it
Check before you leave, not while driving. If it says travel is not advised, that is the answer — the correct move is to stay where you are, and no help request substitutes for a plowed road.
Questions people actually ask
Is 511 the same in both states?
The number concept is shared; the systems and coverage are separate. Use the one for the state whose roads you are driving.
Is it an emergency line?
No. It is travel information. Emergencies are 911.
Keep going
season
A blizzard is the one day to close the app
When travel is not advised, the right answer is not an app. What a blizzard closes, who to call, and the small help that still makes sense at home.
season
Winter here is a logistics problem
Dead batteries, frozen locks, cars stuck in unplowed lots, and dark at five. What neighbors can help with in a Fargo–Moorhead winter and what needs a tow truck.
who it’s for
For people who drive in every day
Driving in from Horace, Casselton, Dilworth, Hawley, or Barnesville? What breaks on a metro commute and what a neighbor can help with.
emergency
Emergencies: 911, then the right local desk
Call 911 in Fargo, West Fargo, Moorhead, and Dilworth. Campus police and 211 are next. Help Me is not emergency response.
winter
Winter car help, which is just Fargo from November on
Frozen doors, packed-in stalls, dead batteries, a shove out of snow. Fargo winter car help from neighbors — not a plow, not a tow.
safety
Help Me is not 911
Help Me is for everyday, non-emergency help in Fargo–Moorhead. If you are in danger, call 911. Here is how to tell the difference.
Help Me is a community app for adults in Fargo–Moorhead. It is not a K–12 student program, not a youth chat, and not campus police.