North Dakota Snow Plow Tracker and Road Conditions

Q: Where can I see where the plows are in North Dakota?

NDDOT calls it snowplow tracking, and it runs at https://travel.dot.nd.gov/. NDDOT describes it this way: "A recent system upgrade inside the truck is adding photo and location data to more plows on the travel map at https://travel.dot.nd.gov."

Q: What is ND Roads?

ND Roads is North Dakota Department of Transportation's own travel information service. ND Roads carries traffic cameras, a phone app called ND Roads app and a phone line at 511. NDDOT describes it this way: "Check out the ND Roads map, which provides information about road conditions, load restrictions, work zones, road & weather cameras, width/height restrictions and weather radar."

Q: Does North Dakota let the public name its snowplows?

Yes. NDDOT runs Name-A-Plow Contest at https://www.dot.nd.gov/name-a-plow. NDDOT has run the contest five years running and keeps every winning name on the page by year, eight a year, one for each district, among them Beet-L-Juice in Bismarck and Snowbgone Kenobi in Fargo. The person who names a plow gets to meet its operator, and the name is displayed on the truck.

Trucks and plow cameras

What the state publishes

Live truck positions and plow cameras

ND Roads

The map

NDDOT, North Dakota Department of Transportation

3

Words on the map

each one defined by the state

Yes

Roadside cameras

on the same map, pointed at the road itself

The answer

Where the plows are in North Dakota

Trucks and plow cameras

NDDOT publishes plow positions on ND Roads together with photographs taken from cameras mounted on the trucks.

A reader can see a truck move and then look at what its driver is looking at, which is the closest thing any state publishes to standing at the roadside.

What the state calls it: snowplow tracking
Where it lives: ND Roads
Trucks in the fleet: 352
By phone: 511

Open snowplow tracking

NDDOT describes it in its own words, from NDDOT upgrades ND Roads travel map, North Dakota Department of Transportation, read September 23, 2026.

A recent system upgrade inside the truck is adding photo and location data to more plows on the travel map at https://travel.dot.nd.gov.

NDDOT upgrades ND Roads travel map, North Dakota Department of Transportation, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The map

What ND Roads shows

ND Roads carries traffic cameras, a phone app called ND Roads app and a phone line at 511. NDDOT describes it this way: "Check out the ND Roads map, which provides information about road conditions, load restrictions, work zones, road & weather cameras, width/height restrictions and weather radar."

Conditions on any state map are reported rather than measured. A plow operator or a trooper enters what they saw, and the map carries it until somebody enters something else, so a colour is a description of the road a while ago on the stretch the person was looking at.

A driver in North Dakota can watch most of the state's 352 plows move across the ND Roads map, with pictures from inside the trucks, and read three plain terms for how bad the roads are, from travel alert up to closed.

The map: ND Roads
Cameras: Roadside cameras
Phone app: ND Roads app
Phone line: 511

ND Roads, North Dakota Department of Transportation

Check out the ND Roads map, which provides information about road conditions, load restrictions, work zones, road & weather cameras, width/height restrictions and weather radar.

North Dakota 511, North Dakota Department of Transportation, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The words

What North Dakota calls each state of a road

NDDOT runs 3 steps on ND Roads, from Travel Alert to Roads Closed or Blocked. NDDOT publishes a definition beside them.

These are North Dakota’s words and they stop at the state line. There is no national scale: the 33 states that publish a legend use 166 different labels between them, and only 17 publish what their own labels mean. A phrase that means one thing here means something else, or nothing, one state over.

NDDOT’s own labels, in the order NDDOT lists them. The second column is the state’s own definition.
What the map says	What NDDOT says it means
Travel Alert	Motorists can still travel but may encounter areas of challenging winter weather driving conditions on roadways. Motorists should allow extra time to reach their destination and be alert to conditions that may make travel difficult, change rapidly, or cause travel delays. A travel alert has the potential to change to a no travel advised if conditions deteriorate.
No Travel Advised	Motorists should not travel due to hazardous conditions which may make it unsafe to travel. Snow plows may be pulled from the roads during severe conditions. Motorists should take no travel advised seriously as those motorists who choose to travel at their own risk may become stranded and emergency responders may not be able to reach them safely. A no travel advised has the potential to change to a road closed or blocked if conditions deteriorate.
Roads Closed or Blocked	The roadway is not open to traffic to protect public safety. Conditions may be hazardous or the road may be blocked. Motorists are not allowed to travel on a closed road and may be subject to a fine.

Read from NDDOT’s own legend on September 23, 2026.

When a road shuts

Who closes a road in North Dakota

The North Dakota Highway Patrol, not the DOT, closes a state, U.S. or interstate highway, in coordination with NDDOT, and a no travel advised issued by NDDOT covers only those same highways while county officials issue their own for county roads.

When a state, U.S., or interstate highway is blocked or is no longer considered safe for public travel, the North Dakota Highway Patrol may temporarily close the highway for the protection and safety of the public.

North Dakota 511, North Dakota Department of Transportation, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

A closure is a different thing from a bad condition, and it is the one entry on the map that carries the force of law behind it. Driving past a closure device is an offence in most states and a rescue bill in several. The map is where the closure is published.

A red and white striped gate padlocked shut across a two lane forest highway with a ROAD CLOSED sign at its centre, photographed at road level along the wet double yellow line — A seasonal gate shut across a state highway, with no snow on the ground yet. Closures like this one go on by the calendar rather than by the storm, and a driver who checks the map in November finds the road already gone. That is the quietest and most useful thing these maps do, and it happens weeks before anybody looks for a plow. “The gates are closed (49097728041)”, Oregon Department of Transportation, CC BY 2.0

The good part

North Dakota lets the public name its snowplows

6 states run a naming contest, the winning names go on the trucks, and in a state that publishes positions the named trucks then turn up on the map under those names. It is the most reliably delightful thing any transport department does.

Name-A-Plow Contest

NDDOT has run the contest five years running and keeps every winning name on the page by year, eight a year, one for each district, among them Beet-L-Juice in Bismarck and Snowbgone Kenobi in Fargo. The person who names a plow gets to meet its operator, and the name is displayed on the truck.

The North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) has selected the winners of the 2025 Name-A-Plow Contest.

North Dakota 511, North Dakota Department of Transportation, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Name-A-Plow Contest, NDDOT

North Dakota snow plow tracker questions

Does North Dakota have a snow plow tracker?

Where can I see where the plows are in North Dakota?

What is ND Roads?

What do the road condition colours mean in North Dakota?

Who closes a road in North Dakota?

The North Dakota Highway Patrol, not the DOT, closes a state, U.S. or interstate highway, in coordination with NDDOT, and a no travel advised issued by NDDOT covers only those same highways while county officials issue their own for county roads. NDDOT puts it this way: "When a state, U.S., or interstate highway is blocked or is no longer considered safe for public travel, the North Dakota Highway Patrol may temporarily close the highway for the protection and safety of the public."

Does North Dakota let the public name its snowplows?

A plow truck seen from behind in heavy snowfall casting a wide plume of snow off the left shoulder of an interstate, with one dark treated lane running away to the right — The same event from behind: the truck throwing its wing load onto the shoulder, and beside it the dark strip of lane it has already been down. That contrast between the wet black lane and the white one is the physical thing a road map is reporting when it changes a segment from snow covered to wet, and it is why the colour on the map can be right and the road can still be slick. “Snowplow on Interstate 5 in Everett, Washington”, SounderBruce, CC BY-SA 4.0

Plow trackers in other states

North Dakota studded tire datesWhen studs are legal on North Dakota roads, and the penalty when they are not.Mountain pass conditionsThe passes that close, and what each state posts when they do.Studded tire laws by stateThe dates studs are legal, state by state.Lake effect snowWhere the bands set up and what they do to a commute.Plow trackers in every stateWhich states show the trucks, which show only the roads, and what their legends say.

North Dakota read September 23, 2026 from North Dakota 511, North Dakota Department of Transportation, linked above. Departments replace these services between seasons and a layer that ran last winter may not run this one, so NDDOT’s own page is the one that governs. Conditions shown on it are reported by people and lag the road. Every state is on the snow plow tracker hub.