In March 2001, there were more than three hundred phone numbers about traffic and travel. This was confusing to many people, because so many numbers existed, or were there, for the same thing. To fix this, the United States Department of Transportation (called the USDOT) asked the Federal Communications Commission (called the FCC) for a special N11 code. On July 21, 2000, the FCC made 5-1-1 the national telephone number for travel information.