America's BywaysThere's a brand new look at www.bywaysonline.org! Last October we released the redesigned traveler Web site; now come see its partner - the redesigned community Web site. Its look and feel is similar to the traveler Web site (www.byways.org), with new sections added to meet your needs. New features include forums (discussion threads) where you can join your peers and participate in discussions about byway topics. Previous features such as the general Web site search have been improved. You can do a quick search by keyword, or try out a variety of specialized searches for photos, people, organizations, documents and funded projects.
We hope you will find the new Web site a valuable resource in your work with our nation's byways. Stop by and have a look. Stay awhile. And let us know what you think!
Participate in an Online Discussion: Need to ask other byway leaders a question? Want
feedback from peers on an idea? The new Discussion
Forum feature on www.bywaysonline.org is an excellent
way to initiate and participate in such exchanges. Simply go to the "Sharing
Ideas" section of the Web site and click on a forum of your choice. To start a
new discussion, click on "New Topic", then enter a title and a message. You
can also attach a file to your message. Click on the submit button when
you're finished. Participating in an existing discussion is just as easy. Just click
on the topic to read others' messages and then click on "Add Comment" to
enter your own. Alternatively, you can click on "Reply" to comment on a
single message in that discussion.
Give discussion forums a try! They are a convenient and safe way to exchange ideas with your peers.
On Sunday, May 16, 1,744 readers across the country requested the America's Byways maps because of a sidebar in the Parade Magazine insert. Some of the Parade inserts had the byways #800 in a "where to go" sidebar and specifically mentioned the Billy the Kid Trail, the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway, and the Country Music Highway. Other newspaper inserts directed readers through the "travel tips" sidebar to the www.parade.com site that linked readers to our www.byways.org site. From Sunday, May 16, until Saturday, May 22, 4,698 maps were requested. This is an increase of more than 1,600 maps over the same time period last year!
Laurie Evans, New Mexico State Scenic Byways Coordinator, has an agreement
with the monthly New Mexico Magazine to contribute articles for approximately two years
covering one of the 26 scenic routes in the state in each issue. Laurie writes the
article, the magazine produces a color map of the byway, and New Mexico photographer Martin Perea
illustrates each article with at least one image. At the end of the 26 months, New Mexico Magazine will
assemble all of the articles into a book, free of charge. The final result will be a glossy book that promotes
New Mexico's entire byway collection. What a great partnership!
The Department of Commerce Office of Travel & Tourism Industries (OTTI) Advertising/PR team presented the proposed UK campaign to attract travelers to the U.S. It will be primarily a TV advertising campaign, and the tagline is "You've seen the movie. Now visit the set." The campaign will use images from famous American movies and TV shows. If any movies or TV shows were filmed on or about your byway, please e-mail the information ASAP to pmcnally@byways.org. OTTI believes in America's Byways™, and we'd like to play a part in this fun campaign!
Do you have news or ideas to share with the Byway community? Contact us!
