ALBANY - State government will step up its efforts to track down missing persons by posting special alerts on its transportation-related Internet sites, officials announced Monday.

Alerts featuring the names, faces and descriptions of missing persons will be featured on the home pages for the Thruway Authority, the Transportation Department and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which are visited by an estimated 43,000 people per day, officials said.

The initiative was inspired by the case of Suzanne Lyall of Ballston Spa, who disappeared from the University at Albany campus on March 2, 1998.

"We're confident this will assist in locating missing people, and that it will save lives," Suzanne's father, Douglas Lyall, said at a news conference with Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue, Assemblyman James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, and other state officials. "We're thankful for that."

Officials said the alerts will be seen by travelers who regularly visit the Internet to check on traffic conditions before a daily commute or a vacation trip. The Internet system will also speed up the process of delivering information to Thruway toll takers, who might spot the missing person in a passing vehicle, and distributing posters to the 27 Thruway travel plazas, officials said.

"It's using modern technology to help us quickly get information out," said state police Superintendent James McMahon.