The WSDOT Blog

Know before you go to avoid "Are we there yet?"

2009-07-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

I have to give some "props" to a reporter at The Seattle Times. He’s working on a story about our Fourth of July travel information and wanted to give the story a bit more depth. So he asked me what I would do if I had a child and we were going to be stuck in traffic.

Well, yes, I do have a little one to entertain. We have our hand-held video games and portable DVD player. Technology today – spoiled kids! Okay, so Transformers was good the first three times, but I really really don’t want to watch it again.

I think back to my own childhood and car trip games like I Spy, the license plate game (oh! oh! I see Hawaii) and find letters on the highway signs (yeah – Z is tough). No video games but we had fun. Don’t forget those “old school” games are still great ways to teach the kids.

Today, with that Internet thingy, we can even get some great information that’s fun and educational about what they will be seeing outside the car window.

Going over Snoqualmie Pass? On our I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Web page, you can find an award-winning activity book about the wildlife that call Central Washington home.

And you can visit Washington’s tourism site Experience Washington to get information on lots of spots your may be just driving through.

Any other ideas for your fellow travelers? Come on teachers…this is your chance to help us clueless parents and make those “what I did on my summer vacation” reports more interesting.

Hey, great idea Armando…hope your story helps keep those kids busy.

Plowing snow in July to open the road to Artist Point

2009-06-30T09:25:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again: Time to start clearing the mile-high path to scenic Artist Point.

(Crews clearing snow in 2008.)

July is usually one of our nicest months of the year in Washington. So it's always weird to me when we're clearing snow from the highway this late in the year.

The short 2.7-mile-long stretch of road to Artist Point at the end of SR 542, Mount Baker Highway, sits above the Mount Baker ski area. It spends most of the year buried in snow and is only open two to three months of the year. Artist Point draws a great multitude of visitors every year because of its iconic views of Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan and surrounding peaks and wilderness.

Crews will start plowing through the snow on Monday, July 6. The work will take up to three weeks to complete. We will hopefully have the road open by late-July.

The June heat-wave helped melt a significant amount of snow for us. As a result, there’s very little snow at the lower gate, near the upper ski lodge. There’s approximately 4 feet of snow at Terminal Lake parking lot. We should have the lower gate moved and the road open to Terminal Lake within the first day or two of work. After that, the snow gets deeper and the work gets harder. We don’t know yet how much snow is at the top. We haven’t been up there to see it.

Artist Point enthusiasts can follow our progress with pictures, videos and a GPS tracking device from the Artist Point Web site - www.wsdot.wa.gov/Northwest/Baker/ArtistPoint/.

Every year we field questions and comments from business owners, locals and tourists wanting to know when the road will open and why it hasn't opened already. Here is a bulleted list of what we usually respond with:

We have to coordinate our work with the US Forest Service because they own and operate the lands and trails surrounding the highway. We coordinate our efforts with them, making sure they're ready to open as well.
We either borrow equipment from other areas of the state or rent equipment to help with the snow removal. If we're borrowing, then we have to wait for the equipment to get freed up for our use. If we're renting, then we want to rent it at the optimal time so that we don't have to pay when we're not using it (e.g., over a holiday weekend).
The road to Artist Point is nearly a mile above sea level. Since it's so high, it's subject to inclement weather (and snow) far later into the season than lower elevation areas. And, since the road is bombarded with nasty weather, it's void of many of your typical safety features, like guardrail, to protect drivers. They just wouldn't last long enough to make it worth it. We have to make sure the road is safe to open to drivers and that weather/snow threats have subsided before opening.
We have to schedule around other projects crews are doing.
Then there's a little thing called the budget that we have to stick to as well.

For the last six years the road has opened in late June or some time in July. We opened the road to Artist Point last year on July 18, 10 days earlier than we did in 2007, and 9 days earlier than we did in 2006. The road opened on June 29 in 2005 and June 30 in 2004. And the road opened on July 15 in 2003. Here's the history, if you'd like to see for yourself - www.wsdot.wa.gov/Northwest/Baker/ArtistPoint/history.htm.

Last year's pictures and videos of the opening can be found on our Flickr account - www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157605703374272/. They’re pretty spectacular.

For those of you who can't wait to get up to Artist Point before the road is open, we ask that you please be mindful of our crews and the equipment. It's a difficult enough task to clear the snow from the highway without having to worry about visitors getting too close to the work. For your safety and our peace of mind, please stay out of the way. Thank you for your help.

But I don't have a boat...

2009-06-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

Getting across Lake Washington is hard enough when all the lanes on the highway are open. It sometimes makes you wish you had a boat. And in July we’re completely shutting down the westbound mainline lanes for a while.

“What?! You guys are shutting down the westbound I-90 lanes on the floating bridge for two weeks in July?!?”

Yup. Starting July 6, work starts on the westbound I-90 floating bridge. By July 6, all westbound traffic will be funneled into the two express lanes for two weeks while crews replace cracked expansion joints.

This work improves safety on I-90 it will temporarily snarl traffic from Issaquah to Seattle all day long unless drivers change their habits.

We don’t want you to sit in traffic any longer than is necessary.

Our traffic-fighting experts have been working day and night creating new tools to help you avoid congestion and stay moving:

Kee p an eye on I-90 traffic with new traffic cameras
WSDOT traffic engineers welcomed five more cameras to the traffic flow map family. Now Eastside drivers can check the backups before they leave home. The cameras are located at Front Street, 161st Avenue SE, East Mercer Way, Shorewood Drive and Island Crest Way.

See into the future with travel time graphs
We’ve pushed pencils, studied trends and travel time data for months so you won’t have to. Go here to see the best and worst times to travel I-90 during this construction work. (Hint: leave early, before 6 a.m.)

Read a book, drink coffee, share the ride
Sharing the ride has never been easier. Visit WSDOT’s commute options Web site for a (van)pool full of time-saving commute option ideas. Who knows? After trying out transit and a few new ways to get there, you may never return to driving alone. You might even score a gift card for carpooling.

Sometimes two wheels are faster then four – give the bike a try
I know some of you already are thinking about reasons why biking to work is not for you. Well, what if biking to work meant you could skip gridlock, and try out two cool new temporary bike and pedestrian bridges on the I-90 floating bridge? If that doesn’t sway you, maybe WSDOT’s Web site with resources for bicycle commuters will.

If the island life is for you, get the skinny on Mercer Island detour routes
These detour routes will help Mercer Islanders fight gridlock and safely navigate their way to I-90. Note: Only two westbound I-90 on-ramps will be available for Mercer Island drivers in July – 77th Avenue SE and Island Crest Way.

Did someone say Twitter?
During construction WSDOT will send real-time traffic conditions via Twitter. Passengers in carpools or vanpools can then help the driver choose the best route. Solo drivers also can receive the information, just not when they're driving. Remember, it is illegal in Washington state to use a handheld cell phone while driving.

If tweets make you twinge - no problem. We’re going to send real-time traffic conditions to your favorite news radio station around-the-clock. Feel free to tune in during your commute.

The work on westbound I-90 begins July 6 for two weeks. For more information, please visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I90/HomerHadleyBridgeRepair/.

Rethinking the Seattle traffic site...

2009-06-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days where you look at something and say, "why did I do it that way?" I had one of those moments the other day and it made me take a closer look at the Seattle traffic Web site.

Here is what we know about the Seattle Traffic homepage:

It averages 20 percent of site usage every day. We guess a lot of that is due to those of you who open it up and maybe forget about it and leave it open to constantly refresh in the background all day. (For comparison, the WSDOT homepage http://wsdot.wa.gov, is less than 5 percent of daily site usage.)
We have up-to-the-minute information about incidents, which usually affect traffic the most, but you have to go to a separate page to find it.
Most of you aren't interested in the Yesler Way camera. (That’s the default camera you see when you click on the homepage.) Since it refreshes every time the page does, it takes up bandwidth that it doesn't need to
We have some great information in the blue box at the bottom of the page, but very few of you click on those links, and you didn't click on the fancy rounded button we had at the top of the page either.
We have Spokane and Wenatchee links on this page. None of you click on them.
Many of you didn't know there was a mobile version of this site.

Based on these factoids, (and knowing that we have to design the page around the existing traffic map) we decided to take another look at how we present the information that’s most important to you. This is what we came up with:

http://wsdot.wa.gov/beta/seattle.htm, here is a page with a camera and here is the current page for comparison. You will notice that none of the camera icon links work on the beta page, we are looking for feedback on design right now and will patch that up later.

Here are the changes we made:

Simplified the left navigation to make it easy for you to find what you need
Added incident information to the Seattle homepage
Removed the camera image from the homepage
Removed the cities that weren't relevant to you
Added a direct link to Snoqualmie and Stevens pass. These are our most used sites in the winter, but also great to check for traffic in the summer.

Let us know what you think!

What would you like to hear more about?

2009-05-28T10:52:00.001-07:00

We have covered a lot of topics during the past few the years on this blog, from snow storms to wildlife on bridges to the making of a Bailey bridge. We have even created other project-specific blogs for the Hood Canal Bridge project and the SR 539 Guide Meridian project. However, we have never taken the time to ask you what you want to hear about.

We would like to leave the next blog topics up to you. What would you like to hear more of or more about? What have you always wondered about but have been afraid to ask?

Let us know in the comments below!

I-5 Mailbag

2009-05-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

Every day I get a few e-mails and messages from drivers about the pavement repair work we’re doing on I-5 in Seattle. Tom from Greenlake writes, “My drive in downtown Seattle is finally smooth and quiet.”

Yay! We love hearing from happy drivers. The pavement on I-5 in King County is more than 40 years old. It’s lasted twice as long as engineers thought it would. Cracked and rutted concrete are telltale signs of it being 20 years overdue for a do-over.

Since February we’ve worked nights and weekends replacing hundreds of cracked concrete panels and ground out miles of rutted and bumpy pavement.

Drivers also are noticing that it is taking awhile for crews to finish the work.

Janet from West Seattle says, “Your crews have been out here
night after night. It looks like you started to grind the pavement, but why is it taking so long to finish the work?”

It’s true. If you’ve driven the six mile stretch of I-5 between the University District and Shoreline, you’ve probably noticed some sections of the highway have been ground down, and some sections haven’t. It does look as if we started to grind the pavement but haven’t gotten around to finishing the work.

Truth is we’re right on track to finish the project on time.

It’s like mowing a lawn row after row, only this lawn is 72 feet wide and six miles long – in both directions!

Each 12-foot lane requires crews to make several passes with the 4-foot grinder in order to grind the whole width of the lane.

Grinding the surface of I-5 not only makes for a smoother ride, it improves traction. Grinding also helps improve drainage on the highway so there is less standing water on the surface when it rains.

You can rest assured that we are still on schedule. We promise to finish all of the I-5 pavement repair work by the end of the summer. And trust me: it will be worth the wait.

Want to know more? Check out our common questions site and the I-5 Pavement Repair project page.

Temporary noise shields are like 7-layer bean dip

2009-05-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, we had to take home economics. The home ec teacher was fanatical about contrasting colors, textures, and flavors to maximize food exposure. I was thinking about that teacher (who marked me down for macaroni and cheese and carrots as an overuse of a single color) when we took a tour of the noise barriers on the I-90 express lanes where we are using jackhammer and generators to remove the 40-ton expansion joints from the bridge deck.

Our temporary noise shields are like seven-layer bean dip. Each layer serves a function. These shields are designed to eliminate some of the noise during the operation of a hand tool, jackhammers, generator, compressor or a a light machine. We use these shields on many of our projects, especially when we work at night, or when working close to homes during the day.

Here is a diagram:

You can see the different types and width of the materials, each piece blocking sound or performing some other essential function, working in its own way to reduce the noise. For example, the cedar lattice holds the sound absorbing materials in place and provides some protection from the elements while allowing the sound access to fiberglass insulation. The fine mesh aluminum screen helps to keep the sound absorbing thick fiberglass material from settling to the bottom of the wall.

Here is a picture of the shields on I-90. You can see how we shield the busy construction site noise from the surrounding neighbors. A secondary benefit is that drivers on both sides of the I-90 bridge do not slow down to "look" at what is going on by the construction site.

Do they work? I checked in with our noise office recently. They’ve been out on Mercer Island every third night with the noise meters to assure residents that we are in compliance with our noise permits. Larry tells me the only thing he’s picking up is the waves lapping on the shore and traffic on the highway and local streets.

Submitted by Jamie Holter.

Don’t be a congestion victim! Leave the planning to us.

2009-05-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

WSDOT’s 2009 construction season is in full swing. We began three-week expansion joint replacement work on I-90 on Monday. The I-5 panel replacement and grinding through Seattle continues for another three months. In fact, construction work will close both the I-90 and I-5 express lanes around the clock this weekend. The Hood Canal Bridge closure is in place for another five weeks.

2009 is our single biggest construction season ever. The 2003 and 2005 gas tax funding is reaching its peak and, yes, there is federal stimulus money too. It’s no illusion, you are seeing orange barrels everywhere and that’s a good thing because it means jobs, infrastructure repair and congestion relief.

A lot of folks are asking, what’s next?
If you are reading this, the answer is only a mouse click away.

We have some great Web pages. You can drill down to find information that matters to you. This is a great place to start www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction/2009. Here you can find out what’s happening now, what’s next and the big picture.

What’s happening right now clearly spells out the major closures in the Seattle-Bellevue area today. It’s updated numerous times each day especially when a major construction project is on the roads. No jargon, just the facts, what’s closed and when – thank you very much. Go here before you leave the house: www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction/2009/today.

What’s happening this week delivers a road-by-road list of every single lane closure planned for the next seven days. The list is long and meticulously organized. If you are detail oriented and like to plan ahead down to the lane, this is your site: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Northwest/construction

Month by month construction schedule is my favorite. It’s for the super uber-planners like me who like the big 30-day picture with colorful maps and information that can cause congestion, like a Sounders game or the Northwest Folklife festival. Oh and if you want to know more about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, there are links for that too: www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction/2009/calendar.

Twitter
Last weekend (May 2 and 3) more people came to our site via twitter than any other Web media. We think that’s cool. We’re trying hard to keep our twittering current and useful. Two accounts to watch: www.twitter.com/wsdot and www.twitter.com/wsdot_traffic.

If you are a City of Seattle driver, SDOT just launched a very cool construction site. Check it out: www.seattle.gov/transportation/constructionmap. This page will help you check traffic conditions on city streets if you’re looking to avoid a section of highway.

Take a tour and let me know what you think. We’re always open to suggestions.

Here is a video we did in April letting you know the details of what is happening on the I-90 bridge over Lake Washington:

Post written by Jamie Holter.

We like to provide information...

2009-05-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

Ever get one of those awards that makes you take a step back and go "whoa"? We received one of those recently and it caught us off guard (thus the mildly shocked picture of me and Lloyd to the right).

Did you know that as an agency, we have sent out 2.5 million e-mails in the last eight months? Keep in mind these e-mails weren't to just one person; there are over 36,000 of you that we are keeping up to date with information about road closures, construction updates, traffic alerts, mountain pass updates and more.

We were recently awarded an "Excellence in Communications Award" from GovDelivery, a company we use to send out our e-mail updates. We won this award for sending out more than 2.2 million e-mails during the first six months of service. This is even more impressive when you consider their list of clients.

These e-mails weren't subscribers to just one list. We have over 170 different lists that you can subscribe to. Many of those millions of e-mails we recently sent out were due to the crazy weather we had this winter that at one point effectively shut down all north-south, east-west routes in Washington. An e-mail was sent out every time a road was closed or opened during these storms, which was very appreciated by freight haulers and those just wanting to know if they could get home.

We also sent out an e-mail every time the pass report changed, and if you know mountain pass weather this can happen several times a day. Other e-mails were just letting you know what is happening with transportation in Washington and how you can get involved in the decision making process through open houses and environmental document review.

If you haven't already signed up for our e-mail service, you will be amazed at what you can learn and how your commute will improve because you will be one of the first to know what areas to avoid. Be sure to sign up for our weekly "Express Lane", it's a roundup of weekly activities for the agency and a couple of featured projects which can prove to be very enlightening.

If you don't like getting emails, we have all sorts of other ways to keep you informed of what's happening. Here are a few:

511 - just call 511 from any phone and get the latest ferry and traffic information
Our traffic site has almost 400 cameras across the site to let you know what is happening almost anywhere in Washington:
Small traffic site, did you know we had a small traffic site for mobile devices: http://wsdot.wa.gov/small/
Follow us on twitter: @wsdot
RSS feeds: http://wsdot.wa.gov/news/rss
Crossing the Canadian border? Find out the best times to cross.
Find out if construction will affect your commute in the Puget Sound area

pssst... and stay in touch with this service because we are also hoping to use it to send out text messages for traffic alerts in the Puget Sound area...stay tuned.

North Cascades Highway is open (one week early)

2009-04-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

I arrived to work on Wednesday (April 22) to learn that we were going to be ready to open the North Cascades Highway at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 24, one week earlier than predicted. This caught me (and many others) by surprise because up until then I had only heard that we were aiming for a May 1 opening. This was exciting news and was going to make a lot of highway users very happy.

Why were we able to open a week earlier than we thought? Because of the warm temperatures. Even though initially the warm temperatures were causing avalanches and making it very difficult and dangerous for our crews to clear the highway, it ended up helping us more than it hurt us. The warm weather moved (melted) far more snow in a very short amount time than we could have ever done with our snow blowers. Consequently, when the avalanche danger stabilized, we were able to blow through the remaining snow very quickly.

Opening the highway on Friday, April 24 will make many anglers very happy because it's just in time for the opening weeking of fishing season.

Plowing through the 37 miles of snow this year only took four weeks; two weeks less than last year.

When the gates swing open, drivers should find the road conditions bare and dry or bare and wet across the entire route. The weather forecast calls for temperatures in the mid 40s, clouds and a freezing level around 4,500 feet. There is a possibility of some rain forecast Saturday through Monday.

Over the last 10 years, the pass has reopened for traffic between March 10 and May 7. The latest opening was June 14, 1974. The reopening effort has taken from as little as two weeks to as many as eight weeks. The highway never closed during the drought winter of 1976-77. Updates and photos of the annual spring reopening are posted on the WSDOT SR 20 web page, www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades.

Helping to make a Seattle neighborhood a little quieter next to I-5

2009-04-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

It makes sense that most of the projects we take on are about improving traffic or driver safety. And if you follow our news, you may also notice that when you hear about us doing something off of our highways or freeways, it’s usually to improve fish and wildlife habitat. Well, this weekend we’re celebrating the end of a project that’s about improving the environment for many of our human neighbors in Seattle.

Residents living along I-5 in Seattle’s Green Lake and Licton Springs have experienced increasingly louder levels of noise coming from the freeway since it was built more than 40 years ago. Back then, standards for reducing noise in the neighborhoods were lower than they are today. And as the Seattle and the Puget Sound region have grown over the past decades, there are far more tires hitting the concrete than were ever expected.

To improve the noise environment for residents of these neighborhoods, we designed and constructed three noise walls on the west side of I-5 between Fifth Avenue N.E. and N.E. 92nd Street.

We developed a great working relationship with our neighbors throughout the planning, design and construction phases. After the Legislature funded the project, we first checked in with the neighbors by conducting a poll of property owners to make sure the noise walls were something the neighborhood really wanted. The neighbors overwhelmingly said yes, and we went back to them to get their input about how the walls would look, where and how tall they would be, and ways that we could even save more trees during construction.

Now we want to say thanks for the help and the patience and we hope things are a little quieter from now on. We’ve invited residents that live near the brand new noise walls to join us this Saturday, April 18, to commemorate the improvement to the neighborhood.

Here are the details:

10 a.m., Saturday, April 18.
Dead end of Latona Avenue N.E. just north of N.E. 77th Street.

Post written by: Michelle Mouton

Follow up, here is a video of the event:

Spring is here (kind of): We’re clearing the North Cascades Highway

2009-04-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

You know it’s spring when we start clearing State Route 20, the North Cascades Highway. Even though it’s not as warm right now as it usually is in the spring, the pass clearing is at least a telltale sign that spring is making a comeback. Crews started clearing the North Cascades Highway on Monday, March 30.

It’s not shorts weather just yet, at least not for me, and not for the crews clearing the passes. When I was up there on Wednesday, April 1, it was 25 degrees and snowed all day. Brrrr! I had two coats and my stocking hat on to try and stay warm. Crews working from the west side of the passes had reached the Easy Pass trailhead, near mile marker 151.5. The snow walls left behind from the snowblowers were about 5 feet tall. While we’ve moved quickly from the west closure gate (at mile marker 134) to the Easy Pass trailhead, the snow will get deeper and it will take longer to move through as crews work their way east.

We have quite a few more miles and several more weeks of work left before we finish clearing the passes. It would be nice if the temperatures warmed up and the snow stopped falling. If this current weather pattern keeps up, we might have to wait another week or two before we get help from additional equipment. We usually bring in extra snow equipment from US 2 Stevens Pass, but it’s hard to recruit their help when they’re still busy fighting snow.

The North Cascades Highway is one of the most scenic and loved passes in the state. Many people love to follow our pass-clearing efforts closely. We try to provide as much information as possible as our crews cut through the snow. Here’s a comprehensive list of ways you can follow our progress:
• E-mail updates
• Twitter updates: follow @terpening and @wsdot
• Flickr pictures and videos
• North Cascades Highway Web page
• Track our progress on the map

The local wildlife like to follow our progress, too. So far, the most popular picture from the pass-clearing work this year is a snowshoe hare (rabbit) checking out our crews at work.

Off with the studs

2009-03-31T16:12:00.000-07:00

The deadline for studded tire use is today, March 31st.

The safety of the traveling public is our number one priority, so we encourage drivers to drive for conditions wherever your travels take you. We do expect that snow in the mountain passes will continue for the next few days, and that we may see some brief, wet snow in the lowlands.

Currently, there is no indication of arctic-type weather that could lead to black ice. The presence of this wet snow in the lowlands and occasional heavier snow in the mountains does not indicate reason enough to extend the deadline.

Our weather forecasters also tell us the weather trend looks to be warming statewide, with the upcoming weekend being dry in almost all areas. We have our staff and equipment ready to provide for safe travel, and will impose chain restrictions if necessary.

We often talk about how studded tires damage the roadways. Are you also aware of how studded tires can make driving more dangerous? On wet roadways, you get less traction with studded tires as the studs decrease your stopping ability and increase your stopping distance. This is because they reduce full contact between a tire’s rubber compound and the pavement.

In case you may be traveling, or live outside Washington, you should know out-of-state drivers are not exempt from Washington's laws. The Washington State Patrol will enforce a $124 fine for those who use studded tires after the deadline. State troopers will use common sense if a sudden storm makes roads icy in a particular area.

You can read more about winter driving and tire options at http://www.blogger.com/www.wsdot.wa.gov/winter.

Hanging off the side of the Deception Pass bridges

2009-03-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

If you crossed the Deception Pass bridges this week, you probably noticed that only one lane was open. Chances are you also saw some trucks parked on top of the bridges and wondered what they were doing there. No, they weren’t purposely backing up traffic. The trucks allow our bridge inspection crews – who you probably didn’t see – to hang off the side and inspect the Deception and Canoe Pass bridges.

Those trucks parked in the lane are very specialized trucks called UBITs (Under the Bridge Inspection Trucks) that allow our crews to safely access and inspect the hard-to-reach places. One of the trucks has a 60-foot wingspan, taking crews to the spots that many of us never want to visit. That’s probably because we have no desire to be dangling 200 feet in air, regardless of how scenic it is.

So why were our crews hanging off the bridges? From time to time we get questions about the age and safety of all our bridges, including those at Deception Pass. We are a national leader in our approach to inspecting and maintaining our bridges and structures. We aggressively inspect and maintain these structures to keep our highways safe and these critical transportation links open for the public and commerce.

Like all our bridges, the Deception Pass bridges are inspected and maintained on a regular basis. Every two years, the bridges are given a thorough inspection. Any changes in conditions and maintenance activities are carefully recorded. Our routine maintenance and inspections mean that the Deception Pass bridges will continue to be safe for you and your families now and into the future.

The Deception Pass bridges were built in 1935. Is 74 really that old? There are 226 other bridges on our state highways that are older. Sure, 74 may be old compared to other large structures on Whidbey Island or in nearby Skagit County, but here are just a few well-known structures that are still in service and celebrate birthdays around the same time (and a few that are much older):

• 208 years old: The White House
• 126 years old: Brooklyn Bridge, New York
• 123 years old: The Statue of Liberty
• 120 years old: Eiffel Tower
• 92 years old: The first Columbia River bridge on I-5
• 79 years old: Lewis and Clark bridge on SR 433 over the Columbia River
• 78 years old: George Washington Aurora Ave. bridge on SR 99
• 74 years old: Deception Pass bridges
• 72 years old: Bonneville Dam
• 72 years old: Golden Gate Bridge

To the top of the Snohomish River Bridge...

2009-03-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

I’ve never been known as someone with a fear of heights, but when I was recently offered the opportunity to tag along with our bridge maintenance crew to check out the SR 529 Snohomish River Bridge; well let’s say, the hidden fear quickly came to light.

Upon arriving at the bridge, we began climbing the first of what turned out to be several flights of stairs leading to a never ending spiral staircase. From the bridge deck, we climbed roughly 60 feet to the near top of the bridge (80 feet from the water). My lightheadedness at the top made me wonder if it was a combination of holding on for dear life and/or the bridge vibration as cars passed at 55 m.p.h. below…Who knows?

My fear of heights gradually subsided and was replaced by my interest in learning more about the bridge. During annual inspections, structural engineers found small “fatigue” cracks in the machinery designed to help lift the bridge for large boats passing underneath. The cracks were hidden in the machinery itself, which makes diagnosing and repairing a challenge for crews.
You’re probably asking…”If the cracks are hidden, how did we find them?” Our crews use the most advanced technology available to inspect and track how our bridges are holding up to years of wear and tear. One method is an ultra-sonic test, similar to pregnancy ultrasounds. A liquid chemical is applied onto the machinery and then a scanner searches for sub-surface cracks.

Another method is called wet fluorescent magnetic particle inspection. Crews apply a liquid spray and then use a black light to detect any visible surface cracks. The particle alignment highlights the cracking.

While small and rarely visible to the naked eye, these cracks don’t pose any serious threat now, but swift action is required to prevent a future catastrophic event, such as a bridge collapse. Using advanced technology helps us find small cracks before they become big, costly problems. It also extends the life of the lifting mechanisms significantly.

There are roughly 7,000 bridges on the state, city and county road systems and most are inspected every two years. WSDOT crews inspected 1,909 state and local agency-owned bridges in 2008. This year, crews are scheduled to inspect 2,018 bridges. For more information about bridge inspections, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/Bridge/Reporting/Inspection.htm.

Submitted by Patrick Conrad.

You can call it ARRA or you can call it 'stimulus' ...

2009-03-04T13:11:00.001-08:00

How many of us six months ago would have guessed the word, "stimulus," would come to mean so much to our nation. Raise your hands ... be honest. Right. That's what I guessed.

Stimulus, the investment by the federal government in infrastructure, promises to be a critically important phase in the history of our nation and our state.

To that end, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a., stimulus) promises new standards for how citizens can track their dollars. At WSDOT, we have been working hard for several years to become more transparent and accountable.

Every project we build has a project web page. We publish a quarterly report, called the Gray Notebook, that tracks hundreds of activities and programs throughout WSDOT. We participate in the Governor's Management Accountability Program (GMAP).

We aren't perfect. And this thing we're calling stimulus promises to make us better. But perhaps WSDOT won't have as far to go to find greater public accountability in the ARRA era.

Washington State Senate Honors WSDOT and WSP

2009-02-20T14:30:00.000-08:00

“It’s so great to be recognized and appreciated on such a grand scale for the good things we do,” said Al Stancil, a heavy equipment operator in South Central Region

This quote above is just one I heard today from one of the WSDOT Maintenance crews who came to the Washington State Capitol today for a very special honor, Senate Resolution 8634

"...Be it resolved, that the Senate recognize and commend the employees of the Washington State Department of Transportation on their work to maintain our state's transportation corridors during and after the storms of 2007, 2008, and 2009, and the employees of the Washington state patrol on their efforts to assist our residents during the storms of 2007, 2008, and 2009."

The men and women like Al who work for WSDOT are very proud of the job they do each day. And it sure is nice for them and their Washington State Patrol colleagues to hear that others appreciate their efforts. But, truthfully, most of them were in a hurry to get back to their trucks and shops.

A number of Washington State Senators offered their thanks for WSDOT and WSP's efforts. TVW also broadcast the ceremony live and it's available on their website.

Numbers don’t lie; drivers pay attention and keep traffic moving

2009-02-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

WSDOT contractor crews wrapped up a busy weekend of work on southbound Interstate 5 between Stewart Street and Interstate 90 in downtown Seattle. Crews are repairing 40-year-old concrete which is deteriorating and falling apart. Broken concrete means tough traveling for drivers and freight haulers. We want to keep our economy moving.

This weekend crews replaced 41 broken and concrete panels and reopened lanes four hours ahead of the 5 a.m. Monday, Feb. 16 target.

But the real story is in the numbers and comes from drivers themselves who plugged in, paid attention and took alternate routes this week. The following statistics come from day-to-day comparisons from 2008 to 2009.

By the numbers

On Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 14 and 15, nearly 60 percent of the drivers who usually take I-5 and cross I-5 south of Mercer Street did something different. They took SR 99, local streets, I-405 or stayed home. Sixty percent is an extraordinarily large number! That means more than half of you didn’t take I-5. This might be one for the record books at WSDOT.
On Saturday, Feb. 14, 8 percent more drivers used the express lanes to get into Seattle than on the same day last year. We have found in the past that the express lanes are the hardest working lanes that too few people use. Only at 10 a.m. did the express lanes take longer to travel than the mainline.
On Saturday, Feb. 14, we saw a 23 percent jump in drivers using I-405 as an alternate route to I-5. That is exactly what we wanted. We hoped that drivers traveling through Seattle would take I-405 so drivers traveling to Seattle could use I-5.
Back ups on the mainline never reached more than 45 minutes and that was at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
The longest back ups Saturday occurred at 1:30 in the express lanes and at 4 p.m. on the mainline.
The longest backs up on Sunday occurred at 1:30 in the express lanes and 11 a.m. on mainline.

What else did we see?

Nearly two-thirds of drivers did not use I-5 to get to I-90. They crossed the lake on SR 520 or they used I-405 from Lynnwood and avoided the bridges altogether.
We also saw a 48 percent jump in drivers who used the I-90 exit from I-5 to get off and then back on I-5 after the work zone. It’s called a collector-distributor ramp. It functions like a long bypass. That helped lower the traffic numbers in that second construction zone near I-90.
It was the same story on Sunday.

Drivers listened to the radio and make smart choices. During the carjacking on I-5 Saturday the I-5 mainline was closed for the investigation. Drivers used the express lanes and SR 99 to get around the pinch point and made it to their destinations.

What’s next
We will close northbound I-5 this weekend from Friday, Feb. 20 at 8 p.m. through Monday, Feb. 23 at 5 a.m. just south of the I-90 interchange. We hope drivers will do a great job again this weekend.

Watch this spot for your traffic congestion report card next Monday.

Check the Web for the latest info in case things change:
www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction/2009

The Olympics are one year away and we’re ready

2009-02-09T14:47:00.000-08:00

Did you know that the Winter Olympics are only one year away? Did you also know that we’ve been planning and preparing for the Olympics for several years? Chances are high that you knew the Olympics were drawing near. But you’re probably scratching your head and wondering why we would be preparing for them. I mean, we’re in Washington and the games are in Canada; two different countries, right? What’s there to prepare for?

I was recently interviewed by Chris Daniels from KING 5 about our preparations for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, and thought I would share with you what I shared with him.

We are expecting many Washingtonians, and probably a few Oregonians and Californians, to flock north across the border for the excitement, and that means we’ll see a significant increase in traffic on highways that connect with the Washington/British Columbia border.

We’re planning for a 50-percent increase in traffic during the Olympics. That’s like having August traffic in February. On average, 250,000 more drivers cross the border by vehicle in August than in February. That’s a significant increase.

As of 2008, we have beefed up our traveler information system near the border. We’ve added 11 new traffic cameras, upping our total to 17. We now have cameras pointed at all four border highways so you can monitor traffic congestion.

We’ve also improved our border wait time information system. Wait times are now displayed on overhead electronic signs along I-5, our Web site, and can be accessed via text message. With four border crossings in Whatcom County, you can find out which one has the shortest lines and will take the least time.

In 2003, the Legislature passed a transportation funding package that included money for a project on I-5 in Everett and projects on SR 539 between Bellingham and the border. Those projects were originally scheduled to be in construction during the Olympics, but both routes will be primary thoroughfares during the games. Foreseeing a potential disaster, we petitioned the Legislature to advance funding for the projects so that we could start and finish them before the Olympics. The I-5 project was completed last year and the second of two projects on the Guide will finish this fall. Phew! Crisis averted.

Taking things one step further, we have also scheduled an additional 70-plus personnel and 30-plus pieces of equipment to be in the Whatcom County area during the Olympics (Feb. 12-28). We figure we’ll need the help with traffic control, clearing collisions, fighting snow, ice and/or floods, and anything else that could possibly arise.

I know it seems weird, but we have been planning and preparing for the games since we first learned they were coming to Vancouver. We want to take the gold for being a good neighbor. As far as our work is concerned, we’ll be finished and out of the way of drivers by the time February 2010 rolls around. Hopefully that will help make the Olympic experience that much better for those driving there.

The interview is supposed to air on Feb. 12, the one-year date before the games start.

WSDOT got trashed on Superbowl Sunday

2009-02-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

It's not what you think. I-5 was literally trashed by an overturned garbage truck the day of the Superbowl.

Shortly before 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 1, a truck hauling garbage overturned on the on-ramp to I-5 in Blaine, spilling its load. Trash was strewn all over, creating a mess.

Area 1 maintenance supervisor Ric Willand said, "You can imagine how hard it was to get a hold of people to respond and clean this mess up on Superbowl Sunday. How dare he roll a truck on the day of the Superbowl!"

Despite it being Superbowl Sunday, Willand was able to contact two employees and get the mess cleaned up. Crews used a sweeper and loader, and the trucking company brought an empty dumpster, and it was all cleaned up by 2:30 p.m.

Seismic bridge retrofitting: And you didn’t even know it!

2009-02-03T14:19:00.000-08:00

Winter is barely halfway over, but here at WSDOT we’re quickly transitioning into construction season. If you’re familiar with WSDOT projects, you know what that means: you’ll see the signature orange of our traffic cones, construction barrels, and safety vests as crews get to work improving our state highways.

What you might not know is that our construction activities aren’t limited solely to large, visible projects. Some of our projects are barely noticeable to freeway drivers, and you may not have realized that we’ve been working under your feet (er, car) all along. In fact, if you’ve traveled on I-5 from Seattle to Everett lately, you’ve driven right over one of our active construction sites. Since October 2008, crews have been working to retrofit 19 bridges (overpasses and underpasses) on I-5 between Tukwila and Lynnwood, and are currently working in both Tukwila and Mountlake Terrace.

In plain English, seismic retrofitting means improving a bridge to protect it against future earthquakes. Although these bridges are all structurally safe for everyday traffic, simple upgrades can go a long way towards keeping the bridge intact and motorists safe in the event of a large earthquake.

So how has this work progressed without you noticing all those orange barrels and construction equipment? The trick is that construction occurs beneath the surface of the roadway, focusing on bridge columns, crossbeams and girders.

Improvements to an individual bridge typically include one or more of the following:

Column jacketing – installing a metal jacket around the bridge column. If a concrete column were to crack during an earthquake, the metal jacket would hold the pieces together, preventing the column from crumbling.
Bolster retrofitting – extending the crossbeam to prevent girders from slipping off sideways during an earthquake. Girders support the roadway, so it’s important to keep girders intact.
Girder stops – installing concrete blocks on either side of the girder to stop the girder from sliding or tipping over.

In addition to the 19 bridges that are slated for improvement as part of the I-5 project, there are more than 900 bridges across the state that will be improved as part of the Seismic Retrofit Program. For more information, take a look at the project Web site or the statewide Seismic Retrofit page.

Editor's note: post written by Aurora Jones.

Ferry Trippin': Commuting around Puget Sound in 10 days

2009-01-30T16:05:00.000-08:00

My job at WSDOT is to help manage projects and information for Snohomish County. But when Washington State Ferries announced a series of meetings to get public feedback on the long-range plan, I was offered the chance to work with the group who manages our highways on the water. I knew it would be interesting. I knew the ferry community was passionate about their boats. So I agreed to help set and gather public opinion for the 10-meeting series.

After listening to hundreds of people, and transcribing the 500 comments submitted during the two weeks of hearings, a few things became very clear to me. Ferries are a lifeline to these communities. These folks want to make the ferry system work better for themselves and for others. They didn’t want someone to just listen to them, they wanted change.

There were an overwhelming number of opinions and comments that came in every shape and form. Whether it was a letter, e-mail, handwritten note, DVD, pictures, articles, I took every single piece of information and made sure they were organized in a hard copy and electronic form. The executives requested this information for their meetings while revising the plan and it was important for me to make sure every voice was heard. Marta Coursey, WSF Communications Director, made notes of speakers so she could match comments and inquiries with faces from the night before. Some people believe we held the meetings because it’s a legal requirement. I would have to disagree. While it is a legal requirement, those who run the ferry system are equally passionate about hearing and doing what’s important for these riders. They, too, want to make a system that works for as many people as possible.

This is what 500+ people look like crammed into a middle school auditorium (Vashon Hearing)

Case in point: We were coming home (on the ferry) after an intense hearing on Vashon Island.
We had an unprecedented turnout of 600 people and we were all exhausted After just barely making the ferry, a coworker and I went upstairs to relax, only to find David Moseley, Assistant Secretary of Washington State Ferries, walking and talking with ferry workers on deck. He joined us as we discussed the draft plans with concerned citizens. In that moment, he proved his personable reputation to be true. He was listening, all the time, listening on this boat. How often does the head executive for the nation’s largest ferry fleet do that?

A view of the Bremerton Ferry right before a public hearing.

It was a bittersweet departure from ferries when my three-week assignment was up. I learned so much more about the life of a ferry commuter and the crews who work everyday to make the ferry system better for those who ride it.

Demolition is awesome: Can I take a whack at it?

2009-01-28T14:46:00.000-08:00

I stood in awe last night in the middle of Interstate 5 in Burlington and watched crews attack and destroy the SR 11/Chuckanut Drive overpass. It was reduced from a functioning road to a pile of rubble in a matter of hours. All that concrete and steel didn’t stand a chance against power of the hydraulic machinery.

Crews brought in two excavators outfitted with a hydraulic Hoe ram and hydraulic jaws. The Hoe ram was basically a jackhammer on steroids. The bridge and ground shuddered as it repeatedly battered the overpass. At times, I had to lift the camera and tripod off the ground while taking video and pictures because of all the shaking. The hydraulic jaws looked like a T-rex munching on concrete. The machines ripped through the steel and concrete like they were tearing wrapping paper off a present.

There is just something about watching construction equipment tear down stuff that is awesome. It’s too bad that I wasn’t Mike Rowe from the show Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel. I’m sure that if he was on-site last night, the crew would have let him ride in the excavators and a take a whack at the bridge. I imagine the demolition was like taking a swing at a stationary piñata with a bat. Who doesn’t love to hit piñatas? I definitely wanted a turn so I could take a swing.

The demolition was an impressive display of power and might. From start to finish, the whole process took less than six hours. Crews closed the interstate at 11 p.m. and detoured traffic. Dump trucks poured sand on the interstate beneath the overpass to protect the pavement from falling debris. Within 15 minutes of the closure, crews started in with the Hoe ram. First to come down was the concrete guardrail. Then the roadway was punched out between the concrete girders. By midnight, crews had moved off the overpass and onto I-5, using the hydraulic jaws to tear into the concrete girders. And by 1:30 a.m., all six girders that originally supported the overpass were gone. A gaping hole replaced what used to be a bridge. We were all surprised it came down so quickly. Our goal was to remove the damaged span over I-5 without damaging the rest of the bridge. We accomplished the goal in one night; one night faster than planned, and reopened I-5 on time at 5 a.m.

This was the second time in five years that I’ve had the opportunity to stand in the middle of Interstate 5 and watch bridge demolition. Both times I’ve mentally noted how weird it is to stand in the middle of I-5 without having traffic whizzing by – and how cool it must be to operate one of those giant machines knocking down the bridge. Maybe next time we take a bridge down, they’ll let me have a turn.

Nalley Valley Viaduct...

2009-01-27T15:47:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year for us here at WSDOT. We start making the shift from winter mode to thinking about the summer construction season. But not all construction happens in the summer. There is an interesting project happening right now in the Tacoma area on SR 16 that will eliminate one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in Pierce County.

In early January, work began on a project to replace the westbound portion of the SR 16 Nalley Valley viaduct. If you drive through this area you may not have even noticed it yet because it hasn't affected traffic, yet. All that will change in mid-February when crews begin closing the Sprague Avenue ramps and put eastbound traffic on a new alignment with narrower lanes and shoulders. For those local to the area it will mean using alternate routes or taking a different exit to get home for a couple of years. A major inconvenience, yes - but the improved safety and decreased congestion is a nice payoff at the end.

I am a big fan of "fun facts," if you will. The communications team on this project was kind enough to put some together to give you some interesting details about the project:

The construction contract was awarded for $120 million. The current viaduct opened in 1971 and was built for about $3.3 million.
Each day, about 130,000 vehicles cross the viaduct – about 90,000 more than the daily traffic in 1973.
Replacing the westbound portion of the viaduct requires about 200 full-time contract workers who will build 57 columns for 10 new bridges.
Crews will drill the columns as deep as 70 feet into the ground.
The new viaduct stretches more than 90 feet into the sky, about 30 feet higher than the 1971 viaduct.
To build the new westbound viaduct – which includes eight acres of bridge deck – crews will use 10.4 million pounds of steel and pour 48,000 cubic yards of concrete.
Workers also will build temporary and permanent storm water retention ponds with the capacity to hold more than 25 million gallons, and a linear storm drainage system more than three miles long.
And perhaps the most important number is this: Traffic engineers estimate the completed westbound Nalley Valley project to produce a 60 percent reduction in collisions; That’s 16 fewer collision per year.

For more information about this project, visit www.tacomatraffic.com.

How mini-marshmallows and a vital transportation system are inextricably linked

2009-01-15T15:06:00.000-08:00

For those of you who follow politics but don't have the time to attend the public hearings here in Olympia, you may be interested to know the latest on transportation issues, particularly after the heavy storms we've had this winter.

This week Secretary of Transportation Paula Hammond spoke to the state House and Senate Transportation Committees on the "state of transportation" in Washington and our flood response.

One of the points that Paula wanted to convey is how important safe, reliable transportation is to all of us and the economy – no surprise to anyone who's ever had to commute to work during rush hour.

But it goes beyond merely getting to work early enough to grab a decent parking space and that second cup of coffee.

It's about a transportation system that's the backbone of our economy. It's about a system that allows hardworking people to get to their job, be it at a shopping center, warehouse, farm, business park, or manufacturing plant. And let's not forget – when it comes to quality of life issues, we all want safe, reliable transportation, because it gets us to the grocery store, shopping, schools for our children, and entertainment.

"Great," you say, "so what's the problem?"

This past winter was the problem. Question: During Christmas Week, did anyone do any grocery shopping? (The answer is "yes," unless you ate your new DVD player.) You may have noticed that some of the store shelves were empty, or at least lacking the usual amount of products you've come to expect. This may have been due to the convergence of two factors: The grocery industry's practice of Just In Time delivery, and the unusually heavy snow we got in December.

Grocery stores typically don't keep huge supplies of inventory on hand (perishables, for example), but they can usually count on that item being replenished on a regular basis – except when the delivery trucks are delayed. Then those store shelves begin to get mighty empty very quickly, and you find yourself searching for items which ordinarily wouldn't be that difficult to find.

In my case, it was mini-marshmallows.

My mother wanted mini-marshmallows for hot chocolate. Not just any kind, mind you, but the mini ones. I braved icy roads and treacherous parking lots at three different stores, and I had to go home and tell the woman who gave me life that I couldn't find her mini-marshmallows. So we wallowed in our self-pity, sipping plain hot chocolate.

So that was my first practical demonstration of the value of a reliable transportation system.

Don't misunderstand, the system is working, but it's stressed by a growing population, and it needs tender loving care, especially after such a hard winter. Travel safety is improving, which is great, but we can always do more. Then there are the future investments we have to make to our whole system: highways, transit, ferries and non-motorized travel. Finally, we should focus on getting smart about growing demand, wringing the most mileage we can out of past investments, and finding a way to accommodate future commuters in a way that's sensible and sustainable.

So there you have it – a very abbreviated version of the presentation that Paula gave to our state Legislature's Transportation committees. As you can see, our state Legislature has some tough decisions to make about the future of our transportation system.

The State of Transportation–Maintaining What We Have, Investing in Washington's Future

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: biennial budget)