Posts

Maintenance lead’s sharp eyes lead to cat’s lucky day

Image
By Andrea E. Petrich Maintenance lead Doug Knott was simply about carried out cleansing up a host of gifts spilled alongside a street in Skagit County while he observed anything unusual: A pair of eyes staring at him from below a hubcap. Maintenance lead, Doug Knott, and Lucky after its highway rescue. No, this isn’t the delivery of a Stephen King story. It’s the tale of an strange rescue. Between cleansing up particles from crashes or spilled loads, and supporting of us who're stranded, our highway crews are at all times busy. On this specific day, the Washington State Patrol referred to as Doug to assist blank up a pile of clothes, bins and different presents that seemed to have fallen off a vehicle. While unlucky – please be counted to at all times safe your quite a bit – it wasn’t rather unusual. Lucky cleaning up The eyes, though, had been absolutely unusual. Turns out, the eyes staring again at Doug had been from a cat who had been hiding among the debris. D...

The I-405/SR 167 Interchange Direct Connector in Renton is open to traffic

Image
By Victoria Miller The ribbon has been cut and the paint has dried. The I-405/SR 167 Interchange Direct Connector flyover ramp in Renton is now open to traffic, connecting the HOT lanes on State Route 167 to the HOV lanes on Interstate 405. Governor Jay Inslee leads a ribbon cutting ceremony for the I-405/SR 167 direct connector flyover ramp in Renton How does the Direct Connector operate? The Direct Connector flyover ramp is open to 2+ excessive occupancy automobiles from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. The ramp is open to all automobiles from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. each day. Vehicles extra than 10,000 gross car weight are prohibited from utilizing the ramp in any respect times. The ramp is open to transit in any respect times. To read extra about how the brand new HOV ramp operates, please go to our ramp operations webpage. On Tuesday, Feb. 19, we hosted a ribbon-cutting occasion with different guests, adding Governor Jay Inslee, Secretary of Transportation Roger Millar, Mayor of Ren...

Ferries’ haiku contest is back!

Image
By Justin Fujioka Our haiku contest Is again for one other year Mark your calendars Hop on board certainly one of our ferries and get your artistic juices flowing simply due to the fact our usual haiku hide contest on Twitter is back! We’re seeking a typical haiku in regards to the Washington State Ferries experience. The profitable poem might be featured at the hide of our Summer 2019 Sailing Schedule! How to enter All you should do is comply with @wsferries on Twitter, then tweet your haiku among midday Monday, March 4, and midday Friday, March 8. Be certain to contain the hashtag #WSFHaiku. All members of the public, until WSDOT workers and contractors, are eligible and invited to participate. No fare acquire is required. Haiku requirements and contest rules In addition to the submission qualifications indexed above, every entrant ought to comply with those requirements and rules: One haiku per tweet. Poem ought to be a ordinary haiku with five (5) syllab...

New bicyclist and pedestrian safety messages, among others, added to Department of Licensing driver guides

Image
We teamed up with DOL officials to update and improve safety messages By Barbara LaBoe We're all the time in search of new methods to speak about transportation safety, and our newest work with the state Department of Licensing is not any exception. While we don't conduct driver license tests, our agency worked with DOL to add several safety suggestions to the new version of the Washington Driver Guide that debuted this month. We do not train or experiment power drivers, but as atransportation firm we are really invested in improving security for all travelers. So we have been excited to work with DOL on their newest driver e book replace to assist unfold a few of our fundamental messages to a entire new generation of travelers. (It also is going with out saying that any present licensed driver short of to comb up on their wisdom and read about new legal guidelines can discover the brand new e book as well.) The "Dutch Reach" method of opening vehicle do...

Come one, come all: Open houses to learn about upcoming Whatcom & Island County projects

Image
By Ally Barrera After being cooped up for what felt like an eternity by a relentless march of snowstorms, my colleagues and I are able to get out into the network and meet with the public about our upcoming construction projects. With a hectic construction season on tap for Whatcom and Island counties, there are a number of opportunities coming as much as read about what's occurring and have your questions answered. This year's initiatives include: Rehabilitating extra than 45 miles of road pavement Improving fish passage by means of five creeks and tributaries Building a brand new roundabout Preserving and repainting one in every of Washington's most iconic bridges Painting the Deception Pass Bridge is just one of the many projects coming to Island and Whatcom counties this summer. These occasions provide us a risk to pay attention your stories, your problems and get your feedback. Here's what's coming up: Thursday, Feb. 21 - Mt. Baker Hig...

The I-405/SR 167 Interchange Direct Connector in Renton is opening to traffic as early as next week

Image
By Victoria Miller Attention I-405/SR 167 hall drivers! We are wrapping up work at the I-405/SR 167 Interchange Direct Connector Project and the flyover ramp can be open to site visitors as early because the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 19. Yes, you learn that correctly! The construction you've got considered over the earlier NULL years at this busy interchange is nearing its end. The Direct Connector undertaking broke floor in September 2016 and was originally scheduled to open to site visitors in spring 2019. “With the financial savings from our earlier I-405 hall projects, we have been capable to boost layout engineering and acquire the proper of method crucial to leap construction once we obtained funding from the Connecting Washington funding package,” stated I-405/SR 167 Program Administrator Kim Henry. “Thanks to drivers’ endurance and the undertaking team’s difficult work, we're happy to entire this improvement 4 months forward of schedule.” The groundbreakin...

We answer some of your most frequent snow and ice questions

Image
By Barbara LaBoe With one storm behind us and extra at the way, we all know you've got questions about how and whilst we deal with and clean roadways. We've compiled a few of our most often requested questions below. As all the time our precedence is security for our employees and the traveling public. Heavy storms will imply drivers ought to anticipate to be traveling on packed snow and ice and have got to sluggish down and live alert - and believe changing journeys if possible. 1.  How can we live plugged in to forecasts? How can we verify whilst winter climate would possibly be at the way? We track and train for conditions a couple of ways. First, we contract for private, site-specific forecasts to recognize how our roadways might be affected. Our crews can attain out for extra element from the forecasters round the clock. We also work carefully with the National Weather Service equally on forecasts and methods to speak conditions to the public. Our cre...