PUSH IT REAL GOOD. That was our solution to a jackknifed truck that blocked all southbound lanes of I-205 near Vancouver on Monday. Hey, sometimes the best way to fix the thing is a little brute force.
Shout out to our Incident Response Team and their mighty push-bumper truck that moved the trailer out of the way and let us reopen the road. (And to our friends at @wastatepatrol and @ccfd6 for being great partners)
She’s beautiful 🥲 We welcomed the first of the new @amtrak_cascades trainsets to Seattle today! Her official livery colors? Evergreen, mocha, and cream.
More trainsets will continue to arrive. Next up, they’ll be tested on the PNW Rail Corridor and crews will undergo training. We are excited to welcome YOU on board this fall. 😎
Construction? In spring? Groundbreaking.
We’re installing 88 girders to hold up the 1,587 foot-long bridge on the SR 509 Expressway in SeaTac. Once complete, this bridge will take freight traffic OVER communities, trails, and sensitive wetlands instead of THROUGH the area on local roads.
You’ll also noticed that this was filmed at night. Our contractor crews are doing a lot of this work at night in order to reduce the burden on commuters that closures and oversized loads bring. Expect this work to be finished by early June.
That’s all.
Lock in. Grab your hard hat, steel toed boots, and a commercial drivers license.
Good news! Both SR 410 Chinook Pass and SR 123 Cayuse Pass through @mountrainiernps will reopen for the season by 8 a.m. Friday, May 22, in time for Memorial Day weekend!
Both passes close each winter due to snow levels and avalanche danger and reopen in the spring after snow is cleared. Our maintenance crews have finished clearing both highways, and the National Park Service is in the final phases of clearing Stevens Canyon Road and Sunrise Park Road.
As a reminder, all commercial vehicles are prohibited from traveling through Mount Rainier National Park, which includes sections of SR 123 and SR 410.
POV: you’re about to risk it all for the HOV 3+ lane.
Many have been wondering if a giant lifeless doll counts as a carpool buddy. Here’s a quick refresher on SR 520’s HOV lanes:
- HOV 3+ rule means the driver + two or more REAL people (mannequins, stuffed animals, real animals, and inflatables do not count)
- This rule is in effect 24/7 between I-405 and Montlake. No exceptions.
- This 3+ requirement is state law. WSDOT does not set these regulations.
- The goal is to keep buses, transit and carpools moving reliably through one of the busiest corridors in the region
We’ve teamed up with @wastatepatrol to help drivers understand SR 520’s HOV 3+ law and the consequences for violating it as enforcement increases this summer.
HOV violations are considered moving violations, and fines start at $186 and can increase with repeat violations.
Because on the SR 520 HOV 3+ lane, three’s not company… it’s the law.
The good news: Work began on Tuesday to clear the rockslide at MP 131 of SR 20 North Cascades Highway.
The not-great news: The road will not be fully reopened by Memorial Day. Our goal is the Fourth of July, but that’s a goal, not a promise. We are still working on securing a contractor for the extensive washout damage between MP 142-148, though we expect to have that second contract underway by the week of May 11.
Contracts for both projects include a 24/7 provision, as long as the work can be done safely. We know how important this road is to local communities, recreators, travelers, and the regional economy.
You can read more information about this work (and what we’re up against) on our blog — which you can find in the link in our bio or by searching “WSDOT blog.” (It’ll be the second most recent post).
If it feels like there’s construction everywhere this month, you’re not imagining it.
Beginning this weekend and continuing through May, travel around the greater Puget Sound region is going to be slower and more congested as WSDOT works to make major progress on highway projects before Seattle’s summer of soccer arrives.
With the exception of Memorial Day weekend, we’ll have major work happening concurrently across multiple highways including I-5, I-405, SR 99, and SR 520. Normally, a lot of this work would continue straight into June and July. But this year is different. With Seattle hosting the men’s soccer tournament many projects will scale back or pause altogether to avoid major traffic impacts so we can keep people and goods moving through the region during the event.
That makes May a really important window to get as much work done as possible before those restrictions begin. And one more thing... we have a full closure of NB I-5 June 5-8 so we can pick up the Revive I-5 workzone. When NB I-5 reopens, all lanes including the Express Lanes will return to normal operations for the duration of the summer of soccer, before we return to our regularly scheduled summer of construction.
So, if you can - leave earlier, travel later, take transit, find alternate routes, plan ahead, give yourself plenty of time and most importantly use tools like our real time travel center to know before you go.
SOME NEWS. Kind of good, kind of not. SR 20 North Cascades Highway is PARTIALLY REOPENING at 2 p.m. today, Thursday, April 30.
The iconic mountain pass will be open to all traffic from the east side gate to Porcupine Creek (MP 156), just west of Rainy Pass. There will be room for vehicles to turn around at the closure point at MP 156.
This partial reopening allows people to access more of the corridor from the east while keeping the active work zone between MP 130-156 closed for safety. The road is closed to ALL public access - including cyclists, hikers and other recreators - between those closure points.
We do not yet have a timeline for when we can expect to reopen the entire highway.
There’s a lot more to dive in to regarding federal funding requirements, environmental review, permitting, and more, so if you want more details, check out our blog by clicking the link in our bio.
For our crews, a day on the road means working just inches from passing traffic. For someone at home, it means waiting for them to walk through the door.
They’re not just workers — they’re parents, partners and someone’s best friend. Too often, they’re forced to jump out of the way of speeding or distracted drivers.
Work zone crashes are preventable.
Slow down in work zones. Stay alert. Give crews space. Be kind and help them get home safely. 🧡
Per my last road sign: Slow down ⚠️
In 2025, Washington state recorded 1,557 work zone crashes. The top three causes? Following too closely, speeding, and distracted driving.
When you’re coming up on a work zone, please remember to slow the posted speed, put the phone down, and give workers space. Those people a few inches away from traffic are someone spouse, parent, or child, and they deserve to make it home.
Please do your part! 🧡
Also shout out to @missouridot for the inspiration for this video!
“Every day is a good day when you paint…map” or whatever Bob Ross said. After a mild winter, our happy little Paint Map trees bloomed a bit early with some closures you should know about if you’re traveling in the Seattle area.
- Eastbound SR 18 will close between Issaquah-Hobart Rd and I-90 from 9 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Monday (with additional work continuing in the right lane and a few more extended weekend closures on the horizon). During this closure, travelers should use alternate routes and plan for added travel time. If you’re a semi, please remember that Issaquah-Hobart road is NOT suitable for you. See artwork *gestures broadly to map* for extra guidance (blue = no and green = go).
- Southbound I-405 will close between SR 167 and SR 169 from 11:59 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Monday. Travelers can follow a signed detour route. We’ll use this closure to install drainage, replace concrete pavement panels and pave the roadway.
- Northbound I-5 over the Ship Canal Bridge remains reduced to two lanes. Express lanes remain open northbound 24/7.
Remember that life imitates art… so this “masterpiece” will be a great guide to help you get through this busy weekend. If you’d like real-time travel info, make sure you download our app and check our travel map.
Let’s talk trash on Earth Day. We recently teamed up with @ecologywa to clean up a stretch of US 101 in desperate need of an XTREME makeover.
While our crews ran traffic control and conducted vegetation management, the Ecology Litter Corps cleaned three miles of median in Olympia. They picked up almost 2.5 tons of litter and recovered about 700 pounds of recycling from the environment. Once they bagged ‘em, our crews batted clean up… literally.
Look, we’d love to keep our right of ways this clean all the time, but litter clean up is one of many responsibilities in our maintenance team’s portfolio, and they’re often pulled in other directions to repair damaged guardrail, fill potholes, maintain rest areas, and respond to extreme weather. In other words, safety work comes first.
So we rely on these crucial state agency partnerships and our Adopt-a-Highway volunteers. We also rely on you travelers to do your part. It’s as simple as throwing your trash away in a designated bin and making sure anything you’re hauling is tied down securely.
Last year, we collected *726 tons* of litter along state highways. This is the Evergreen State. I know we can collectively do better to keep our highways clean.
We do a lot more than talk (and pick up) trash for our planet. Check out our blog — linked in our story and bio — to see ALL the things we’re doing to protect our environment. Happy Earth Day!
