The WSDOT Blog

By: Eddy Hensley and Christina Crea

It’s a bird?… it’s a plane … it’s a UFO?… it’s… just a drone.

Lately, our Aviation UAS Program Coordinator Eddy Hensley has been asked about “unknown objects” in the sky, with some even asking if “they can shoot it down.”

No, you cannot shoot down a drone – that is a federal offense.

Also, please, never point lasers or bright lights at anything you see in the sky. It can disable pilots flying aircraft and is also a federal offense.

If you see drones, planes or helicopters with lights, they are on so they can be seen. It means that they are not trying to hide.

Most of the time, the drones, also referred to as Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS), are just doing their jobs. Drone jobs are quickly growing for a variety of daily uses across our state and world.

Aerial image of a washout captured by a drone in Washington state

We use drones in the inspection and maintenance of our critical infrastructure. One of our drones was recently used for graffiti removal. It can remove graffiti from our roads while adding safety for maintenance crews and roadway users and reducing the use of critical resources previously used for this purpose.

A drone is used to paint over graffiti in a pilot program to test the potential for drones to serve this purpose.

Drones are also used for geotechnical surveys of slopes and roads throughout the state, where assessing stability of terrain and landslides is risky for our maintenance and geotechnical crews.

Future uses currently being explored include avalanche mitigation in our mountain regions and vegetation control on the sides of our roadways.

WSDOT staff learn how to fly a Skdio Drone to use it for future bridge inspections in Washington state.

Here are some points to consider if you see a drone:

• Most aerial phenomena can be explained. A large amount of content on social media shows planes, helicopters, drones, celestial objects and satellites.
• Do not shoot guns, lasers or high-powered lights at flying objects. You may end up hurting someone in the air or on the ground. Either way, you are breaking both state and federal laws.
• Seeing a drone does not mean it is doing something wrong. Drones are used by utility companies for inspection, by public safety responding to emergencies, law enforcements for accident reconstruction and for many other legal commercial and recreational activities.
• Drones can fly at night. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has rules that allow flights at night.
• Do not confront drone pilots while they are flying their drones. It could pose a safety risk to bystanders. They are most often flying legally and safely. If you have a concern, contact your local law enforcement agency.
• You can stay informed. There are flight phone applications for identifying recreational aircraft such as “FlightRadar24” for planes and helicopters or “Drone Scanner” for UAS. Be aware that not all aircraft or drones are required to broadcast their location. Also, the technology for drone Remote ID broadcasting is relatively new and may not be compatible with your personal electronic device.
• If you feel a drone is operating illegally or not following FAA regulations, you should call local law enforcement or e-mail the FAA to report the sighting at 7-anm-sea-fsdo@faa.gov.

If you have any other questions regarding drones, contact Hensley at eddy.hensley@wsdot.wa.gov or 564-999-1040.

By Brian Vail

Many of us spent hours playing with Lego bricks as kids, building buildings or designing towns in a form of puzzle-making. Local artist Wayne Hussey is a lifelong Lego lover and architect. One of his creations now lives aboard our ferry Issaquah. Getting it aboard was also quite a puzzle.

A Lego model of Issaquah is a new feature in the passenger cabin aboard the real Issaquah.

After working on the model for many years and completing it in 2001, Hussey recently donated his Lego Issaquah to us. Our own “connectors” at Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility created a custom display case to house the 37,000-piece artwork. The ferry replica measures 7 feet long, 2.5 feet wide and 2.5 feet tall. They also made a brass plaque to honor the model.

The machine shop at our Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility made a brass plaque for the display case.

From there, the Eagle Harbor staff had to figure out how to get the Lego and its display case safely onto the vessel. They decided the best time was January. That’s when Issaquah would be out of service undergoing maintenance. The next hurdle was to get the display up to the passenger deck. The display case was too large for the ferry’s elevator and wouldn’t fit up the stairs.

For help, the team turned to Bainbridge terminal employees, vessel maintenance staff and the crew working aboard Issaquah. They coordinated to have the boat make a pit stop at Bainbridge terminal. This terminal has an overhead walkway connecting directly to the passenger deck. The case was moved from a truck to a dolly and rolled aboard using the overhead walkway. The ferry then continued to Eagle Harbor, where the team positioned the model in the display case.

A look at the car deck of the Lego Issaquah inside its display case. The vehicles alone are made up of over 2,000 pieces.

Hussey was thrilled to see the final product. When we announced the construction of our Issaquah-class ferries in the late 1970s, Hussey felt inspired.

“I had just entered my Lego hobby and saw the image as something that would make a really neat build challenge,” said Hussey. “It took about a year to plan it out and I completed my first design of it in December 1978.”

And his design incudes a detailed passenger deck and a stored rescue boat. The Lego replica can also be taken apart into three pieces to reveal the car deck.

Now, passengers can enjoy Hussey’s masterpiece while riding Issaquah. The real-life ferry just returned to service on our Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route. The vessel is scheduled to move to our Anacortes/San Juan Islands run in late February, before returning to our “Triangle” route in the spring.

This unique Lego artwork is displayed alongside other custom ferry art and photos. These displays celebrate the rich history of Washington State Ferries. They showcase the creativity, stories and traditions that make us such an important part of our region’s culture and community, and an icon of the Pacific Northwest.

 By Amy Moreno

Working in a highway construction zone is more dangerous than handling explosives – that’s what our worker Paul Jones says. He started his professional career in the oil and gas industry, sometimes working with explosives. He says road construction is by far his most dangerous job.

“With explosives, you have all these safety procedures. As long as you follow them, you’re fine,” said Paul, a construction compliance leader on the State Route 167 Corridor Improvements project. “When it comes to traffic, you can follow all the safety procedures and a drunk driver can still get you, even if you follow everything you’re supposed to be doing.”

That’s especially true given the increase in speeding and erratic drivers road crews and first responders have seen in recent years. That’s why we hope the new work zone speed cameras will help slow people down and keep everyone safer, including workers like Paul.

Paul Jones has done his share of dirty (and dangerous) jobs.

“It's hard to appreciate just how dangerous it is until you have these really close calls happening and it's like wow,” Paul explained. He’s worked on several busy freeways, which means he’s seen multiple collisions and near misses.

While doing survey work on SR 167 a few years ago, he asked a contractor to follow in a sign truck as an added layer of protection. “All the sudden, he blared the horn, and I dove left because traffic was to my right,” Paul explained. “Sure enough, somebody sick of traffic was coming right at me … if it weren't for that contractor hitting this horn, I wouldn't have seen the guy coming.”

Statistics to back those stories

This situation is more common than you might expect. A 2024 industry study found that nearly two in three contractors reported a crash in a construction work zone last year. In Washington, we average 1,345 work zone crashes yearly, which doesn’t even capture near misses.

In another crash, Paul said a driver slammed into a contractor’s truck so hard on SR 167 that his vehicle caught fire last year. Crews were later told the driver was distracted at the time of the crash. Fortunately, the contractor had just climbed out of the truck, heard tires on the rumble strips and had just enough time to jump over a guardrail.

Crashes in work zones are dangerous for workers, drivers, passengers and pedestrians.

“What if the contractor was still in his vehicle?” Paul asks. “What if he was getting out?”

Maintenance worker Sheri Knowles says that after nearly 15 years on the job, she has too many stories to count. Her family often worries for her safety: “My husband and my sons have a hard time when they see it on the news and social media.”

Sheri works traffic control and says she’s noticed increasing speeds and aggression in the last few years. “People are flying past us. Everybody’s tailgating and distracted with screens in their cars. Then, when they get to the work zone, they don’t have time to react.”

Work zone speed cameras

Workers like Paul and Sheri are part of the reason why WSDOT will soon unveil its work zone speed camera program. This new safety tool involves a partnership between the Washington State Patrol, courts, the Legislature, unions and industry supporters. The goal is to slow speeding drivers as they pass through work zones. Excessive speed is consistently among the top three causes of work zone crashes in our state.

The trailer-mounted cameras will rotate between construction, maintenance and emergency projects where speeding is a problem. Signs will warn drivers when a camera is in a work zone. When possible, radar speed feedback signs will also show drivers how fast they’re moving.

A trailer-mounted camera will be positioned in work zones where speeding is a problem.

There is no fine for the first work zone speed camera infraction, but it’s $248 for the second and every violation after that. Images of speeding vehicles will be forwarded from the camera vendor to WSP without any photos that show who was driving the vehicle. Troopers will screen and determine if a violation was committed. If it was, a notice will be sent to the vehicle's registered owner. People can acknowledge the infraction, pay the penalty, contest, appeal, ask for reductions or set up payment plans through a hearing.

The goal of the program is to slow drivers and protect workers and the traveling public. State statistics show that 95 percent of the people hurt in work zone crashes are drivers, their passengers or pedestrians. Any money generated by penalties goes only to support the program and fund safety education programs and DUI enforcement. This is a safety program and we’d be happy to see the program collect no fines – because no speeders mean safer work zones for all.

Legislation for the cameras took effect in 2023 with the program running until 2030.

Hope for a new type of work zone

Paul hopes the cameras change driver behavior like people have changed their driving near schools.

“We as a society really value taking care of our children,” he explained. “But we don't have that sort of civic responsibility and understanding regarding construction workers.”

The program starts with one camera in early 2025 and will increase to two more in the spring and as many as six by summer. We hope the cameras improve conditions for crews who just want to get home at the end of their shift.

 By: Scott Klepach and Lauren Loebsack

You can count on three things to happen every winter in Washington: Long nights, short days and closed passes.

Some mountain passes – like SR 20 North Cascades Highway, SR 410 Chinook and SR 123 Cayuse – close for the season. Others, like I-90 Snoqualmie Pass and US 2 Stevens Pass require year-round work to remain open for winter travelers.

Clear roads ahead on Christmas morning on Stevens Pass.

During the warmer months, Snoqualmie and Stevens crews repair roads, prepare equipment and make improvements from last winter’s wrecks. Once winter arrives, their focus turns to snow and ice operations.

But even with all this preparation, sometimes the weather, avalanche control or crashes cause a pass to close. Let’s look at what causes closures and how crews work to get roads open again.

What triggers a pass closure?

Pass closures happen every winter. In most cases, closures happen because drivers aren’t prepared for the conditions.

“It’s the (drivers) failing to follow traction requirements and speed limits,” said maintenance superintendent Jason Pratt, who has worked 17 winters in WSDOT’s maintenance area 1 in South Central Region, which oversees Snoqualmie Pass. “That’s what causes most of the closures. Our team is the best in the business. We know how to handle a storm.”

Pratt adds that safety risks and traffic issues come from drivers who don’t have good tires, drive too fast or don’t know how to drive safely in snow and ice. Some people ignore the chain-up rules or simply don’t know how to use chains.

In this scene from December 2020, multiple semi-trucks failed to chain up, got stuck and closed Snoqualmie Pass for more than an hour. Closures of this nature happen every winter.

This is also true on Stevens Pass, where weather-related closures are rare. Only three closures in the last five years were due to weather conditions. But that doesn’t mean the pass is always bare. During and directly after snowstorms, roads may have snow or compact snow and ice on the road, which is why it’s important for drivers to be prepared before they head out.

“Usually, we have to close because someone didn’t check the forecast, or thought they could get across the pass on bad tires,” said Aaron Byrd, maintenance supervisor for Stevens Pass. “My advice is check the pass report. We update at 7 (a.m. and p.m.), 11, and 3, day and night. That’s our crew out on the pass, reporting conditions in real time.”

Working quickly – and safely – to reopen

One spin out can close an entire pass for hours. During that time, Incident Response, Highway Maintenance and other first responders and tow truck operators work together to clear vehicles or debris. If there’s a big crash or if material is spilled onto the roadway or waterways, the cleanup can take even longer.

“Our crews work as quickly and safely as possible to reopen a highway,” Pratt said.

We work closely with Washington State Patrol to safely close the roads. Our crews use special trucks called “push pickups” to push vehicles out of the way and to the shoulder. When we need to move a large vehicle like a semi-truck, we need to call in big tow trucks that come from further away, which adds more time.

Crews work from the top of the summit to clear snow, but plows can’t get through if there are vehicles blocking the road. All of this takes time and resources to shift crews to the greatest needed area for storm response.

“This is what crews try to do with vehicles – move blocking vehicles to just try and get traffic flowing again,” said Scott Montgomery, maintenance supervisor at Snoqualmie Pass.

When weather-related closures are necessary, it isn’t a quick process. Our crew “sweeps” the road, traveling the area between the closure points to clear traffic.

On Stevens Passs, we coordinate with the ski resort to assist skiers down the mountain. Depending on the severity of conditions, skiers have had to travel east toward Leavenworth and double back around on US 97 Blewett Pass to get home.

Closure points are staffed, unless it’s expected to be a longer closure – for example longer than 24 hours – in which case, the crew will build a snow berm at the closure points to prevent drivers from trying to sneak through the closure.

Working with the weather

Before a snowstorm, crews might close a pass to conduct avalanche control – which can take from 30 minutes to two hours to complete depending on how much debris comes down.

“Avalanche missions are a delicate balance,” said Harlan Sheppard, North Central Region avalanche supervisor. “(Do them) too often and you don’t get results that are worth the cost, not often enough and it could be tipping over into avalanche danger.”

During avalanche control missions, traffic is held on either side of the summit while crews use explosives to trigger avalanches. The maintenance team follows the avalanche control team, using loaders, blowers and plows to clear the road. Even though the closures can be short, the team typically schedules missions for early in the morning – when there’s usually the least amount of traffic.

Snowplows clear snow from Stevens Pass following an avalanche control mission.

We’ve also installed defensive strategies to keep falling snow off the roads. Across the summit of US 2 Stevens Pass, structures referred to as “passive protection” are designed to lessen the potential for snow slides to reach the highway.

Deflection berms, like the one constructed in 2019 at Tunnel Creek, and gabion baskets such as those installed at East Portal and Tunnel Point are defensive strategies to collect and redirect snow. They also work to catch debris such as rocks that come down year-round.

Once snow begins to fall, crews build snow trenches in areas know to have smaller slides, shaping the piled-up snow on the side of the road into a basin that can then be cleaned out.

Defensive measures have also been implemented at Snoqualmie Pass. As part of the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East project to enhance the highway between Hyak and Easton, crews constructed avalanche bridges east of the summit, positioned over sections of the road prone to avalanche risk. Instead of allowing snow and debris to fall directly onto the road, the bridges allow the snow to pass underneath, essentially diverting the avalanche away from the highway. This prevents road closures and reduces the risk to motorists. However, avalanche control work is still needed west of the summit.

How can I prepare for winter driving across the passes?

Winter preparation messaging can seem excessive until drivers are in a serious winter storm.

“It’s why you really need to understand and be prepared for winter travel,” Byrd said.

Here’s how you can do your part to be prepared for whatever you encounter during a winter drive across the passes:

1. Be prepared for possible delays and ensure you carry appropriate winter travel gear.
2. Stay informed . Check weather and conditions before you leave and during travel – if you are driving, never check from behind the wheel, pull over to a safe spot or ask a passenger to check. Use WSDOT’s tools to stay informed of conditions and possible closures.
3. Drive for the conditions : Slowing down and leaving plenty of following distance for other drivers and plows help reduce the potential for collisions and spin outs that are the primary reason the pass closes.
4. Carry chains. Requiring chains be installed in certain conditions allows travelers to continue moving during storms rather than closing a pass or roadway. If you haven’t before, look into getting chains or traction alternatives recommended for your vehicle. Practice installing chains at home or driveway. You do not want to install chains for your first time along the side of a highway during a winter storm.
5. Always expect winter travel conditions. Drive knowing and expecting that snow and ice conditions could be present. Roads that appear wet could be black ice.
6. Even if you don’t see them, our crews are out there. Plows must travel slow and often are plowing other roads or sections of highway if you don’t see them while driving. Our crews take great pride in their work. Many live in the areas that they work.

Know before you go

• Download the WSDOT mobile app.: https://wsdot.wa.gov/travel/travel-information-phone
• Sign up for email and/or text updates about road conditions – or sign up to receive text message alerts about significant delays on Snoqualmie Pass by texting "START" to the number 85107.
• Follow WSDOT across a variety of social media platforms including Facebook, Threads, X/Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
• Check current traction and chain requirements for mountain passes, which are also available on highway-advisory signs and highway-advisory radio.