Date:  Monday, October 25, 2010

Contact:  Jeff Adamson , North Central Region Communications Manager 509-667-2815 (Wenatchee), -509-669-8778 (cell)

Jennene Ring, North Central Region Traffic Engineer, 509-667-3080 (Wenatchee)

WENATCHEE – The newest addition to the traffic camera images available on the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) website offers travelers another eye on Stevens Pass traffic conditions.

Just in time for winter, the new camera provides an eastbound view from just below the Old Faithful avalanche zone. The camera is located two and a half miles west of the Stevens Pass summit (MP 64.5), and is mounted on top of a new electronic variable speed limit sign installed on the shoulder last year (MP 61.9).

The goal is to increase safety and mobility for those traveling over Stevens Pass. Providing real-time traffic and weather information in advance of the busy Stevens Pass ski area, allows travelers to know what kind of traffic and weather to expect.

WSDOT North Central Region Traffic Engineer Jennene Ring said the new camera “also gives us and the Washington State Patrol another tool to evaluate pavement, traffic or collision situations and respond with the proper staff and equipment more quickly.

“For the public,” Ring added, “It provides a view of the steepest and most avalanche prone part of the highway.”

WSDOT updates these and other pass-camera traffic images on its website every minute.

As the new camera was added, the view from the East Summit camera changed last Friday as a result of a new pedestrian bridge over the highway currently being completed.

The small building housing the Road Weather Information Station and that camera had to be relocated several hundred yards further east to the end of the ski area’s north parking lot. The new camera view is now west, toward the summit and the new bridge. The West Summit camera image remains the same. That camera is mounted on the side of the Stevens Pass Lodge, focused on the highway and the west summit parking lot, where a new turn lane was installed as part of the bridge project.

The new $6,500 camera installation was paid for with WSDOT “low cost enhancement” funds. It brings the number of traffic cameras in the WSDOT’s North Central Region to 32. Ten years ago, the region installed its first traffic camera at the summit of Stevens Pass. Statewide, WSDOT offers 400+ traffic cameras to help motorists “Know before you go”.

For more information:
• WSDOT's Traffic and Roads - Camera page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/
• Stevens Pass page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/stevens/#
• Old Faithful camera: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/cccam.aspx?cam=9145

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