Each year, WSDOT maintenance crews spend the dry summer months re-striping more than 4,500 miles of highway on dozens of highways in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom and Island counties. The fresh coats of reflective paint stripe that crews apply during spring, summer and fall months will make it easier for drivers to see the road when the winter rains return.

Ramp meters are stop-and-go traffic signals that control the frequency with which vehicles enter the flow of traffic on the freeway. 

Incident response is a traffic congestion mitigation strategy. It is a team of agencies, vendors, and other resources to respond to, investigate, and clean up traffic incidents.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is the technology that supports the operations of our state highway system. This technology is supported by communications systems which include wireless radio, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, microwave systems and fiber optics.

State law (RCW 46.61.400) sets Washington’s basic speed law and the maximum speed limits for state highways, county roads, and city streets. The statute also authorizes agencies to raise or lower these maximum speed limits, when supported by an engineering and traffic investigation.

The Washington State Department of Transportation crews keep their eyes on traffic and highways via six Traffic Management Centers located at key locations around the state: Shoreline, Tacoma, Vancouver, Wenatchee, Yakima and Spokane,  with a winter operations center on Snoqualmie Pass.