Attempted copper wire theft knocks out WSDOT cameras, travel data for several days
Oct 7, 2026, 1:00 PM | Updated: 3:18 pm
A bundle of copper wire. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
I noticed it first thing Monday morning. The travel times page and the live cameras available on the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) website went down early in the morning. The cameras were down in Pierce, Thurston, Grays Harbor, and Kitsap Counties.
All the vital travel data that WSDOT provides, like real-time data, was down. All WSDOT said on social media was that gremlins were at work.
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Damaged copper wire took traffic systems offline across 4 counties
A KIRO Newsradio listener asked me this morning if I had noticed that the ramp meters were dark at the on-ramp from Nisqually to northbound I-5. They had been out for a few days.
I reached out to WSDOT Olympic Region communications manager Cara Mitchell to find out what happened, and this all goes back to an attempted wire theft.
“Yes, the ramp meters have been out for several days this week up and down the I-5 corridor in Pierce and Thurston counties due to an attempted wire theft,” Mitchell wrote via email. “The fiber that was cut and damaged took our Olympic Region Traffic Management Center and some nearby maintenance facilities offline, which includes all associated Intelligent Transportation System equipment (cameras, overhead electronic signs) and communications in Pierce, Thurston, Kitsap and Grays Harbor counties.”
WSDOT does not have a cost estimate for the damage or what it will take to repair. Most of the online services came back before 9 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Wire theft costs WSDOT about $1 million every biennium, and that is only for the damage the state can afford to repair or replace.
In many cases, WSDOT can’t afford to make repairs. For example, overhead lights at 320th and I-5 in Federal Way that were damaged by a wire theft earlier this year are still dark because the state doesn’t have the money to make the repairs.
Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.
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