From potholes to 9 million toilet flushes: WSDOT maintenance crews’ busy summer

A Swiss Army knife. That’s what you call someone who can step in and do most any job. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has about 1,500 maintenance workers who fall into that category.

While you’ve been stuck in the major construction on the Ship Canal Bridge, the widening of I-405, or the repairs to the Vantage Bridge, these 1,500 maintenance workers have been doing all the work you probably didn’t even notice.

“Pothole repairs, refreshing lane markings, replacing damaged guardrail, making repairs at rest areas, or inspecting culverts,” WSDOT spokesperson Tina Werner said.

WSDOT crews refresh road markings, repair lights, and haul away 318 tons of trash

These workers have had a busy summer. From June to September, these workers have painted over 5,000 lane miles of road stripes, swept more than 3,800 miles of roadway of small debris, and repaired over 1,100 highway lights.

They’ve painted more than 40,000 pavement markings, like arrows and crosswalks. They removed more than 346,000 square feet of graffiti and picked up all the trash bags collected by the Department of Ecology and volunteers.

“Around 318 tons of trash, which is just about 42,000 full bags of litter,” Werner said.

Crews clear hazardous trees and respond to crashes and wildfires

These workers removed nearly 1,500 dead or hazardous trees. They cleaned more than 7,200 catch basins and repaired nearly 500 traffic signals.

They were also called in for major emergencies, like crashes and the summer wildfires.

“Whether there is an emergency, some kind of collision, or a semi truck carrying corn that spills along I-5, they are diverted to help respond to that,” Werner said. “They’re also the crews that are staffing road closures that are needed during disasters.”

Washington’s roads are reliant on this group of dedicated workers.

“We find it’s really helpful to be able to show the public here’s what was done because often these are the crews that are working quietly behind the scenes, and they’re working day and night to help maintain our transportation system,” Werner said.

Keeping 47 rest areas running through 9 million toilet flushes

These workers are also responsible for keeping the state’s 47 rest areas up and running. Here are some of the stats for those rest areas from June to September.

“Our safety rest area toilets flushed over 9 million times,” Werner said. “They refilled 3,600 gallons of soap and 92 million sheets of toilet paper.”

Single ply.

Maintenance crews gear up for winter weather

The maintenance staff is now preparing for winter, and Werner said they will be ready for the bad weather.

“Making sure our salt sheds and our snow plows and our trucks and all of our equipment like snow blowers are ready to go,” she said.

They are fully staffed with drivers and mechanics, but there will be some seasonal jobs available.

More on winter prep in a few weeks.

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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