Hours of driver delays—what did WSDOT accomplish over the summer?

I think we’re all getting more than a little tired of the orange cones at this point. Construction has been rough this summer, but WSDOT has accomplished a lot.

I knew I was in trouble when I got a text from KIRO host Gee Scott Sunday afternoon that read, “call ya boy.”

Gee was stuck in the brutal southbound I-5 drive through Kent this weekend. WSDOT had closed all lanes for concrete panel replacement. He called the backup “disrespectful,” and he was right.

So many people hit up the text line to report hours-long delays getting through the construction. So what did WSDOT accomplish for all of this pain?

Contractors were able to replace 60 failing concrete panels and improve the road.

It got me thinking. We see the big projects like this, Revive I-5, I-90, and State Route 18 (SR 18), but that doesn’t cover all the orange cones we saw this summer. What did WSDOT get done for all those delays?

Here’s a quick list of some of the things WSDOT was able to tackle between June, July, and August: Nearly 2 million square feet of pavement repairs. More than 18,000 feet of guardrail replaced. Over 10,000 acres of brush and grass were mowed or cleared. Nearly 1,200 hazardous or dead trees were removed along roads. Around 335 tons of trash were collected. More than 327,000 square feet of graffiti was removed.

WSDOT replaces over 3,000 miles of toilet paper

Also, 40,000 hours were spent cleaning rest areas. And while this didn’t likely cause any road delays, maintenance workers replaced more than 3,000 miles of toilet paper at those rest areas. That’s wiping from Seattle to New York.

That’s 1,500 maintenance workers. Only 3 months. Not a bad list of accomplishments.

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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