NPHQ > Awards & Success Stories > 2008 Winner

Washington State Drivers Receive New Tools to Avoid Major Construction Delays

WSDOT Delivers on Customer Information While Improving Safety/Congestion at Notorious Bottleneck 

The Washington State Department of Transportation's  (WSDOT) campaign to warn commuters of massive lane closures on Interstate 5 in Seattle won the National Partnership for Highway Quality's (NPHQ) 2008 Gold Award for Public Communications.

The Award celebrates WSDOT's successful efforts to get the word out to drivers and transit riders about the I-5 Spokane Street to I-90 Bridge Repair Project in downtown Seattle.  In August 2007 WSDOT reduced northbound I-5 to just two to three lanes around the clock for two weeks while crews replaced failing expansion joints and resurfaced lanes on a one-mile section of the freeway. 
Despite the extensive closures, backups rarely extended more than two miles from the I-5/I-90 interchange, a location renowned as one of the worst bottlenecks in the country. 

High-profile projects on busy urban corridors like I-5 in Seattle depend on effective public communications for their success.  WSDOT showed how public communications can keep traffic moving despite significant weekday closures.

Washington Secretary of Transportation Paula Hammond credited an extensive public and media outreach campaign.  "We needed more than half the drivers to take action, and they did," said Hammond.  "Aggressive, proactive communications helped make drivers and transit users aware of the closures far in advance, and gave them the time and tools necessary to make changes to their commutes."

Hammond said three communications elements were key to minimizing backups:

• Early outreach to employers, community groups, government agencies and the freight industry gave them time to plan, gave them a stake in the project and helped WSDOT reach a wider audience.
• Frequent, themed media events before the closure, daily media events during the closure, daily news releases, frequent Web page updates and a variety of spokespeople and experts kept the media engaged, reinforced WSDOT messaging and created broad public awareness of the project, its effect on traffic and commute options.
• Eye-catching, simple graphics grabbed people's attention and provided succinct project information.

For more information on the campaign:  www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/SpokaneStreetBridgeRepair/