WSDOT’s quarterly performance report finds progress on highway safety

OLYMPIA – An analysis of highways before and after the installation of centerline rumble strips shows a 57 percent reduction in serious injury and fatal crossover collisions. The report is included in the latest Washington State Department of Transportation quarterly performance report, the Gray Notebook, for the quarter ending June 30, 2009.

The edition, the 34^th since it was started in 2001, includes ongoing quarterly reporting on federal stimulus project delivery, an update on travel time trends in the central Puget Sound during the first six months of 2009, and an article on WSDOT’s first greenhouse gas emissions inventory.

In addition, the GNB includes annual reports for highway safety and fatalities, bridges, capital facilities, construction contracts, and environmental permitting.

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WSDOT provides quarterly updates in every edition of the GNB on worker safety, workforce levels and training, highway incident response, Washington State Ferries, Amtrak Cascades, and project delivery. The June 30, 2009, edition is now available on the WSDOT website: www.wsdot.wa.gov/accountability.

Other performance highlights include:

• As of June 30, 2009, WSDOT has delivered a total of 194 Nickel and Transportation Partnership Account (TPA) projects valued at $2.546 billion, on target with the funding provided in the 2007-09 Transportation Budget.


• During the first half of 2009, travel times during peak periods improved on 13 of 18 surveyed commute routes in the Seattle area compared to the first half of 2008.


• For Fiscal Year 2009, 97 percent of WSDOT’s bridges were in good or fair condition. WSDOT’s bridge inventory increased from 3,607 to 3,628 total structures between FY 2008 and FY 2009.


• Eighty-three percent of WSDOT’s capital facilities are in good or fair condition, a slight decline from 2006 (85 percent).


• WSDOT completed its first greenhouse gas inventory to measure emissions from its activities – one of the first transportation agencies in the country to do so.