Be safe in snow… you don’t have nine lives.

By Alice Fiman

For #ThrowbackThursday, I’ll share a photo I took on a recent trip back to my high school. I hadn’t been there in many years. Yes, we are the mighty Tigers. And like tigers, many of us here aren’t very comfortable in the snow. We make that face when we hear it’s coming.

So, let’s talk snow and driving and safety. Please take a few moments to get ready for Friday’s commute. Plan ahead and leave yourself extra time. And if you do have to travel, drive for conditions and don’t take chances.

Forecasts call for a short duration snowfall in the Puget Sound region, starting tonight (Thursday). They say it should be gone by Friday afternoon.  For those of you who have the day off, well, lucky.

WSDOT crews, our partners at the Washington State Patrol and many, many others are out treating roads and keeping traffic moving. We do need your help. We have a list below. Please add any additions to the comments section. Thanks!

For those of us who will be on the road Thursday night and Friday:

• In ice and snow, take it slow.
• Protect yourself and your passengers.
• Allow extra time to reach your destination during inclement weather.
• Drive for conditions – slower speeds, slower acceleration.
• Use your headlights.
• Four-wheel and all-wheel vehicles do not stop or steer better on ice.
• Leave extra room between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you.
• Remember, the larger the vehicle, the longer the stopping distance.
• Slow down when approaching intersections, offramps, bridges, or shady spots.
• If you find yourself behind a WSDOT truck, stay behind it until it is safe to pass. Remember that truck provides the driver a limited field of vision.

Know before you go:

• Check traffic, road temperatures and highway cameras across the state.
• Find out what’s happening in the Puget Sound region.
• Call 511. WSDOT’s driver information phone line provides real-time traffic, incident and closure information. Out-of-state callers can dial 1-800-695-ROAD (7623). TTY users can call 1-800-833-6388.
• Sign up for email updates and social media tools such as Facebook.
• Follow traveler information on Twitter. Look for #wasnow on @wsdot, @wsdot_traffic (Seattle area), @wsdot_sw (Vancouver area), @wsdot_tacoma, @srtmc (Spokane area) @wsdot_passes, @SnoqualmiePass.

Each year, when the first snowfall hits, we seem to get the same questions. One that always comes up is what does it mean when the sign says “Chains Required.”

Basically, it means most cars have to chain up – and yes, even those with studded tires. Studded tires don’t take the place of chains.

Most of the time, those with four-wheel or all-wheel drive don’t have to chain up. You may be surprised to know that even four- and all-wheel drivers do need to have chains available in the vehicle. Yes, that is the law (check under WAC 204…section 1a).

Other “FAQs” don’t usually change much. But there’s a new answer to this:

• My vehicle cannot accommodate tire chains. Can I drive when chains are required?

Now, the answer is YES – if you have socks.

Huh? What, socks, on a car? (or truck or van or other passenger vehicle – no for semi-trucks)

This year, the company that makes AutoSock was certified “as meeting or exceeding chain requirements for use when Chains Required signs are posted.”

Please remember, only AutoSock. It’s brand name. There may be some other tire sock-type products out there, but they aren’t legal for use (yet) in Washington. That’s from the Washington State Patrol.

The Yakima Herald has a story today that gives more of the background: Tired of messing with tire chains? Put a sock on it.

Want to know the law in full? You can read the complete Washington Administrative Code or WAC (204-24-035) on traction devices.

Any other questions, you can always call or email either us or the Washington State Patrol.

Washington State Patrol Equipment and Standards Section: (360) 596-4017 or equipment@wsp.wa.gov.

WSDOT Headquarters Customer Service: (360) 705-7438 or hqcustomerservice@wsdot.wa.gov.

These aren’t staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but we’ll try and answer as soon as we can.

Safe driving!

We are very lucky to have you. You pay attention, ask questions, offer opinions AND solutions. Many times, your letters, e-mails and phone calls bring up issues or questions and I think – you can’t be the only person who thinks that. So, we add information to our Web site or try some other way to get the info out to drivers.




This week, we got one of those e-mails. (I did edit a bit for spelling.) “I understand that two years ago you began a program of using salt on Eastern Washington roads. I drove to Pullman last December and I'm still dealing with the corrosion as the result of this one trip. Please let the appropriate officials know I believe the use of corrosive chemicals for road treatment should be stopped. Until the program is stopped you should let people know on your Web site which roads are actively being salted so they would have a chance to avoid those roads.”

One of our Maintenance Managers responded. “The traveling public and the freight industry will no longer tolerate the frequent closure of highways and the corresponding elevated accident rates that were associated with the previous philosophy of ‘sand and plow’. WSDOT will continue to test alternative products such as acetates and agricultural by-products which are thought to be less corrosive, but until such products are made more readily available, are less expensive, and have been fully tested for environmental impacts, we will continue to use the tried and true methods which have allowed us to provide the level of service the traveling public has come to expect.”

This response (and the more details I offer below) highlight what we do and how much emphasis we place on keeping state routes open during challenging winter conditions. But there are just a few things about winter that we just can’t control. One is the weather. There are very sophisticated weather forecasting systems, but sometimes, Mother Nature just throws a curve ball.

And number two is drivers. Today’s auto safety features save lives. But, you shouldn’t feel like you can drive through a snow storm as if it’s 60 degrees and sunny just because you have AWD, 4-wheel drive or advanced traction control. Unfortunately, we still see those drivers out there. And, when they cause a collision, it slows down everyone else.

For many of us, gone are the days when you car started to spin or slip a bit so you knew it was time to take it down a notch. So please, slow down and get to know your car a bit. How will you know when or if the traction control starts taking over? This, along with the weather outside the window, will help you know when it’s time to start slowing down. Don’t wait until you are in the ditch (or worse) before you realize you are going too fast.

And what do those anti-lock brakes sound like? A sudden loud sound coming from your car while you are trying to navigate through a snow storm can really wreck your concentration.

For those who would like a bit more background on the WSDOT Winter Road Maintenance program, here are some other highlights for the e-mail response:

• The salt program is much older than two years in Washington State. We've been using a Chemical Priority Program for several years with the goal of reducing sand use across the state.
• This program is statewide and is not confined to Eastern Washington.
• We use a variety of corrosion inhibited liquid chloride products including sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, and calcium chloride. We also use solid sodium chloride (rock salt) in combination with the inhibited liquids to form a wetted salt which acts more quickly and effectively on ice and snow.
• Any one of these liquid products along with solid salt is used on every state route to varying degrees, dependent on climate and elevation.
• The use of liquid and solid chloride products to manage ice and snow is practiced in nearly all snowbelt states and Canadian provinces.
• WSDOT is one of the few transportation agencies which requires that all liquid products be corrosion inhibited. As a member of the Pacific Northwest Snowfighters (PNS), WSDOT requires that liquid products be at least 70% less corrosive than straight sodium chloride. This is not to say that these products are totally non-corrosive. There will be some corrosive effects from the use of any chloride product, inhibited or not.
• We strongly feel that the ability to provide a superior level of service in winter outweighs the comparatively minor impacts of these products. The ability to drive from Ridgefield to Pullman in December is a case in point.

Also, please note the above outlines treatments on state highways maintained under WSDOT’s Winter Maintenance program. More links that describe the WSDOT Winter Program and the Pacific Northwest Snowfighters organization: www.wsdot.wa.gov/winter/, www.wsdot.wa.gov/winter/SnowIcePlan.htm, www.wsdot.wa.gov/partners/pns/.

Headline from WSDOT's Web site Dec. 25, 2008: "Don we now our rain apparel? Warmer temperatures are welcome gifts to Washington drivers"

On the west side, we were just warming up from the most recent winter storm. Over the mountains and into Eastern Washington you could still find some spots of ice and snow.



While WSDOT road crews were out fighting the weather Christmas Day (and the days and nights leading up to it), I sent that info to news outlets and our Web site while toasty warm on Christmas Day. Those crews are much tougher than me. (Side note: Should I praise or curse technology? Hmmmm - still trying to decide.)

On our YouTube channel we have some videos about what we do all winter.

So back to my point - snow was here in December 2008. As we got closer to January, it finally started to turn around. This type of weather can wreak havoc on travel, so the travel patterns and drivers who travel in December can vary widely from year to year. For this reason, WSDOT will not be posting historical travel data for Christmas and New Years Holiday weekends.

We typically post historical travel data to show drivers when we expect heavier-than-normal traffic on key vacation-type routes. With both Christmas and New Years on Friday this year, we thought about it. But, the historical data can get skewed with one or two days of bad weather in late December.

Our colleagues at AAA have information on projected travel, which they gather through nationwide surveys.

We do have some travel information for Christmas and New Years. We find only two spots of higher-than-normal traffic, the I-5 area north of Seattle and I-5 through Thurston and Lewis counties. Remember, the predictions are based on clear driving conditions.

The mountain pass highways aren't one of the heavy travel spots in late December, but ski season and any new snow may bring more people to I-90 Snoqualmie Pass, US 2 Stevens Pass and US 12 White Pass.

Regardless, prepare and know before you go. Washington weather can change quickly.

I just saw the dozers clearing the field for the Seahawks and hope the fans keep warm. More snow is on the way and Gov. Gregoire has asked us all to stay off the road if possible.

We do have a few cameras offline in the Seattle area - I hear it's due to frozen fiber optic cables. If that is the case, that's not something we can fix soon.

Have to say the snow falling right now in Olympia is absolutely beautiful - the big, fluffy flakes. It's unfortunate it creates such a driving hazard.

Please be prepared and take it easy out there.

We will be updating this blog and our Twitter account all day. Stay tuned.

11:45 p.m. update: they just extended the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass closure from milepost 33 to milepost 106 (North Bend to Ellensburg). The Snoqualmie Traffic Management Center is now telling me westbound travelers may think about I-82 to Yakima and west on US 12 over White Pass. Or, north on US 97 to US 2 over Stevens Pass. Both Stevens and White have traction requirements.

11 p.m. Saturday update

The wind and snow has taken its toll on the mountain pass highways and Columbia Gorge. We have just closed Snoqualmie Pass. The crew at the top told me you just can't see. And the same down on SR 14 through the Columbia River Gorge. Oregon has also closed I-84 through the Gorge on their side.

We are also getting our first reports of freezing rain. With the snow and ice already on the road, freezing rain can be the most difficult to clear. It just freezes on contact to whatever it touches.

If you can , stay off the roads. If you do have to drive, be prepared for hazardous driving conditions. Jeremy has all the links in his post below. Please be safe. Know before you go.