Washington State Transportation

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) overviews the entire transportation network of the state to ensure safe and easy commuting of people and goods. WSDOT owns, manages and maintains numerous lane-miles of roadways, bridges, tunnels, rails and also responsible for air and water quality, communities and roadside cleanliness. The department also maintains good partnership with many public transportation systems to effectively serve the people and provide over millions of passenger trips a year. Some of the Federal and State funding include Nickel Funding, 2005 Transportation Partnerships Projects, ARRA Dashboard, TIGER Grants, and High Speed Passenger Rail. Washington transportation system comprises of state routes and highways, one of the largest ferry systems and waterways in the nation, state and private owned airports and railways.

The road transportation in Washington comprises of several interstate highways, state routes, bridges and tunnels. The Washington State Department of Transportation is striving to ensure safe, convenient transportation and also to provide easy connectivity to various cities and states. The department administers and maintains numerous state highways, bridges and also handles the world’s longest floating bridge project along with the widest tunneling project in the world. The mountain ranges in Washington poses certain challenges in constructing roads and bridges but the state’s dedicated transportation department builds and operates roads over seven major mountain passes and eight minor passes. Several safety measures, such as avalanche control are also taken up to ensure safety while traveling through these passes during winter seasons.

Washington has primary routes and auxiliary routes that are part of the Interstate Highway System. These highways provide intercity connectivity across the state and also connect with the other states. Primary interstate highways include I-5, I-82 and I-90 and the auxiliary interstate highways are I-182, I-205, I-405, I-605, and I-705. Some of the important state routes include SR 3, SR 4, SR 8, SR 9, SR 14, SR 16, SR 17, SR 18, SR 22, SR 23, SR 24, SR 25, SR 26, SR 27, SR 28.

I-82: It runs from I-90 in Ellensburg, Washington, to I-84 near Umatilla, Oregon, United States. In connects the Washington cities of Ellensburg, Yakima, Tri Cities, Umatilla and Hermiston. It also serves as the primary connectivity route westwards to Seattle and eastwards to Boise and Salt Lake City.

I-90: It runs from Seattle, Washington, to Boston, Massachusetts. It connects the Washington cities of Seattle, Bellevue, Issaquah, Ellensburg, Moses Lake, Ritzville, and Spokane.

The roads in Washington are built to serve people from all walks of life using various transportation modes. Various plans and programs are initiated and implemented by the Washington State Department of Transportation for effective, efficient, safe and convenient transportation of people and cargo.

WSDOT works to identify needs and implement techniques that improve the value of the state wide bus transportation system. Bus is an efficient and affordable mode of transportation for people from all walks of life.

Intercity bus services are provided by Greyhound Lines, Travel Washington Gold Line, Travel Washington Apple Line, Travel Washington Grape Line and Travel Washington Dungeness Line.

Shuttle Services:

• Airporter Shuttle
  Bellingham, Anacortes and Mt. Vernon to Sea-Tac Airport
  
  
• Airporter Shuttle, Central
  Cle Elum, Ellensburg and Yakima to Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport
  
  
• Around the Sound
  Kitsap, Mason, Clallam, Jefferson and South King County to Sea-Tac Airport
  
  
• Capital Aeroporter
  Olympia, Shelton, Aberdeen, Centralia and Tacoma to Sea-Tac Airport
  
  
• Gray Line of Seattle
  Seattle area to Sea-Tac Airport
  
  
• Quick Shuttle
  Sea-Tac Airport and Vancouver, BC; also BC-bound passengers from Seattle, Everett and Bellingham
  
  
• Rocket Transportation
  Olympic Peninsula to Sea-Tac Airport and other greater Seattle destinations
  
  
• SeaTac Direct
  Nonstop direct service between Bellingham and Sea-Tac Airport
  
  
• Shuttle Express
  Pierce, King and Snohomish counties to Sea-Tac Airport
  
  
• Wenatchee Valley Shuttle
  Wenatchee and Peshastin to Sea-Tac Airport
  
  
• Wheatland Express
  Pullman, Moscow and Lewiston to Spokane Airport
  
  
• Whidbey SeaTac Shuttle
  Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Greenbank, Freeland, Bayview and Langley/Clinton to Sea-Tac Airport
  
  

Listed below are some important programs and projects.


Adopt-A-Highway-Program

The Adopt-A-Highway-Program provides a great opportunity for individuals, organizations, schools or businesses to help maintain cleanliness of all roads within Washington State Highway System and also plant trees or wildflowers, and helps remove graffiti, to make roads more appealing. The program is a successful government-public partnership program and various schools, social groups, business entities and religious groups actively adopt and participate in the program. The program helps to keeps the state clean by effectively reminding people not to litter, and also assist in saving taxpayers’ money.

Learn more on: Adopt-A-Highway Program

Washington State Bicycle Facilities and Pedestrian Walkways Plan

The Washington State Department of Transportation initiated the Bicycle Facilities and Pedestrian Walkways Plan to provide safer facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists, to improve the roadways for biking and walking. The program promotes more walking and biking in people's daily life to incorporate health lifestyle and also to reduce pollutants from cars and trucks and improve air quality of the state.

In fact, bicycling is a hugely accepted transportation system and the League of American Bicyclists named Washington State as the nation's number one "Bicycle Friendly State" for the seventh year in a row.

Also read:

Washington State Bicycle Laws

Washington State Highways Closed to Bicycles

Washington State Pedestrian Laws

Sustainable transportation program

Pollutants emitted from cars, trucks, planes, and ships have resulted in the marked increase of pollution in Washington. Nearly half of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Washington is due to emissions from transportation-related activities. WSDOT is dedicated to develop effective and balanced emission reduction strategies to preserve the environment.

The Sustainable transportation program is working to make transportation more sustainable through integrating modes of transit , ride sharing , bicycling, new technology to conserve fuel and energy, minimize carbon emissions and protect our natural environment, manages traffic flow through busy traffic points, and using recycled building materials and extending the lifespan of roads and bridges.

For more information, call Seth Stark - WSDOT Sustainable Transportation Manager at
360-628-7611 or E-mail at Seth.stark@wsdot.wa.gov.

Also read: Sustainable Transportation Action Plan

Washington State Scenic and Recreational Highway Programs

Washington State is among the pioneers that started Scenic highway programs. The main mission and goal of the scenic highway program is to safeguard and improve the natural scenic beauty of the highways of California including its adjacent corridors. The program adopts a special conservation treatment to protect the roads and all the corridors from encroachment such as junkyards, dumps, concrete plants, and gravel pits, proper landscaping or screening, prohibit billboards and graffiti, environmental friendly developments, regulate grading to prevent erosion alteration in contours, preserve important vegetative, hillsides, provide a local transportation vehicle to promote local tourism.

Also read:

State Scenic & Recreational Highways Plan

Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) Projects

Washington Air Transportation is a major mode that offers all round efficient and easy intercity and interstate connectivity. The Federal Aviation Administration authorizes and oversees all flight operations in Washington State. The Washington State Department of Transportation owns and maintains 16 state airports, of which nine are owned by state, three are owned and operated by special use permit, three are leased out, and one is operated through a right of entry ^[1].

The major airports in Washington State include-

• Bellingham International Airport
• Friday Harbor
• William R. Fairchild International Airport
• Tri-Cities Airport
• Spokane International Airport,
• Pullman/Moscow Regional Airport
• King County International Airport
• Seattle–Tacoma International Airport
• Yakima Air Terminal (McAllister Field)
• Walla Walla Regional Airport
• Pangborn Memorial Airport
  

Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is the 15th busiest airport in the United States and ranked 22st in cargo operations in the nation. SEA is an important hub for trade and transportation and serves Seattle, Tacoma and the entire Western Washington. Some of the major destinations SEA serves include Tokyo (Narita), Japan, Vancouver (Canada), Amsterdam, Netherlands, Seoul (Incheon), South Korea, London (Heathrow), United Kingdom, Beijing (China), Victoria (Canada), Frankfurt (Germany), Dubai (International), and Calgary, Canada. The top airlines that operate to and from SEA are-


Contact Details:
17801 International Blvd.(Pacific Highway So.)
Seattle, WA 98158
Phone: (206) 787-5388 or (800) 544-1965
Website: http://www.portseattle.org/Sea-Tac/Pages/default.aspx

Bellingham International Airport

Spokane International Airport

William R. Fairchild International Airport

Washington Rail Transportation

Amtrak Cascades

Commuter Rail Trains

Washington Light Rail

Washington Monorail

Washington Water Transportation

Washington State Ferries