Washington transportation department implements speed cameras in work zones

Every year since 2020, the number of collisions on Washington highways in work zones has been rising. Between 2020 and 2024, it rose nearly 40%, from 1,149 to 1,607, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. 

One of the three main contributing factors to these crashes is speed. Speeding through these areas threatens drivers, their passengers and road construction workers trying to do their jobs. 

“ Those workers are out there, sometimes they just have a barrier or sometimes just cones or a barrel to protect them, and people are flying right through their work zone,” said Amy Moreno, a spokesperson for WSDOT. 

A new enforcement mechanism aims to get drivers to slow down. 

The Washington legislature passed a bill in 2023 to install speed cameras in work zones that will capture drivers speeding through them.

“The bottom line is to increase safety, reduce injuries and fatalities, and really make sure people do come home to their families at night,” said Kyle Miller, the speed safety camera systems program manager for WSDOT.

So far, Miller said everything is going according to plan. Some workers on the projects where the cameras have been deployed have told him that  they’ve noticed that the traffic is slowing down. 

Drivers will see signs that read, “ Work Zone Speed Limit Photo Enforced,” and, where possible, radar feedback that displays a car’s speed. The cameras capture the license plate of speeding cars and the car itself, but no photos of the driver or passengers. Enforcement can only occur when crews are actively working.

The state is using the company Elovate for the camera technology. 

Some municipalities in Washington use traffic cameras to capture drivers who are speeding. These are decisions enacted by local governments and separate from the WSDOT program. The department is also trialing two speed cameras on highways in Skagit and Spokane counties, which is part of a separate program. 

For the work zone program, Washington State Patrol will oversee and issue any infractions captured by the speed cameras. A trooper will evaluate the image and decide whether something is a fraction. Chris Loftis, director of public affairs for the state patrol, said it will take a few months of operations to gather enforcement data that might illustrate what impact the program is having.

The first infraction is $0, and every ensuing infraction is $248. Drivers can contest these.

WSDOT deployed the first camera in April on southbound Interstate 5 near Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It has been used at a total of  four road construction projects and a maintenance project. Right now, WSDOT is only deploying one camera at a time.

“We felt that starting kind of small and expanding over time was the right thing to do for that, to make sure that everything was working the right way,” Miller said. 

The cameras will be deployed on all kinds of work projects on Washington highways, from big construction projects on I-5 to smaller maintenance repairs and emergencies. 

According to state law, the money collected from infractions will first go to support the costs of the program, then any additional revenue will benefit traffic safety such as driver training education and local emphasis patrols on motorists driving under the influence. 

Other common causes of collisions in the work zones are inattention and driving under the influence. 

Legislation to establish a course requirement for new drivers on how to drive in work zones did not make it out of this year’s session. The bill would have required new drivers under the age of 26 to pass an online course on how to drive safely in a work zone.

While Miller wouldn’t comment on the need for a law like this, he did say he sees the benefit of more education for drivers, especially for younger drivers, to learn how to drive in construction zones.  

“ We really are trying to use this as a tool to try and help people understand that slowing down is the right thing to do when it comes to these work zones,” Miller said.

In an ideal situation, Moreno said there won’t be any infractions because people will just slow down.

The dangerous conditions of working on highway projects can impact the retention of road crew workers. Moreno said she talked to one road worker who said their former job working with explosives was less risky.

Moreno said that the employee told her: “ In this job, even if I do everything right, bad things can still happen to me because you’re at the mercy of people.”

The Washington State Patrol and WSDOT, in collaboration with the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, will be reporting the effectiveness of the program to the Legislature in July and over the following years of the program. It sunsets in 2030.