Why does WA DOT suck so bad?

Went up there in the JBH days a couple times in '06 or '07.

Couple spots where the snow was higher than the trailer.

 

It's washington, you expect the rules to make sense?

 

Montana has best snow removal imo out of all western states, well except highway 212, that highway is ####ty in winter. Not sure why, maybe cause its on tribal lands and state wants tribe to maintain it??

 

212 w they close most of the winter. When I used to run it the company told me not to stop on the tribal part because they don't like truckers .

 

212 is closed over Beartooth Pass during the winter. The part over east across the Rez rarely closes unless it’s totally impassible. You don’t have to be scared about stopping along the way. The stories about what happens along there are only trucker legends.

 

Montana generally does a good job with plowing. The problem is everything is so spread out, and the conditions change so fast it’s hard to keep up.

I’m actually sitting in Idaho Falls right now waiting for I-15 back to Montana to open up. Came through yesterday evening, and it was cloudy with fall temperatures. Today it’s 16* and packed with snow. They bypassed chains, and went straight to closing the road.

 

FYI, if you want more specific information.

In large part it is an issue of funding and East vs West political fights on Snoqualmie pass. The snow and ice plan is WSDOTs most expensive item taking almost 20 percent of the entire maintenance budget.

On the East side of the pass I-90 is a "Level 1 Treatment Goal" while on the Wet side I-90 "Level 2 Treatment Goal"

When WSDOT goes over budget they can't go in debt but have to start raiding the funds that fix potholes etc...

As Snoqualmie pass on the wet side is under a "Level 2 Treatment Goal" it gets lower budget priority as the West side has I-5 as their top priority. As they cannot pre-treat before a storm as an example they are behind the ball as soon as it starts snowing on the West side of the pass.

TLDR; they don't have the budget to throw more resources at the wet side.

Here is the Snow and Ice plan if you drive in the region often paying attention to the colors of your potential routes can save you a lot of time.

https://www.wsdot.com/winter/files/SnowIcePlanChapter1.pdf

 

WY is the same way. Someone drops the ball and they don't even reopen it untill any goober can go across it safely with cruise control on.

Blame the idiot drivers.