New WSDOT website goes live Nov. 7

By Mike Allende

A lot has changed with how we get and consume information in the past 15 years. Twitter was born. Streaming services blew up. Mobile devices became a regular part of our wardrobe. But one thing that hasn't changed in that time is our website.

Until now.

Starting Sunday, Nov. 7, people who log on to wsdot.wa.gov will find a new, refreshed website that makes finding information easier than ever. Whether you want mountain pass conditions, road closures, ferries schedules or anything else you might need, you'll find it in a simpler, more useful way than ever before.

Why now?
It's been more than 15 years since our website has had a major update. That's a long time in today's world. How people get information has changed significantly, and we needed to meet those needs.

We started working on the redesign three years ago. At 14,000 web pages on the site, we knew we had to do some serious spring cleaning to make it easier to navigate. We did extensive testing with a wide range of website users to see how they go about finding what they're looking for, and what information was most important to them.

On average, we have 75,000 website visitors a day and more than 60 percent of them access our site from a mobile device. So, we knew we needed to make the new site much more mobile friendly. Ninety percent of website visitors are looking for travel-related information. That obviously needed to be a huge focus of the redesign.

We think we've done that. We've narrowed the site down to about 2,000 web pages and re-written the content to make it easier to understand. Our new Travel Center feature will make it faster and more convenient for people to find what they're looking for regardless of their mode of travel. And we've made the site much more accessible so that it's a useful tool for everyone.

Our new website home page makes finding the information you need for whatever your mode of travel much simpler.

Tell me about the Travel Center
Don't mind if I do.

Whether you drive, bicycle, walk, ride a ferry, ride a bus or deliver goods, you'll find what you're looking for in our Travel Center – and you'll be able to personalize that information for your own needs.

• Real-time travel data: You'll be able to click on this to get any travel alerts for whatever route you're traveling. Going on US 2 between Monroe and Wenatchee? Click on it and you'll be able to find lane closures, cameras, truck restrictions and mountain pass reports all in one place. You can get this information in list form, or on a real-time travel map.
• Commercial vehicles: Truck drivers who deliver our goods will find it a lot easier to map their trips, find any restrictions and get information about permits and weigh station e-screening.
• Ferries: With one click you'll find the ability to buy tickets, make reservations, find schedules, get real-time status updates and more.
• Active Transportation: Looking for information and maps for bicycling, walking, running or rolling across our state? It will all be there, easy to find.
• Riding the rails: Interested in riding Amtrak Cascades? You'll be able to find schedules, buy tickets and plan your trips right on the site.
• And more: The travel center also has tolls info, information about border crossings and park & rides, maps you can print out, holiday weekend travel charts, information about local airports and lots more.

Our Travel Center map makes planning trips easier by showing real-time issues for whatever route you’ll be taking.

What about that project I've heard about?
Some people visit our website to find out information about a project happening near them. Our Construction and Planning section of the site will make finding a specific project easy by allowing searches by road or county. Studies? Funding? Future plans? Environmental steps we've taken? It's all there for simple browsing.

Working with WSDOT
Besides travelers, one group that regularly turns to our website for information are people and companies looking to work with us. We want to make getting that information as easy as we can so we have a Business With WSDOT section to find all our contracting opportunities and the requirements that go into bidding for work. You'll also find information about grants, highway sign advertising requirements, and more.

Anything else?
Yes, lots of stuff. Particularly in our About section, where people can find job listings, all kinds of data like traffic and crash statistics, research reports and contact information.

These are the highlights, and we invite everyone to check it out, scroll around and see what they think. We're confident website visitors will find a much more valuable, simpler to use experience where the most important information to you is just a click or two away, whether you're accessing it on a desktop or mobile device. We're excited to roll it out and hear what you think!

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