DUPONT, Wash. — Work Zone Speed Cameras are going live Wednesday near Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM).
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will rotate the cameras between construction, maintenance, and emergency projects along Interstate 5.
Charles Beall says driving on I-5 can be a hassle: “It’s not fun, there’s a lot of traffic, the lanes are cut down people drive a little foo fast.” He’s a regular I-5 commuter and feels a sense of dread taking the stretch of the highway through Dupont, “It’s kind of scary …there’s a lot of aggressive drivers that come through here, and it might help.”
Beall knows people speed, and he knows speed cameras are going up. “It’s probably a good thing I think that there’s a lot of aggressive drivers that come through here and it might help.”
WSDOT, along with other state agencies like the Washington State Patrol (WSP), are working together and putting up cameras to catch speeders in construction zones. It kicks off Wednesday near JBLM and a project currently under way on I-5.
Kyle Miller, manager of the Work Zone Speed Camera Program for WSDOT, spoke with KIRO 7 about the need for the cameras: “We just want people to slow down before they enter our work zone, and if they do that, there’s no reason for the cameras.”
Miller says the trailer-mounted cameras will take photos of speeders cruising too fast through the zone in the hopes of getting people to slow down: “We’ve been averaging 1300-1500 crashes each year for the last several years in work zones statewide.”
Signs will warn drivers that if they don’t slow down, they could face penalties. Miller says people need to appreciate what some workers are going through when dealing with high-speed traffic: “Imagine vehicles going through your workplace 60-70-90 mph.”
The cameras will only record infractions when workers are on the job, but Miller did say that work on some projects can happen at almost any hour, so drivers need to take note. If someone receives a notice for speeding, the first one is a zero-dollar infraction, but it is still an infraction. For every speed camera infraction after that, the cost will be $248.
Miller says he hopes the cameras don’t go into heavy use snapping photos and that people simply slow down, “If you see a worker please slow down and not only take their lives into consideration but also take yours we really do want people to come home, on the daily, come home to their loved ones.”
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