Date:  Thursday, January 24, 2008

Contact: Mark Pettit, WSDOT I-90 Project Communications, (509) 577-1942

Mike Westbay, WSDOT South Central Communications Manager, (509) 577-1617

Melissa Loomis, WSDOT I-5 Project Planning and Communications,
(206) 464-1235

WSDOT won top honors on Jan. 14 at the 87th annual Transportation Research Board meeting in Washington D.C. WSDOT won three of the 11 awards in the communications competition designed to highlight creative ways to communicate complex information to the public.

The Transportation Research Board is a national organization that encourages innovation in transportation and is one of six major divisions of the National Research Council.

The communications competition attracted 80 entries from around the world. Members of the review panel included transportation and communications professionals from other states and private organizations.

WSDOT impressed the judging panel with two I-90 Snoqualmie Pass graphics projects, “Burl the Squirrel” and the Holiday Travel Graphs, as well as the SR 167 "Rachel’s Drive" video project.

“Burl the Squirrel, the approachable cartoon character developed by the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East project team, drew crowds of people who wanted to learn more about the I-90 project,” said Don Whitehouse, Regional Administrator. Burl uses humor and an animal’s point of view to playfully engage readers in the otherwise “dry” project details.

Burl and the travel graphs were a hit with the audience and even attracted the attention of a transit planner from Canada.

“I have to say the poster showing Burl scratching his head at the graphs that the traffic data department churns out, then taking the data and shoving it into the graph machine to get a usable graph was absolutely brilliant,” said Bjorn Radstrom. “I laughed myself silly when I saw it because I used to manage the traffic data information system at the University of Manitoba.”

“Rachel’s Drive,” used computer animation and video to show how the new high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes will work on State Route 167 between Renton and Auburn.

“With ‘Rachel’s Drive,’ we put the viewer in the driver’s seat and let people virtually experience the benefits of HOT lanes emphasizing their choice for an express trip,” said Brian Smith, Director of Strategic Planning and Programming.

People from around the country, who were at the TRB meeting, were interested in ways to educate the public about HOT lanes and variable tolling. WSDOT staff was very busy showing the video, answering questions and taking down the names of participants who wanted copies of the DVD.

“It’s an honor to receive these awards from the prestigious Transportation Research Board,” said WSDOT Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond. “With so many projects underway throughout our state, we continually strive to find creative ways to get people’s attention and keep them informed.”

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