Date:
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Contact:
Kelly Stowe, WSDOT Communications, (253)536-6228 or (360) 480-3648
Trooper Brandy Kessler, WSP PIO, (253) 536-4386 or (253) 606-1796
TACOMA – Broke down on the shoulder of I-5 in Pierce County? WSDOT and the Washington State Patrol suggest getting your vehicle moved with a sense of urgency to avoid it being towed away. There no longer is a grace period.
Because vehicles on freeway shoulders create dangerous situations for drivers and emergency responders, the tow-away zone, or area in which vehicles will be towed immediately, has been extended – and now stretches from the Canadian border to nearly the Pierce/Thurston county border.
WSDOT crews recently finished installing new red and white “No Parking, Tow Away Zone” signs on I-5 from the Pierce/King County line to Port of Tacoma Road and from SR 512 to Mounts Road. Previously, the tow away zone in Pierce County existed only between Port of Tacoma Road and SR 512.
Vehicles parked on the shoulders of I-5 cause about 20 collisions a year in Pierce County and as many as 500 each year statewide.
“The Patrol sees a lot of collisions that involve abandoned or broken down vehicles parked on the shoulder of the highway or cars re-entering the roadway from the shoulder,” said WSP Trooper Brandy Kessler. “The tow zones are for the safety of motorists because it just isn’t safe to be next to the roadway with vehicles going past at a high rate of speed.”
< Back to News Home