"We did the opposite" I-5 Re-opened After Train Wreck

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) re-opened I-5 to southbound traffic in the DuPont area less than 48 hours after a deadly passenger rail accident dumped a 270,000 pound locomotive and several rail cars onto the highway south of the DuPont-Steilacoom exit adjacent to Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM). WSDOT attributed their success in the rapid reopening of the highway to advice they obtained from their colleagues at the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).

“We immediately recognized the magnitude of the problem and called ODOT for advice without delay,” said WSDOT. “Once we knew what ODOT would do, we were able to quickly generate our response plan by doing the exact opposite of what ODOT would do. More than anything else that put us on the right track.” Washington officials noted that among interstate highway agencies, ODOT leads the nation in extended closures of critical interstate commerce routes and ODOT’s “best practices” present innumerable case studies from which other states can succeed simply by systematically doing the opposite of what ODOT would do under similar circumstances. “There are no better examples of bad examples,”said WSDOT.

ODOT officials had no comment.