Washington drivers will encounter a new kind of traffic enforcement this spring, when the state’s first speed surveillance cameras come to Interstate 5.

In a bipartisan effort, legislators voted unanimously for the program two years ago in reaction to worsening dangers in construction zones, which average more than 1,300 crashes per year and around 600 injuries. The count spiked to 1,495 collisions in the first 10 months of 2024, killing or seriously injuring 43 people.

The first site will be on I-5 near Joint Base Lewis-McChord, activated by the end of February, said Tony Leingang, intelligent transportation system administrator for the Washington State Department of Transportation. Next up are Highway 8 fish culvert projects in Grays Harbor County, the treacherous I-90 westbound lanes approaching the Highway 18 junction in Snoqualmie, and I-405 where more toll lanes and overpasses are being built in Bothell.

Vehicle owners will get a warning for the first infraction, and $248 for the second violation and each thereafter.

Failure to pay the $248 may result in the state refusing to renew vehicle tabs, Leingang said. Fines can be challenged under an administrative law judge. (Car tab tax evasion is widespread in Washington, but that’s another story.) These are considered infractions, similar to parking tickets, that don’t go on someone’s driving record, according to WSDOT.

Crews will post signs that warn, “WORK ZONE SPEED LIMIT PHOTO ENFORCED.” Some sites will also have numeric speed-display signs.

The portable camera device, painted in orange with dual laser eyes and flashbulbs, looks like a planetary rover. It can track 3-D positions from a vehicle six lanes away and capture about one speeding vehicle per second, said executives from Elovate, the state’s vendor.

Income from fines will be spent to expand the program, or toward DUI patrols and safety education, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Toronto-based Elovate will be paid $200,000 per month, plus $555 to $955 monthly per jobsite depending on the complexity, state and company officials said. The company is expected to deploy 15 cameras by 2027.

Automated cameras operate in 13 states, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste said at a news conference Wednesday.

Drivers in other states are typically granted a cushion of 11 to 12 mph over the posted limit before fines are sent, said Scott Stewart, Elovate sales director. A very tight margin, say 2 to 3 mph, would erode political support and provoke accusations that states are just grabbing money, he explained.

State law calls for a trooper to review camera findings within 30 days and decide whether to send tickets. State Patrol staff declined to say what its threshold will be here.

“The speed limit’s the speed limit. It’s not a suggestion,” State Patrol spokesperson Chris Loftis said.

A progress report is due late this year, and the camera program expires in mid-2030 unless renewed by the Legislature.

“The goal of this program is not to generate a single dollar,” said WSDOT Secretary Julie Meredith. “Our goal is just the opposite, it will only be successful if every vehicle travels at a safe speed. We would be ecstatic if these cameras never result in infractions because drivers change their behavior.”

The Wisconsin-based National Motorists Association argues that automated cameras encourage artificially low speed limits, so dollars will flow.

House Transportation Committee Chair Jake Fey, D-Tacoma, acknowledged “lots of people don’t like photo enforcement,” but said speeding is a threat at both JBLM and the Gateway Project, on either end of Tacoma.

“The least we can do is support our state troopers and our construction workers, who are out there risking their lives every day,” Fey said.

The political push began in 2022, when a worker near the Tacoma Dome was struck and pinned to a concrete divider, after two impaired drivers raced along I-5, according to Billy Wallace, political director for the Washington and Northern Idaho District Council of Laborers. Newscasts last April also highlighted four severe crashes in 24 hours.

For many years, drivers flouted the 50 mph work zone limit in Tacoma, while troopers found it hard to safely set speed traps and pull over drivers.

Another hindrance is low staffing, with 1,100 commissioned officers, or about 250 short of a full department, Loftis said.

Red-light cameras, and toll road enforcement cameras, have operated for years around the state, and Seattle is in the early stages of camera-enforced bus lanes.

The State Patrol expects the orange camera units to reduce speeds, and the state is clearly hoping to multiply their effectiveness through publicity.

In the patrol’s century of existence, most of the 33 troopers who died in the line of duty were victims of roadside crashes, Batiste said. WSDOT says 62 workers died on the job from 1950 to 2023.

Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia, said with worker safety at stake, it wasn’t difficult to muster bipartisan support.

“It is crazy out there; just drive up and down I-5 and you can see that,” Barkis said.

With lane alignments shifting almost daily on I-5, he said, it’s easier for crashes to occur.

“You’re trying to do 50 mph and you’re being pushed,” Barkis said. “People are flying up on you at 60 to 70 mph and nobody stops.”