WSF Weekly Report | Women’s Transportation Seminar; WSDOT Worker Memorial; Summer schedule;

||| FROM STEVE NEVEY for WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES |||

A message from Steve

Last Thursday, nine of our women leaders and my deputy represented Washington State Ferries at the Women’s Transportation Seminar Puget Sound Chapter Awards and Scholarships Gala. The event celebrates the significant contributions women make in transportation. It also brings people together to connect, share ideas and support scholarships for women studying engineering and transportation.

Clockwise from left, Vessel Construction Manager Amber Smith, System Electrification Inspector Specialist Chelsea Brown, Assistant Secretary John Vezina, Chief Mate Chloe Cox, Acting Director of Marine Operations Ana Fuschetto, Director of Terminal Engineering Nicole McIntosh, Gov. Bob Ferguson’s Senior Transportation Policy Advisor Megan Cotton, Terminal Supervisor Genevieve Black, Director of Finance & Administration Hillary Badger and Director of External Relations Jenna Forty.

Two of this year’s scholarship winners are recent graduates of our Mate Apprenticeship Program, which we run in partnership with the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies. Since then, Brandi Salazar and Cassidy Turner completed our Deck New Employee Orientation. They are now working as ordinary seafarers while taking a license prep course to get ready for their mate’s license exams. As scholarship winners, they sat with WSDOT Secretary Julie Meredith, who was inspired by their accomplishments.

From left, Deckhand Cassidy Turner, WSDOT Secretary Julie Meredith and Deckhand Brandi Salazar.

WSF at WSDOT Worker Memorial

Our agency gathered at the Lacey Community Center Tuesday for our annual Worker Memorial. We honored workers who were killed or injured on the job. Capt. Ross MacFarlane and Terminal Supervisor Wayne McFarland represented the Ferries Division as part of the 61-member WSDOT Honor Guard. Each member represented an agency employee killed on the job since 1950. As part of a month-long work zone awareness campaign, WSDOT has several key events planned in April. National Work Zone Awareness Week is April 20-24. Everyone is encouraged to wear orange on Wednesday, April 22 for Go Orange Day. At 9 a.m. Friday, April 24, our agency will hold a moment of silence to honor those who have lost their lives in work zones.

Capt. Ross MacFarlane and Terminal Supervisor Wayne McFarland were among 61 agency employees in this year’s WSDOT Honor Guard. Thank you to Ross and Wayne for volunteering your time to support this meaningful event and representing us well.

We were also represented by System Electrification Administrator David Sowers, who also serves as President of WSDOT’s Memorial Foundation.

Reminder: Summer vehicle reservations open at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 14

Our summer sailing season (June 14 to Sept. 20) vehicle reservations open in five days. This release is always the busiest of the year. Starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 14, customers can save a spot for travel on our Anacortes/San Juan Islands and Port Townsend/Coupeville routes. To keep our website from getting overloaded, we’ll use a virtual waiting room, just like in past seasonal releases. If you are sent to the waiting room, you’ll see your place in line, the estimated wait time and an option to get a notification when it’s your turn to book.

For our Anacortes/San Juan Islands route, we will release 30% of vehicle reservations space, with another 30% becoming available two weeks before each sailing and the final 30% opening two days before each sailing. Both the two-week and two-day releases are at 7 a.m. For our Port Townsend/Coupeville run, 80% of vehicle reservations will open on April 14. For both routes, the remaining space is held for emergency and stand-by vehicles.

Weekday delays across SR 104 Hood Canal Bridge

Prepare for possible travel delays if your weekday ferry plans include crossing the State Route 104 Hood Canal Bridge. Starting Monday, April 13, WSDOT crews will conduct a series of inspections at the bridge. The bridge will close twice each weekday at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. through Friday, April 24. Each closure may last up to one hour, but every effort will be made to keep closures as short as possible.

There could also be extra closures for passing boats. When possible, crews will line up these closures with the inspection times to limit delays.

Sailing stats for week of March 23-29

For the week of March 23-29, our systemwide on-time performance (sailings that left within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure) was 89.4%. By comparison, it was 85.2% during a similar week last year (March 24-30, 2025). To view our on-time performance by month going back to 2017, visit our on-time performance reports page.

Customer kudos

“I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate all the work you put into the ferry system. I’m particularly impressed with the condition of the (ferries). They are always clean and neat. The fares are very low for what you get in the service. The people working on the ferries are very efficient and professional. Many people will give you negative comments because of one bad experience and so forth. On the other hand I am very grateful for all that you do. Thank you very much.”