WSDOT YouTube Channel A deeper look at the ins and outs of a state transportation agency

TransComm 2017 Skills Competition Denver, Colorado

Lars Erickson Communications Director State Department of Transportation A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth … more … Good writing is a valuable communications skill, but in an era when “Image is everything” is even more true, WSDOT has put great emphasis in producing videos that gives the public a more in-depth view of how we work to keep our highways safe and citizens moving.

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It’s one thing to write about the world’s largest boring machine, or what it takes to clear 30 feet of snow off of a mountain pass. It’s another to show it. Showing video of these projects gives the public a greater understanding of the scope that goes into our work and what tax dollars are being spent on. Bertha leads the way

The State Route 99 Viaduct Replacement Project – featuring Bertha, the world’s largest tunnel boring machine – was our biggest project of the year and provided us an outstanding opportunity to give the public unique looks at a massive undertaking.

Whether using drone footage, 360-degree imagery or up-close interviews with tunnel workers, we gave the public views that they otherwise wouldn’t have seen. And it paid off. Nine of our 10 most viewed YouTube videos between June 2016 and May 2017 involved this project. In all, the 19 videos of this project produced this past year had 566,000 views, about 33 percent of all our views on YouTube for the year. Questions, answers, kudos and concerns One of the hallmarks of our social media strategy is our responsiveness. The scope of the SR 99 tunnel project led to a huge number of questions, comments and concerns, and giving people inside looks at the work happening deep under downtown helped us answer many of those questions. And it was clearly appreciated by the public. The outlier

While our SR 99 tunnel project dominated our YouTube feed, it was a video about a unique intersection that was our most-watched video. Our Diverging Diamond interchange video was viewed 402,000 times – more than double any other video – and generated almost 300 comments, sparking a great discussion. Growing

As video becomes more and more important in social media messaging, we continue to see strong growth with our YouTube channel.

• Our 1.7 million views from June 2016 to May 2017 was 582,000 more than the previous year. • The total watch time of our videos in that timeframe – 3.6 million minutes – was 1.3 million minutes longer than the previous year. • Our videos generated 709 comments this past year, almost 150 more than the previous year. • Our videos were shared 6,400 times, almost 3,000 times more than the previous year. • We now have almost 1,500 subscribers, including from as far away as Russia, Japan, Australia, even South Africa. Weather wins

One of our wettest and snowiest winters in years resulted in multiple road and mountain pass closures. Having video of our crews working in difficult conditions helped the public understand why we do closures and how we’re trying to help. Baby goats

When avalanche control with a howitzer or a drone inside a new tunnel just doesn’t do it, we can always count on our baby goats, part of a roadside vegetation management program we have. I mean, they’re baby goats. Win. Public appreciation The feedback we get from the public tells us that we should keep the videos coming.