OLYMPIA — Signs alerting drivers to the availability of free coffee are returning to rest areas on I-5 in Smokey Point.
A state transportation official said Thursday that by March new signage should be installed at exits to the rest stops in both directions of the highway, replacing lighted signs that broke down last year.
Eleven other sites around the state will get new signs as well, Chris Christopher of the Department of Transportation told the Senate Transportation Committee.
He outlined the agency’s plan in a public hearing on a bill to require the transportation department restore signs that it removed from 37 rest areas since 2011.
Sen. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, sponsored the bill after learning nonprofit and service groups that serve up the free coffee for weary travelers have reaped fewer donations since the signs went away. Without them, drivers don’t know coffee is available and thus don’t pull off, Pearson told the committee.
On Thursday, he said when he drafted the bill he contacted the department but no one shared their plans to put signs back up. Maybe the bill won’t be needed, but he wants to see details of the program in writing before deciding, he said.
“I am going to wait and see. If I feel they are 100 percent genuine then I will take my foot off the bill,” he said Friday. “You shouldn’t have to write a bill for this to happen.”
Under the state-managed “Free Coffee” program, qualified nonprofit groups sign up to staff a kiosk for a few days at a time. They must be on-site every hour they sign up for — including through the night.
Groups are allowed to offer drinks and some snacks like cookies without charging. Donation cans are always nearby. Some rest stops, like Smokey Point, are so popular because of the volume of the travelers that there is a waiting list for those wanting to staff the kiosk.
Donations have reportedly declined since worn and damaged metal signs emblazoned with “Free Coffee” were taken down at 35 rest stops in Washington in 2011 and 2012 for safety concerns.
Christopher explained that volunteers would go out at the beginning of a shift to flip down the “Free Coffee” sign to be visible to drivers then return to flip it back at the end of a shift.
Because the signs are near the freeway exit, it meant volunteers wound up dangerously close to the exits. Some would even drive the wrong way on the off-ramp to reach the signs, he said.
Smokey Point was the only place with lighted signs that volunteers could switch on and off from the kiosk. Those were installed about a decade ago for about $6,000 and it was decided to not replace them when they broke down.
What’s planned in Smokey Point and elsewhere is that a new blue sign reading “Free Coffee Volunteer Program” will be installed. Each will cost about $400, Christopher said.
“I think it would be a reasonable solution,” he told the committee.
In addition to rest areas in Smokey Point, the state is looking to install them at sites on I-5 north of Fife, south of Olympia and near Vancouver, on I-90 near Ellensburg and Spokane and on U.S. 2 west of Leavenworth.
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