2008 Traffic Down 356,000 Vehicles

No Growth in 10 Years for Hood Canal Bridge Traffic

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Click on Chart to view Larger Image


Businesses on the North Olympic Peninsula are wondering where all the tourists have gone. There has not been any growth in vehicle traffic on the Hood Canal Bridge for this entire first decade of the new millenium. After experiencing growth rates in vehicle traffic on the bridge of 93% in the 1980s and 40% in the 1990s, business leaders are now asking, "What happened?".

Why is there NO GROWTH in vehicle traffic since 1999? Is this the result of an endemic "No Growth" policy that some progressives ascribe to the "Anti Growth" efforts of some who want to close down the Olympic Peninsula to human growth in favor of a Jurassic Park populated by spotted owls and mastodons, mammoths that did once roam the peninsula?

Some groups claim that they want to increase traffic on the bridge. For example, the chambers of commerce and visitor centers want more tourists. Their mission is to increase travelers to the peninsula. In fact, they are paid tax money, received from taxing previous visitors, specifically earmarked for use in bringing in more visitors, in hopes of taxing them for more money to invite more visitors.

The chambers and visitor centers have formed additional associations, such as the North Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau and the Jefferson County Tourism Coordinating Council to bring together additional non profit groups in the arts, culture and historical areas to strengthen their efforts to increase the numbers of visitors crossing the bridge.

With so many non profit groups spending so much tax money on increasing the numbers of travelers, where are the increased "visits"?

The vehicle traffic counts on the Hood Canal Bridge are meticulously registered on a daily basis by the Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT) with automatic counting machines specifically designed to count vehicles, even with subtotals for cars and trucks. The DOT record-keeping goes back for decades with detailed summaries on a monthly basis.

Over the next few "posts" we'll continue to analyze this phenomenon of the "missing tourists" and the "missing tax money".

Analysis of 2007 Hood Canal Bridge Traffic

The above table is based upon the Average Daily Hood Canal Vehicle Traffic (2nd column) collected by the Washington State Department of Transportation. "All Vehicles Per Month" (4th column) is a product of column two times "Days per Month" (column 3)

To arrive at an estimate of the number of tourist vehicles it is necessary to subtract out the number of "Trucks per Month", approximately 10%, a figure collected by DOT, and also subtract out the vehicles trip of residents. Resident vehicles are estimated at 360,000 per month, based on the January calculation of 366,578, a month when the tourist vehicles are nil or minimal. By subtracting 360,000 from each month, the resulting difference is a fairly accurate estimate of "Tourist Vehicle Trips", namely 1,099,033 per year.

Since the DOT automatic counters collect traffic data for trips in both directions across the Hood Canal Bridge, and since it is assumed that a Tourist Vehicles comes across the bridge upon entering the Olympic Peninsula and returns across the bridge, when leaving, it is necessary to divide the bridge crossings by "2" to arrive at the number of actual vehicles. This division results in an estimate of 549,516 Tourist Vehicles.

What about the fact that some cars enter the Olympic Peninsula from other entry points and then leave via the bridge or that some vehicles enter at the bridge and leave via another route. For these calculations and assumption is made that the two balance out, keeping the integrity of the figures in tact.



The above calculation is a "best estimate" of the total number of "Tourist Vehicles" on the Olympic Peninsula in 2007, based on traffic counts of WADOT, adjusted from the subtraction of "locals" or "residents".

Only two entry points are possible by highway, first, on Highway 101 up the Hood Canal and second, on Highway 101 up the west end through Grays Harbor Country. The numbers of vehicles entering via the Port Townsend ferry and the Port Angeles ferry are minimal, compared to the predominant traffic entering and leaving the Olympic Peninsula on the Hood Canal Bridge.

Tourist Vehicles on Hood Canal Bridge by Month 2007

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Click on Image to view Larger Chart


Above chart shows the number of tourist vehicles on the Hood Canal Bridge by month.

The annual total is 549,515 tourist vehicles. The monthly vehicle totals are estimated as follows:


2007 Tourist Vehicles
Jan . . . . . . . . 3,289
Feb . . . . . . . . 3,595
Mar . . . . . . 30,603
Apri . . . . . . 37,917
May . . . . . . 56,550
June . . . . . . 60,124
July . . . . . . 94,703
Aug . . . . . . 99,921
Sept . . . . . . 67,063
Oct . . . . . . 45,306
Nov . . . . . . 26,509
Dec . . . . . . 23,935


Notice that 58% arrive in 4 months of June, july, Aug and Sept - the summer season. By adding May and Oct totals, the 6 month arrivals represent 77% in the "high season", leaving 23% spread over the other 6 months - the "off season"

Declines in Bridge Traffic from 2006 to 2007

Data for Daily Average Vehicle Traffic on Hood Canal Bridge from 2006 to 2007 show a decline in 8 out of 12 months. The four months with increases are May (72), August (231), September (163) and November (1,571).

Declining Vehicle Trips on Hood Canal Bridge

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Click on Chart to view Larger Image

VEHICLE TRAFFIC ON HOOD CANAL BRIDGE 1999-2007
Year. . . . . . Avg Daily Vehicles
1999 . . . . . . . 16,000
2000 . . . . . . . 16,000
2001 . . . . . . . 16,000

2002 . . . . . . . 17,000
2003 . . . . . . . 17,000
2004 . . . . . . . 17,000

2005. . . . . . . 16,000
2006. . . . . . . 16,444
2007 . . . . . . .16,485

Since 1999 there has been no growth in number of vehicles crossing the Hood Canal Bridge onto the Olympic Peninsula. Summary data from the Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT) indicate that 16,000 vehicles per day was the average for 1999, 2000 and 2001. The average bumped up to 17,000 vehicles per day during 2002, 2003, 2004, and then slipped back down again to 16,000 per day during 2005, 2006 and 2007.



2008 starts with the same average vehicle count as was registered nine years earlier. From the 17,000 average in 2004 the average of 16,485 in 2007 is a decline. 2008 is getting off to a declining start. January and February of 2008 show monthly average declines from January and February 2007, which, in turn, registered declines from 2006's first two months.

The tourism industry on the Olympic Peninsula is basically a "rubber tire" based force. It is driven by tourists arriving in automobiles, either private or rental cars, and camper rigs of all shapes and sizes. Tiny numbers arrive by boat, on foot aboard ferries, and by planes. A tiny amount. The vast numbers of tourists arrive in cars and RVs. Since this is the predominate pattern, it follows that the use of vehicle traffic data on the Hood Canal Bridge is indicative of absolute numbers and trends.

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