Rantz: WSDOT mocks drivers with cringe ‘Conechella’ comedy act

Washington drivers are about to be stuck in traffic hell for another weekend, and the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) thinks it’s hilarious. They’re mocking you as part of their social media strategy to make light of everything, thinking you’re too dumb to realize what they’re doing to you.

Instead of delivering straightforward information about the upcoming weekend of massive highway closures, WSDOT decided to write a press release styled as if it were announcing a music festival. They call it “Conechella.” Get it? Cones… like traffic cones and construction… Hilarious.

Actually, it’s not. It’s lazy, unfunny, and condescending.

Seriously, WSDOT, this isn’t funny

Drivers who will spend hours in gridlock this weekend don’t need WSDOT’s failed open-mic night material. They need accurate, concise, and serious information about closures that will disrupt their lives. Families trying to get to the airport, workers on odd-hour shifts, people visiting loved ones—all of them will sit in traffic while WSDOT pats itself on the back for its creativity.

The agency renamed closures like they were performers on stage: A$AP Rampy, Maroon 405, Megan The Lane Reductions. This isn’t clever. It’s insulting. No one is chuckling while stuck on I-5 at midnight because some bureaucrat thought they were a comedy writer.

This attitude reveals exactly what’s wrong with WSDOT. It’s an agency divorced from the people it’s supposed to serve. The very people paying for these projects through gas taxes and tolls are being mocked. The message isn’t “we understand this is painful, but here’s what we’re doing to minimize your frustration.” Instead, it’s “sit down, shut up, and laugh while we close every major highway at once.”

And yes, they are closing everything at once. Northbound and southbound I-5, I-405, SR 99, SR 18—it’s all on the chopping block during the same weekend. WSDOT admits there’s no “good weekend” for these closures, but that doesn’t explain the decision to pile them on top of each other. The cumulative impact will be brutal.

No one is laughing. WSDOT’s arrogance isn’t just annoying—it’s a reminder that this agency no longer prioritizes the people it works for.

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