Change may be as difficult as it is inevitable, but change can also be a good thing. In the fast-paced world of transportation, we know it’s important to keep you up to date in the most efficient, user-friendly way possible. Whether it’s weather changes, construction, or other travel information, we want to keep you informed.
That’s why a big shift is coming. On Aug. 31, 2026, the way we communicate I-90 travel alerts will transition to the WSDOT Mobile App.
But don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. We’re excited to announce the new communication method available at your fingertips. You can still get important I-90 travel notifications by downloading the WSDOT Mobile App. After installing, turn on push notifications for Snoqualmie Pass I-90.
Here’s how to make the switch from text messages to notifications in the app:
- Download the WSDOT Mobile App from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
- Open the app and select Notifications.
- Select Snoqualmie Pass I-90.
- Turn on push notifications.
The Snoqualmie Pass I-90 notification still covers I-90 from North Bend to Vantage. That’s milepost 33 to 138, just like the text message service.
If incidents or activities will add 30 minutes or more to travel times or result in a closure, we’ll send you a notification. You’ll also receive advance notice of planned closures. That includes construction closures and winter avalanche-control work.
If you don’t want to turn on push notifications, you can still find Snoqualmie Pass I-90 alerts in the Mountain Pass section of the WSDOT Mobile App. This section shows current winter pass conditions and information about events that may cause delays along I-90.
You can do even more with the WSDOT Mobile App. It's a one-stop shop for travel information. It includes real-time travel alerts, mountain pass conditions, traffic cameras and roadway conditions.
We encourage you to set up Snoqualmie Pass I-90 push notifications by Aug. 31. That’s when the current I-90 text messages alert service ends.
Whether you’re commuting over Snoqualmie Pass, visiting family or traveling across the state, the WSDOT Mobile App makes it easy to get the travel information you need when you need it.
37 comments:
Dang this sucks. No one wants to download another app. Getting text alerts WAS the most efficient way to receive info. Please reconsider.
Another bad decision by WSDOT staff. Text alerts are a better option for many consumers. I dont understand why you would turn this off.
Yay another app to take up storage space for a simple alert
What about adding Stevens?
This is actually extremely inconvenient. Many people don't have smartphones (i know many people with older tech) or have limited data or storage (i can't download any more apps on my very old phone) and depend on the texts for updates. Now I will have to go back to checking the website - please don't stop updating that ! Apps are not the solution to everything
WSDOT! Big failure! Your APP REQUIRES Internet access on the phones. SMS and Text ONLY require PHONE SERVICE.
In MANY rural areas ONLY SMS and Text get through and with the partnership of T-Mobile with Starlink and SATELLITE SMS back up those messages WILL GET THROUGH.
Relying on Internet service in rural areas on cellular networks IGNORES reality. Seriously who is your IT staff? Obviously no one who has ever lived in a rural area.
This is a BAD move, not because we don't like change, but because YOU ALL MISSED an OBVIOUS technical roadblock! SAD.
We need BETTER, SMARTER, more experience staff at WSDOT.
Seriously? You want us to download yet another app when a simple text alert will do? How are we supposed to check the app while driving? How am I supposed to get an alert when I don’t have internet? Not to mention the 75 things I had to okay and sign up for just to comment on this extremely poor decision. Do better WSDOT
I agree with all the above. There was nothing wrong with the system you had before. Now I have to open up a damn app just to figure out if I’m gonna be late. I’m almost 90 years old. What do I want? Another app for?
I get so many app alerts I have to ignore them.
Texts, I get fewer of and come through in an easier way to monitor for me. This is a bad change for me.
Absolutely concur with previous comments. This seems like a solution in search of a problem. There are plenty of mass-text notification applications that cover this exact use case with an easily-adopted operator UI (I know, as I have implemented a few for my employer). The app should be an opt-in alternative to mass SMS -- NOT a forced replacement! Also, receiving SMS is virtually hands-free when devices are synced with modern infotainment systems. App use is unlawful & considered distracted driving, which is absolutely antithetical to WSDOT's mission of promoting safe transportation.
But why? Honestly why another app? Awful decision.
Years ago I asked for an Android Auto compatible release of the WSDOT app, and was told they wouldn't make one because they didn't want people using the app while driving. Besides, drivers could sign up for text alerts which Android Auto would read out while driving.
With the text alerts going away, we now really need integration with Android Auto. Drivers should be able to have their cars read out pass conditions without fiddling with their cell phones.
Thanks for your comments. Here’s some additional information about how I-90 travel alerts will work through the WSDOT mobile app.
We understand that some people prefer receiving I-90 travel alerts by text message. Push notifications work much like text messages. They’re sent directly to your phone when an alert is issued. Just like text messages, you’ll need a cellular or Wi-Fi connection to receive them. If you’re traveling through an area without service, neither text messages nor push notifications can be delivered until your phone reconnects.
Moving these alerts to the WSDOT mobile app allows us to continue providing the same timely I-90 travel notifications while also giving travelers access to road conditions, traffic cameras, mountain pass information, ferries, bridges, and more, all in one place. It also helps us provide this service more cost-effectively.
Our goal hasn’t changed. We want travelers to receive important information as quickly as possible so they can make safe travel decisions.
What a tone deaf take! You can try to explain away your decision, it's still wrong. How about listen to your customers for once?
WSDOT, your response doesn’t just miss the point — it proves you aren’t listening.
You keep insisting that push notifications “work much like text messages,” but that’s exactly the problem. They don’t. Not in rural Washington. Not in the mountains. Not in the places where people actually rely on I‑90 alerts to avoid getting stranded. Your own commenters — many of whom clearly drive this corridor regularly — have explained this in detail. SMS works in low‑signal conditions where data does not. Pretending they’re equivalent is either technically uninformed or deliberately dismissive.
And let’s talk about this “one‑stop shop” justification. Nobody asked for a one‑stop shop. People asked for reliable alerts. Instead, you’re forcing travelers to download yet another app, eat up storage on older phones, navigate menus, and hope their device can run your software — all to replace a simple, universally accessible text message. You frame this as “user‑friendly,” but the user feedback on your own page shows the opposite: frustration, inconvenience, and legitimate safety concerns about needing to open an app while driving.
Your explanation also conveniently sidesteps the most glaring issue raised by multiple commenters: this change makes travel less safe. SMS alerts can be read aloud by Android Auto and other infotainment systems. Your app cannot. You’re removing a hands‑free safety feature and replacing it with something that encourages distracted driving. That’s not modernization — that’s regression.
And the “cost‑effective” line? At least be honest: this isn’t about improving service; it’s about cutting expenses. But you’re cutting them at the expense of the people who depend on timely, accessible alerts to navigate a major mountain pass.
The public is telling you, loudly and consistently, that this is a bad decision. Instead of acknowledging the real concerns — rural connectivity, accessibility, safety, device limitations — you’re offering a canned explanation that pretends the issues don’t exist. That’s why your response reads as tone‑deaf. Because it is.
If your goal truly is to help travelers “make safe travel decisions,” then listen to them. Restore SMS alerts. Make the app optional. Stop treating a downgrade like an upgrade.
I'm another person unhappy with this. There must be a few people who don't have a modern smartphone who will lose this service, but the real impact is that texting works well even when service is barely working out in the remote corners of the state. Also many people have devices in their car that show text messages on the dash board built into the car, which is much better than using an app and safer. It's not safe to pull out a phone and navigate to an app. I can't see these messages on a regular desktop either.
Please try to find a new text message provider that will be cheaper. Your new app will also have to have backend infrastructure, developers monitoring its notifications, etc. I'm skeptical it will be that expensive. You'll find people have systems that are on older versions of android or ios too, that you will struggle to support.
Not thrilled about this. My vehicle will read text messages to me, but not push notifications from an app. Now these alerts aren't going to be seen by me while I'm driving, or any active driver for that matter. I'm not going to stop for every notification that my phone has, while driving as there's no legal and safe way to do so. The only safe way is with texts that my vehicle will read to me.
What a waste of taxpayer money to create a worse system than we have now
I can't believe it! In addition to the (valid) objections above, the page says "Open the app and select Notifications." I open the app. THERE IS NO "NOTIFICATIONS".
I don't want more apps on my phone. I don't want an app for WSDOT.
Just wanted to echo and reiterate that with many phone services when data, internet, and even phone calls won't go through in dead zones, text messages will. Having lived in leavenworth, pullman, wenatchee, and travelled between and over to the Westside for a long time, this is still true. @WSDOT you cannot just act like this isn't reality. I don't use the app from my car insurance provider because the app doesn't work/most apps don't work when I'm on the road. Sms/ text message alerts are the safest and most efficient, effective way to alert the masses of travel updates on this busy corridor
I rarely have Internet access when I care most about receiving updates but I almost always have SMS access. This seems extremely counterintuitive.
Yet the WSDOT App is not Carplay capable, so we will not be able to get any notifications without picking up the phone and checking - is that what you are wanting everybody to do while driving?
They aren't similar. Text messages are read out loud by most car audio systems, but push notifications are not unless you've included Carplay and Android Auto integration into your app.
You are literally forcing people to use phones while driving.
Did the state Sec of Transportation actually sign off on this bad idea or is this another lower level rogue staff idea? Is she prepared to defend this when she testifies in front of the legislature when they reconvene in Jan? This is bad public policy and will end up being forced back to the status quo. Save yourself and us all the hassle and keep the current sustem as is.
Are you listening WSDOT?! The app is good for you but terrible for the traveler consumer. I go through passes and a text will get through when apps won’t work. When you are on a long drive in state, conditions change, especially with wrecks/closures or snow closures. A text will come in on my phone and can allow quick rerouting. I’d have to log onto an app or see if it had notifications. TERRIBLE idea for safety, traffic control, quick responsiveness. Are you listening or still doing this because someone thought “great idea” and spent time and money on it? At the very least allow the app to select routes and add in text notifications. This is one more case where media overcomplicates things. I’ll now wait for the lawsuits when people are forced to check an app during a snowstorm or pulls over to check an app and gets slammed into. What the heck were you thinking?!
This is such a huge bummer! This was one of the most valuable text messages I would get. Not just the pass, but the Vantage bridge, traffic backups due to fires, wrecks, etc.
Push notifications DO NOT work like texts when the service is sketchy. They also burn up phone battery time. Again - you’re explaining away instead of LISTENING and thinking, “maybe we got this wrong.” SAFETY first!
Nice try with all the fancy car gadgets, but plenty of us drive older vehicles without all that hoo-ha. Anyway, WSDOT, count me as another person who's very unhappy with the elimination of texts. I don't want yet another app that's even more difficult to deal with while driving.
Agree with all of the above, which are ALL negative! Bad idea! Listen! Don’t do this! I don’t want the app, don’t need it. I need dependability and sms works in places where internet won’t!
I'd just like to point out a flaw in the instructions for setting up the app. Step 2 (second bullet) says, "Open the app and select Notifications."
The capitalization of Notifications suggests I look for that exact text. On my iOS app version it was actually a little bell icon in the upper left corner. It took me a couple of minutes to figure that out.
I also don't care for this decision, but I'll live.
Bad idea. Travelers with flip phones and travelers in areas served by text only will receive no alerts.
Just wanted to point out that every single comment is negative. I’m joining the chorus in saying this is a bad decision that makes traffic alerts LESS accessible, which is supposedly not your stated goal. Please pass on these comments to whoever made this decision and find a way to keep the text alerts going.
100% Totally agree. When hiking near Snoqualmie, I would receive phone service. Was able to get updates regarding I-90 for my drive home. Not any longer.
Also, it’s just insulting and embarrassing when they try to sell the change to us. Saying it’s going to be more efficient and such. Come on now.
Terrible decision. This makes things inconvenient and in some ways dangerous. Notifications by SMS can be read aloud by hands free systems in vehicles. Now the urge will be to look down at the app notifications. Did you factor in the inevitable cost of liability?
“…this service more cost-effectively”.
That’s the reason for the change. That’s why WSDOT is making the switch. It’s insulting. They say things like “quickly as possible” and “makes it easy.”
Don’t try to trick us. Just tell us the truth. It’s all about saving money.
Even after many cons than pros I’m quite sure WSDOT will continue make us using the apps. Some already said, nobody wants to download more apps.
Is there any other option?
Try to listen and do what majority ask rather than continually ignoring and make change which sometimes unnecessary or not even efficient
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