KELLER, Wash. — The Keller Ferry is back up and running Tuesday after camshaft problems forced it to shut down for a day and a half.
The Washington State Department of Transportation said the ferry’s ongoing reliability issues are affecting daily commuters who depend on it to cross Lake Roosevelt.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Keller Ferry to shut down Monday for maintenance
“It’s out about 14 days per year is what we have seen, which is honestly 14 days too many,” said Ryan Overton, a WSDOT spokesperson.
When the ferry is not operating, travelers face detours that can add more than an hour to trips between the rural communities.
“The Keller Ferry is a critical connection between Lincoln and Ferry Counties,” Overton said. “There’s schools service that uses it, there’s mail carriers that use it, recreationalists, people live and work in those areas and they use it on a daily basis.”
The latest outage resulted from wear and tear on the ferry’s camshaft, part of a pattern of mechanical issues that have plagued the aging vessel. WSDOT officials said the ferry’s rural location and the need to source parts from outside the United States can complicate repair efforts.
The department announced plans to overhaul its maintenance approach for the 10-year-old ferry to improve reliability and reduce service interruptions.
“The vessel is over 10 years old at this point,” Overton said. “So the preventative maintenance, we’re hoping to keep on it more regularly and that will keep the vessel in service longer and it will have a stronger reliability rating going forward.”
WSDOT is also exploring technological improvements to better inform travelers about service disruptions. Currently, the department relies on manual signs posted up to 60 miles from the ferry crossing, which can take hours to update when problems arise.
The agency is considering replacing these with digital message boards that could be updated within minutes of a service interruption.
“The time would go from three hours to almost instantaneous,” Overton said.
WSDOT has launched a public survey to gather feedback on the proposed digital signage system. The department does not yet have funding for the project but wants community input before pursuing any changes.
Click HERE to take the survey.
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