After viewing this mornings interview with the Paula Hammond. I'm truly glad she was appointed to the position. Finally someone who is going to make the hard decisions that should have been made years ago. I applaud her direct approach. On our many trips across on the Port Townsend/Keystone run, my husband pointed out the cracks in the hull. I applaud Paula for her hard decision that possibly save many lives. Keep up the good work! Thank you Robert for bring these stories to the forefront!

I liked some of Paula Hammond's ideas, and she's on the right track about I5 through Seattle.

As a truck driver, I spend way too much time trying to get through Seattle running to and from the oil refineries north of town. I see several problems that contribute to the I5 congestion.

1.) The "blender effect". We have way too many left hand on and off ramps quickly followed by right hand ramps. That results in drivers getting onto the freeway from the left only to run over to the right for the next exit. Prime examples are the 520 west merge onto I5 south followed by the Mercer Street exit and the opposite going north.

Eliminate the left hand on and off ramps (except for HOV), and you'll significantly reduce congestion in the North Sound.

The left-hand HOV ramps work and prevent congestion since carpools are not crossing traffic to enter/exit. Other metropolitan areas such as Phoenix, AZ have also engineered their HOV systems like this with wonderful success.

2.)SR520. I cannot count the hours I have spent in traffic fighting my way from Lynnwood to Seattle only to find that SR520 traffic is backed up onto I5. Traffic from the University District tries to cross over to SR520 east and has no place to go reulting in a massive traffic jam. I see two solutions for this. Either redesign the SR520/I5 interchange to eliminate the crossovers, or dump SR520 onto surface streets with no I5 access. One of these actions would significantly reduce commute times between Everett and Seattle since most SR520 traffic goes downtown.

Also a little bit of driver education and old fashioned common sense would go a long way. Let's not wait until the last possible nanosecond before crossing four lanes of traffic to exit. The ripple effect of those moves lasts a long time.

The southbound HOV exit to
Columbia Street should be removed to add another lane for southbound traffic merging into the mainline from the express route. If possible the Union Street exit should also be either removed or at least an optional lane for thru traffic.

Please somebody re-pave I-5

in the Northgate area....bump

bump bump bump bump bump...

Thank you !

Good going on the new Transportation Director.

Tear down the Viaduct. Make a 6-8 lane "Embarcadaro-like" street. Put pedestrians on smaller overpasses...OR...put pedestrians underneath (instead of the automobiles)like they do on Japan's wide streets. Meld the beautiful city-skyline with luscious Puget Sound. Continue to support mass transit; put in place multi-solutions currently being researched as described by the Secretary.

AND...never, never, never put a 30-person whale-watching boat between Pt. Townsend and Keystone!!! Never!!! I thought I was going to have to make a swim for it!

Narrowing lanes to squeeze another lane into I-5 through downtown would be a huge mistake. I've been driving tractor trailer through there everyday for 20 years. You're asking for trouble if you do. You'll have more serious accidents and backups.

We need a traffic trench with a lid to replace the viaduct. On the lid would be a public park for the people to enjoy.

The promoters of surface streets should all take a trip to New York during the next 6 months and then take a poll and see how many still like the idea of surface streets. Trying to commute through the downtown streets of New York is a very time-consuming adventure. What happens when the outer communities and cities can no longer make a reasonable commute through or around Seattle? I live in Kent and need to travel to Ballard for the next 3 months. There are many constuction workers, who are always traveling to different locations, wherever the current job site happens to be. Public transportation cannot meet that constantly changing commute. All 4 lanes on the Viaduct are a constant stream of traffic. How can surface streets obsorb 4 lanes of traffic in each direction traveling 50-60 miles an hour?

With I-5, there really needs to be some sort of rebuild from Federal Way to Everett. In Toronto, they have Highway 401, a 14 lane 500k vehicles a day major roadway that goes through the city. What they have is 3 express lanes in each direction and 4 collector distributor lanes, perhaps I-5 could use this concept instead of express lanes expand the collector distributor lanes pass the convention center and I-90?

We need anouther North / South bypass highway on this side of the mountains from Centrailia to North of I-90. Make most semi trucks use the bypass. Add tolls on I-5 at Vancouver, Centrailia, Tacoma and North of Seattle then use tolls to build the bypass highway. DOT better get busy buying right of ways or we will never pay it off.

Does anyone else love the viaduct, I do. I love the drive, watching the water and the beautiful sunsets. I hope they rebuild it. Some times driving isnt just to get to where you have got to go, and when it is you can get a pleasent surprise.

Traffic congestion on the I-5 coming from the southend (Fed Way)is absolutley awful. I commute with my husband and am at work at 6:30 a.m. The carpool lane is no better than the regular lanes and when the regular lanes are running slower, guaranteed that those folks pull out in front of us and use the commuter lane. $125 ticket is not enough of a deterant! Make it $500 or $1000. You would have less accident because of this. And if you break the law by using a "dummy", then the fine should be doubled and possible public service such as road clean up!

I feel Paula Hammond has some good ideas regarding the congestion, but I don't see how tearing down the viaduct would be a viable one. Traffice through downtown at rush hour is already bad enough, people blocking intersections, running red lights. I know the camera's have helped, but make the fine stiffer for that too. $45? That is a joke! The only suggestion I have seen that seems viable is to sink the viaduct as a tunnel, with the park on top. You can't funnel the traffic from there through the streets, it will STOP traffic! I am in it every day, I see it every day.

Please someone listen! Increase bus transportation so that it is easier to use. I have to take two buses to get to or from work and it will take me 1 1/2 hours, from Federal Way!

It is way past time for changes to the traffic congestion. Stop studying how to fix it and fix it! More money has been wasted on studying than on fixing.

The blog comments include some good suggestions. Please do not allow politicians in Olympia to do something so short-sighted as to remove the viaduct before there is a compensatory solution in place. This would absolutely dead-lock the Seattle metropolitan area from about 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM every day. People in Olympia who do not spend time in our traffic have no idea how bad it is now, and how impossible the situation would become without the traffic capacity of the viaduct. SR-509/SR-99 northbound during the morning rush hour is three solid crawling lanes of traffic, just like northbound I-5. Neither I-5 nor surface streets can accommodate this additional volume of traffic -- under any imaginable modification within existing rights-of-way. Please do not allow a hasty, irresponsible decision to "get on with the situation." I am a self-employed person, with the majority of my projects ranging from Thurston County to Snohomish County. Transit will never meet my business travel needs. The viaduct decision is crucial to my livelihood, and to the quality of life of anyone who needs to travel north or south through the City, any day of the week.

Blend planning with the NEW VIADUCT, perhaps encouraging truck traffic along the waterfront, and the upgrading of the not-so I-5 through town. We cannot look back, we CAN correct the goo and resolve a much needed problem.

We, all must give, and start TODAY. No rights, no special groups, no
Tim, just get going.

Somebody has to make a decision, and off we go. If you do not like the decision of the elected, too bad. Think next time.
We are famous for gumming the selection process to submission. Grow up, get started, finish. Smile.

We do not need a "Big Dig" in Seattle, we need a 5 mile viaduct. The real estate developers and owners do not need a windfall (By replaceing viaduct with surface street solution) at expense of commerce.

After years of I5 commuting I am still amazed at the poor placement of lane signs for the downtown section of I5. The lane markers are NOT over the lanes that the "arrows" indicate. I am always seeing driver confusion and the resultant dangerous lane changes. We need at least ONE, clearly marked, thru traffic lane from the north side of Everett to the south side of Tacoma.

I double what joe R & Joycie said.

Bein from the east coast, the Horrible Signage in the State of Washington never ceases to amuse me.

While visiting Singapore a few years ago I was faced with paying a toll if I didn't have at least three people in my vehicle when entering the downdown area. There were not toll booths set up to monitor this but cameras. If your car was targeted as having too few occupants you were mailed a ticket. There are a great number of people who drive by themselves for their own convenience and they are willing to pay the parking charges downtown. The only ones who would be affected negatively would be those who have to be in the downtown area for work, i.e., construction workers and others who can't carpool. Why not look at how other cities of the world have solved their traffic problems? Same goes for a mass transit system. Look at how efficient the MTS works in places like Hong Kong, Singapore, and New York. Get people out of "study committees" and get to work!