It’s a crying shame what drivers have to endure
Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, August 14, 2001
By Karl Schweizer
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Jennifer Thuline could have walked faster than she was able to drive from her job at The Everett Clinic on Hoyt Avenue Tuesday.
Thuline left work at 5:18 p.m., intent on picking up her two children from a day care in Arlington.
An hour later, she was trapped less than two miles from work on Everett Avenue east of Rockefeller Avenue. She had nothing to look forward to but another two hours stuck behind a miles-long line of immobilized motorists, most of whom, like Thuline, were trying to reach the Everett Avenue onramp to northbound I-5 just 15 blocks away.
"This is my first night of hell," Thuline said. "Just another month to go."
The Arlington mom joined thousands of other drivers who got stuck in the jam of cars trying to reach northbound I-5. The closure of Highway 529 north of Everett for bridge work forced motorists to use the freeway to reach their homes in Arlington, Marysville and other points north.
The resulting traffic jam had cars backed up almost across town, from Hoyt Avenue in the west to the onramp in the east.
Thuline knew it would be bad, just not that bad, when she left work. Patients had been late all day because of traffic, and some appointments had to be canceled, she said.
"People were in tears," she said.
Some drivers tried alternate routes to reach the freeway, with some success.
Donna Smith drove her 11-person vanpool vehicle south to get north on Tuesday. Smith, who works in downtown Everett, used the 41st Street onramp to the freeway. It took 30 minutes to reach the onramp, but she made it to her Camano Island home by 7 p.m., just one hour later than usual. On Monday, her van got stuck on Everett Avenue for nearly two hours, causing her to get home at nearly 9 p.m.
Smith can’t wait for Highway 529 to reopen.
"I hope to God they are running their work crews 24 hours a day, because this is just stupid," she said.
Another traffic sufferer was Travis Nickelson, a plumbing contractor who stopped at the Texaco station at Walnut Street and Everett Avenue. He wanted to go north to Marysville. Outside, a Washington State Patrol trooper directed cars toward the freeway, a few inches at a time.
"People work enough hours as it is. Now they aren’t seeing their wives. They aren’t seeing their kids," Nickelson said.
But the delays were good news to Ashley Mui, 12, and Allison Noor, 11. The girls did a brisk business selling soda pop to motorists from the corner of Everett Avenue and Cedar Street.
You can call Herald Writer Karl Schweizer at 425-339-3452
or send e-mail to schweizer@heraldnet.com.
