Snohomish County has 2 of worst truck bottlenecks in US

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, January 25, 2017

LYNNWOOD — Two of the worst traffic bottlenecks for trucks in the U.S. are in Snohomish County, according to a report released by a trucking research group on Wednesday.

The worst offenders are the interchanges at I-5 at I-405 in Lynnwood and I-5 at U.S. 2 in Everett, according to the American Transportation Research Institute.

Those bottlenecks rank No. 74 and No. 95 respectively among the nation’s worst pain points.

The Puget Sound region probably has more than its share of these traffic headaches, said Dan Murray, the institute’s vice president of research.

Traffic delays can be caused for many reasons including weather and road construction, he said.

“In Washington state, it looks like the pure increase of economic activity, which is the good news-bad news of the report,” Murray said.

The average speed at the Lynnwood intersection is 49 miles per hour and that dips down to 41 miles per hour during peak traffic, according to the report. At the Everett intersection, the average speed is 49 miles per hour and that dips down to 42 miles per hour during peak traffic.

Altogether, nine of the worst bottlenecks for the country are in Washington. All but one of the problem areas are in the Puget Sound region.

One of the big risers on the list for the state is the interchange at Highway 18 and Highway 167 in Auburn, which reached No. 7. It is looking to become an important route for truck drivers headed east to connect with I-90, Murray said.

The Lynnwood interchange rose one spot on the list compared to last year. The Everett interchange actually dropped four spots.

“Washington’s economy is dependent on trucks with 80 percent of our communities relying solely on trucks to deliver their goods,” said Washington Trucking Associations executive vice president Sheri Call. “(This) analysis allows us to target state and federal resources to keep trucks, and the economy, moving.”

The worst interchange in the nation is I-285 at I-85 in Atlanta, Georgia, according to the American Transportation Research Institute, which is a non-profit based in Arlington, Virginia.

The institute assesses the level of truck congestion at 250 locations on the national highway system. The analysis is based on truck GPS data from for nearly 700,000 heavy duty trucks uses and comes up with its congestion ranking based on traffic speeds as well as the number of trucks affected.

The institute has been releasing the list since 2002.