Change in merge clogs I-5 traffic

Published 11:39 pm Sunday, February 24, 2008

EVERETT — A morning commute on I-5 tests Nolan Foss’ patience these days.

It used to take him about 35 minutes to commute from Smokey Point to Mukilteo, but the same route now takes about an hour, Foss said.

Traffic backs up for several miles on southbound I-5 from its merging point with Broadway in Everett. The state closed a half-mile stretch of a Broadway merging lane in the area on Feb. 14 to rebuild the road’s shoulder.

That means drivers heading south on Broadway now have to merge directly into mainline traffic on the freeway. Only three I-5 southbound lanes instead of four are carrying heavy traffic in the area.

The change seems to have confused some drivers, Foss said.

“It’s not only irritating, but it’s also dangerous,” he said.

Drivers had been merging from Broadway onto the freeway without an abrupt lane change for years, said Connie Lewis, a public outreach manager for contractor Atkinson-CH2M Hill.

“People had been doing this for what? 20 years?” Lewis said. “It’s really a major change.”

Parts of the merging lane are likely to remain closed until April, said Mike Cotten, project director for the state Department of Transportation’s Everett I-5 widening project. Crews are working to add a new lane to the freeway. The new lane is expected to channel traffic onto I-5 from Broadway and from a new southbound merging lane between 41st Street and U.S. 2.

The closure of the Broadway merging lane is necessary to improve traffic flow in the future, state officials said.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Patty Michaud, a spokeswoman for the transportation department. “This is a very active construction zone. We are asking for drivers’ patience.”

Eventually, southbound I-5 near Broadway will have five lanes with a new carpool lane to the Lowell neighborhood, a change that could significantly improve the rush-hour crawl twice a day.

On Feb. 14, the state opened wider freeway on southbound I-5 from the Lowell neighborhood to Highway 526, known as the Boeing Freeway. The two-mile stretch of freeway has five lanes including a new carpool lane.

Foss said he hopes crews will finish the work on the Broadway onramp soon.

Foss now drives south on I-5 and exits it onto the Boeing Freeway toward Mukilteo. But traffic backups near Broadway are making him consider getting off the freeway earlier.

“It’s backed up all the way to Marysville,” he said.