A smooth ride on the first day

By Brian Kelly

Herald Writer

MARYSVILLE – It was like melted butter on a biscuit.

For many, the morning commute south on the first day of the Highway 529 southbound Steamboat Slough bridge closure was a wonderful wakeup compared to last year’s Highway 529 nightmare, where traffic tie-ups added hours to the ride home for commuters heading north from Everett.

A truck that got toasted on I-5 just south of Steamboat Slough this morning may have been the cause of much of the traffic trouble.

Just about 6:30 a.m., the truck fire on the right shoulder of northbound I-5 sent a blinding, thick cloud of white smoke over the highway. Traffic was already slowing down, however, to avoid a large metal shelving unit that had fallen from a pickup and was sitting in the center of the far right lane.

Traffic on southbound I-5 slowed as emergency vehicles quickly arrived on scene.

And rubbernecking drivers passing nearby on Highway 529 may have been the cause of a five-car fender bender that also slowed the morning commute, state Department of Transportation officials said.

That accident happened just after 7 a.m. when a driver rear-ended a disabled car on the shoulder of Highway 529, said Dongho Chang, a traffic engineer for the department.

Other delays were caused by drivers leaving I-5 to get onto Highway 529, as some travelers slowed down, expecting to merge into another lane of traffic.

“They were thinking they had to yield … they were slowing down to look for traffic (that wasn’t there),” he said.

Additional traffic control measures will be put in place to prevent it from happening again.

“We’ll barrel that off tomorrow so people will know they won’t have to slow down,” Chang said.

For the first two hours of the commute, from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., the rush hour was all rush. Traffic on Highway 529 was very light, with vehicles traveling well above the new speed limit of 35 mph.

Department officials said the relatively smooth flow was due to the assistance DOT received from local agencies in helping prepare for the closure, and they thanked the traveling public for their part in keeping traffic moving.

“I think it went phenomenally well,” said John Okamoto, the department’s assistant secretary for the Northwest Region. “We’re real pleased with the outcome.”

Later today may be a different story, however. Heavy congestion is expected in downtown Marysville in the evening commute hours.

Largely in part of last year’s traffic mess, this shutdown of Highway 529 commanded the attention of the department’s top officials.

Okamoto drove through the detour routes several times during the morning commute.

It went better than expected, he said, because commuters were taking alternative routes and the traffic plans in place seemed to be working. His drive from Marysville to Everett took 10 minutes.

Transportation secretary Doug MacDonald is expected to visit the area during the evening commute.

The Highway 529 closure started today, and the project is the next phase of a $13.5 million rehabilitation effort for the Steamboat Slough bridges. The bridge deck and steel support beams on the southbound bridge will be replaced, and workers will also rehabilitate the swing span controls and drives, raise the control house, paint the steel bridge and strengthen it to withstand earthquakes.

Although the contractor on the project has DOT’s approval to keep the bridge closed for 157 days, officials are hoping the work will be wrapped up in three months.

If drivers were changing their traveling plans, it wasn’t readily apparent at the DOT’s temporary park-and-ride lot on First Street in Marysville.

D.D. Wilcox was the first commuter to leave her vehicle in the lot, and it kept a lonely vigil for several hours this morning.

Wilcox hopped out of her Subaru Impreza just before 6 a.m. and quickly walked to a bus stop to catch a ride to her job at the county courthouse in Everett. She hadn’t changed her morning routine much because of the Highway 529 closure.

“Usually I park in the community over here,” she said. “It’s nice to have a park-and-ride. I always felt bad parking in front of people’s houses.”

You can call Herald Writer Brian Kelly at 425-339-3422 or send e-mail to kelly@heraldnet.com.

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