Carpool lane temptation overpowering

When I heard that Tuesday’s freak windstorm knocked two trees down onto southbound I-5, I knew I was going to have a long drive home.

It turns out I couldn’t have been more right.

Like thousands of others, my normal half-hour ride home turned into a two-hour ordeal, with plenty of stopping and not much going.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out that I wasn’t the only frustrated driver on the road. People were slamming hands on dashboards or swerving in and out of lanes in the inevitably fruitless search for the slightest advantage.

One driver told me she tries to never use her cellphone while driving, but because her car wasn’t going anywhere anyway, decided to call her sister and vent.

My cellphone was dead, so I just watched everyone else watch me.

I couldn’t help but be envious of all the folks cruising by in the carpool lane — it was obvious that they weren’t going to miss dinner.

Then I started to notice that the carpool lane seemed to be busier than normal.

Then, as if a dam had broken, there were suddenly waves and waves of cars — even semi-trucks — merging into the freeway’s only free-flowing lane.

By my count, only one in five cars had more than one person in them.

But pretty soon the idea had caught on so much that the carpool lane finally slowed down, allowing me to get a good, hard, even angry, look at them.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

I came across a State Patrol trooper who appeared to be having stern conversations with the drivers of three different cars, all of them appeared to be alone.

No word on whether tickets were issued, but I guess it’s a good thing I resisted the temptation of the carpool lane.

Q: Every morning while heading to work in Marysville, I face the agony of trying to merge onto I-5 north from Hewitt Avenue.

It never fails — four out of five days a week — I am behind drivers who have no intention of merging onto the freeway.

Instead, they are heading to the Marine View Drive exit, which means they can stay in the same lane without getting up to freeway speed.

Because these vehicles — many of them semi-trucks — go so slowly, I am forced to try to merge onto I-5 with a top speed of 35 mph to 40 mph. With freeway traffic going 60 mph to 65 mph, this is extremely hazardous and aggravating.

Twice in the past 6 months, I have been forced onto the Marine View Drive exit because I could not gain enough speed to safely merge with freeway traffic.

Kay Arterburn, Snohomish

A: Unfortunately there is no quick or easy fix to this problem. Adding another right lane involves widening the freeway and the 23rd Street bridge to accommodate an extra right lane.

The state Department of Transportation has a plan in the works to fix this and many other problems through Everett in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.

Starting in 2006, we will widen I-5 through Everett. Part of this project will change that onramp and will force all vehicles exiting to northbound I-5 from the Hewitt Avenue Trestle and Everett Avenue to get on I-5 and get up to speed.

The Marine View exit will move several hundred yards to the north (on the other side of the 23rd Street bridge). This change will allow vehicles to be at freeway speed before they take the exit option.

Jamie Holter, spokeswoman, state Department

of Transportation

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