Eric Earling is among a growing number of commuters who want to know why they can’t use the new direct access ramp at the Ash Way park-and-ride.
When the new $18.4 million ramp opened last week, many (including me) were surprised when they saw “bus only” signs.
Earling noted that a similar ramp that opened at the Lynnwood Transit Center last year has been hugely popular among all carpool lane users – buses, vanpools and carpools.
“I’ve seen the Lynnwood ramps used by carpools and have to assume if it was allowed at Ash Way they would be used by a notable number of people as well,” he said.
Direct access ramps work by dropping and exiting carpool traffic (in this case just buses) directly into and from the carpool lane, eliminating the time it takes to weave through traffic to get to the carpool lane.
As it turns out, weaving is one of the reasons only buses can use the new ramp.
Traffic engineers worried that drivers who use the ramp to get on southbound I-5 would weave through traffic to try to make the quick exit to southbound I-405. They also worried that the ramp that drops into the park-and-ride was too short and steep to allow bus traffic and carpool traffic to safely mix.
“Our choice at the Ash Way park-and-ride lot was really between being able to make a substantial improvement for transit and not being able to do any project at all,” said Lee Somerstein, a Sound Transit spokesman.
Question: When I was driving northbound on Highway 9 out of Woodinville just before the new Costco, I noticed a sign for Monroe.
This sign, placed before the new Costco light, indicated that the next left turn would get you to Highway 522 and Monroe. I was not familiar with the new light and naively took the first available left turn and found myself in the Costco parking lot.
Shouldn’t this signage be placed after the Costco signal to avoid confusion? When I see the word “next” in any signage, I assume it’s the next available turn, not the second one.
Anne Belhumeur, Snohomish
Answer: We will relocate the sign.
Jim Bloodgood, traffic engineer, Snohomish County public works
Question: What work has the county or the state done along U.S. 2 by the Pilchuck River? It looks like they created an environment friendly area for birds and wildlife. Why?
K. Love, Monroe
Answer: When we widen or improve highways we make every reasonable effort to avoid environmentally sensitive areas like wetlands. However we can’t always avoid working in and damaging these sensitive areas.
When this occurs, federal law requires us to compensate, often by creating new wetlands. The new wetlands on U.S. 2 near the Pilchuck River bridge compensate for past and upcoming road projects.
Myly Posse, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman
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