Snohomish County’s first Popeye’s restaurant opened Dec. 14 at 6504 Evergreen Way, and the lines to grab some of its Louisiana-style chicken last week continued to spill over onto the busy seven-lane roadway.
The traffic is out of hand in the mind of Rick Hunter, who lives nearby.
“This is not only a traffic tie-up, but just increases the likelihood of even more road rage on our local streets. I get pretty pissed off when I come up behind that line of cars waiting to go into the drive thru. How did something like this happen?” Hunter asked, wondering if there was a planning failure. “Since when is the desire for a quick bite more important than the dependable flow of traffic on the streets of Everett?”
Everett city staff said Hunter’s was the first complaint they received. In response, the Public Works department posted video cameras to record the situation.
“Openings of popular new eateries sometimes create short-lived traffic backups,” said city engineer Tim Miller.
He pointed to Issaquah’s Krispy Kreme doughnut shop that tied up traffic for weeks when it opened in 2001.
More locally and recently, Dutch Bros. Coffee opened Dec. 13 on Broadway, with the line of cars filling side streets.
Chick-fil-A, another Southern chicken chain, also saw temporary traffic problems tied to its 2015 openings in Bellevue and Tacoma and, to a lesser extent, in Lynnwood.
The design of the Popeye’s property, including the amount of space for cars to line up, meets city standards and typical traffic demands for such restaurants, Miller said.
“I expect the Popeye problem to resolve itself when the novelty of the new business wears off,” he said. “In this case they do have an additional access on the west side of the site from Fleming Street. We may consider having an off-duty police officer wave people off instructing them to use Fleming. We may also require them to post temporary ‘No Stopping’ signs on Evergreen near their driveway.”
The city was going to be in contact with the manager for a decision.
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