Due to the volume of questions and comments we’ve received — the Street Smarts in-box looks like the streets of Snohomish County in early January — we’re going to get right to some answers. Thanks for your questions; please keep them coming.
We do have a mini-theme for the week: the U.S. 2 trestle.
Q&A
Jeanne Clifton of Snohomish asks: Roughly six months ago we were notified in The Herald that the eastbound lanes of the trestle were going to be turned into three lanes. The left lane dividing markers were moved to the north, but so far nothing further has been done. Why?
Kris Olsen of the state Department of Transportation responds: The short answer is, it will be completed over the next weekend where there is no rain, snow or ice.
The actual re-striping was done last October, but another piece of work that depended on good weather could not be completed before the winter storms faded the new striping.
A bumper installed on the rail between the right eastbound lane and the offramp to Homeacres Road had to be moved to the right to make room for the new lane. Over the winter, crews either encountered bad weather on weekends or were called off to other projects. This work was finished last weekend.
Now, some of the new striping needs to be redone. When it’s done, we’ll be ready to open the shoulder to traffic during the afternoon commute. Drivers will be able to use the shoulder between 3 and 7 p.m. on weeknights. This will provide additional capacity across the trestle when it is most needed and will help relieve congestion on U.S. 2 and I-5. For more information, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/US2/ TrafficManagement.
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Laura Bilger of Everett asks: What the heck is that thing that’s being built next to the trestle? It appears to go nowhere in particular, doesn’t look wide enough for a road. Is it our ‘Bridge to Nowhere’?”
Souheil Nasr, an engineer for the city of Everett, responds: The city is replacing two of its three 48-inch water transmission lines on Ebey Island south of U.S. 2. The trestle that is currently being constructed will be used as a work platform to replace the lines without affecting the wetlands. The project will extend westward from Homeacres Road to just east of the Snohomish River, about three-quarters of a mile. When the work on the water mains is done, the platform will be removed. The estimated completion date is October 2010.
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Jake Jacobsen of Marysville asks: Since the stated purpose of carpool lanes is to encourage people to carpool, how is a driver with an infant in a car seat reducing the number of vehicles on the road? Shouldn’t it be “two or more licensed drivers” to justify lane use? And I have to admit, how on earth would you ever enforce that? It’s already hard to tell who’s in most new cars with their blacked out windows.
State trooper Keith Leary responds: The law is two or more “persons.” The reader would have to contact the state Legislature to change the verbiage to the state law to specify age or licensed drivers.
Regarding tinted windows, if we can see only one person, we will stop the car to see if there is a second person. If so, they are fine, but they may be in violation of the window tinting law if the tint is more than 35 percent tint on the front side windows. The rear passenger windows can be darker.
E-mail Street Smarts at stsmarts@heraldnet.com.
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