Bernie Jensen of Everett writes: I have been puzzled by the yield sign where Highway 204 and 20th Street SE enter the U.S. 2 trestle. It is my impression that Highway 204 has much more traffic than 20th (perhaps by four to one). Usually, the car on the right has the right-of-way. Why is it different here? Why do the drivers from Highway 204 have to yield to those coming from 20th? The sun can make it almost impossible to see traffic coming down Cavalero Hill.
Mike Swires, Snohomish area traffic engineer for the state Department of Transportation, responds: Drivers entering a roadway from an on-ramp must yield to vehicles that are already in the lane they are trying to get into for two main safety reasons. First, drivers on the on-ramp are traveling at slower speeds. And second, it is safer and easier for drivers to merge left into oncoming traffic.
Traffic on westbound 20th Street SE has the right-of-way at the Highway 204 interchange because traffic coming from the highway travels at slower speeds and is effectively merging onto 20th Street. We believe that a longer merge distance at this interchange is the most effective way to reduce the risk of collisions. We currently do not have the funding to widen this merge point.
Bill Downing of Everett writes: The city has some sort of road-repair materials storage yard at the corner of 112th Street SE and Silver Lake Road in south Everett. Would it be possible to have the city road crews use a bucket excavator to connect the street edge of this area with the adjoining culvert? When it rains, the water runs off the dirt yard and into Silver Lake Road. It floods the street in a very tight curve area, and when it rains and then freezes, oh boy, is that corner fun to drive on! The distance to the culvert can’t be 25 feet from the edge of the driveway.
Dongho Chang, traffic engineer for the city of Everett, responds: Great suggestion. We will make changes at the storage area to make sure we safely drain the runoff.
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