It’s the end of the road for me at The Herald.
As you read this, I’ll be going through new employee orientation at Microsoft in Redmond, along with a couple hundred other new employees that will start there this week.
It’s been a pleasure answering your questions and sometimes actually helping fix your problems, even if it’s just getting someone to repair a broken traffic light sensor.
I’ve also enjoyed sharing my thoughts about driving and the commuting experience, which, thanks to my reverse commute, has never really been that bad. It’ll be a different story starting today, when I’ll brave the Highway 520 floating bridge.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my meanderings, whether about Random Acts of Safety (when people are so safe they cause accidents), my singing about pink garbage trucks with my daughters, or the crazy things people do while they drive — like reading, applying lipstick or eating lunch.
Herald county reporter Jeff Switzer, a former transportation reporter of great esteem, will take the wheel from here.
Fewer lanes for traffic
Question: I understand the need to reconfigure the Broadway onramp to merge onto southbound I-5.
But the real source of the new backup is the lost lane capacity. It used to be that from the point where the Broadway onramp merged onto I-5 we had four lanes to through the Lowell area and beyond.
Now we don’t have four lanes until south of the Lowell Road.
Why didn’t the DOT open a fourth lane, perhaps temporarily using the area where the new carpool lane will be, to avoid losing lane capacity between Broadway and 52nd Street SE?
Since DOT is going to be opening a carpool lane on the east side of the freeway anyway — and the work on the left shoulder appears all but complete — why didn’t they sequence the work to be able to use that lane temporarily as a general purpose lane until the work on the west side is done?
Scott Bader, Everett
Answer: We wanted to open the carpool lane while we rebuild the shoulder at the Broadway entrance. We expected to have extra space from the new southbound carpool lane available, but crews could not get the road ready in time thanks to wet winter weather. Although the lane looks finished, it is not ready for traffic. There is a diagonal seam across the new lane with a hard edge that is difficult for motorcycles to navigate.
Crews need warmer, drier weather for grinding down the existing pavement and placing another layer of asphalt to smooth out this edge before they can open the new lane. We hope to have this lane ready by the end of April, about the same time crews are finished with the shoulder widening. Waiting until the extra lane is ready would delay the Broadway shoulder work by months and add time to the construction schedule.
Crews must prioritize safety while juggling a busy schedule with weather dependent work. We recognize driving in a construction zone can be frustrating and we appreciate drivers’ continued patience during this final construction push.
Patty Michaud, DOT spokeswoman
Ask us about traffic
Have a question about traffic or street rules around Snohomish and Island counties? We can help find an answer. E-mail Street Smarts at stsmarts@heraldnet.com.
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