We recently told you about state plans to improve a pedestrian crossing on 164th Street at I-5, which will take away direct carpool access to the on-ramps.
A couple folks who live in that area were aghast. Traffic is already bad in that corridor. Won’t this make it worse?
“It is a serious mess every day turning left from Ash Way to 164th with two lanes getting on I-5,” said Richard Bohot of Lynnwood. “Now with one lane it will be a traffic disaster…”
Mike Allende of the Washington State Department of Transportation communications team said the decision was made after an extensive traffic study of the area, including on-site and video observations.
“The majority of traffic entering I-5 from either direction of 164th Street already uses the lane that will remain open following this project,” he said.
“Safety is always our primary focus and just as we continue to see increased vehicle traffic on 164th, we also see increased foot and bicycle traffic,” he added. “We have a responsibility to make sure those travelers are as safe as possible crossing a very busy interchange and this project will help achieve that goal.”
Amy Spain is another reader who is concerned the project “will make traffic matters worse.”
“I have previously contacted the county requesting a traffic study or review of the timing of the lights heading westbound on 164th Street SW, as the backups are regularly already more than one-half-mile long,” she said.
“I agree a pedestrian light, crosswalk or overpass would be safer, but what is being done about (the) traffic bottleneck that already exists at this location?”
Allende said that signal engineers with WSDOT and the city of Lynnwood “will continue to work to ensure the signals near that interchange are optimized to help traffic both on 164th and on streets turning on to 164th as much as possible but this is an area where continued growth has led to increased traffic, which presents a significant challenge for the agencies to manage.”
Snohomish County also is involved in that effort.
Separately, the county is working with Community Transit on a Swift 2 bus line from Bothell to the Boeing plant at Paine Field. As part of that, the county is looking at new technology — adaptive signal control — along the 128th Street corridor.
“We’re hoping that will provide some relief at the I-5 (and) 128th interchange,” said Jim Bloodgood, Snohomish County traffic operations engineering manager.
If it’s successful, it could be replicated at the 164th Street interchange, Bloodgood said.
“We’re aware of the backup and we are taking steps and doing some studies,” said Fay Lim, the Public Works communications supervisor.
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