Date:
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Contact:
Erin Bogenschutz, WSDOT Communications, 206.440.4455 (Seattle)
Jamie Swift, WSDOT Communications, 360.507.1854 (Olympia)
SEATTLE – New stores, favorite holiday hotspots and a stronger Canadian loonie are expected to bring more traffic to the greater Puget Sound region starting at 12:01 a.m. Friday morning when the holiday shopping season begins. WSDOT and WSP remind drivers to pack their patience and plan ahead to ensure they reach their destinations quickly and safely.
“We want everyone to focus 100 percent on their driving and not be distracted as they go about their day,” said Trooper Keith Leary. “Last year we saw no major injury or fatal collisions during the shopping rush and we hope to see that again this year.”
In addition to increased traffic to area malls there are many special holiday events that will affect traffic on Friday and into the weekend. Macy’s Department Store will hold their annual holiday parade in downtown Seattle Friday from 9 a.m. to noon followed in the evening by the 50th Anniversary of the Lighting of the Macy’s Holiday Star.
The Washington State Patrol will have two Cessna 206 Stationairs – single engine prop aircrafts – equipped with cameras to monitor traffic outside of WSDOT’s camera range Friday and Saturday morning. One aircraft will fly over Pierce and Thurston County near the Tacoma Mall and Hawks Prairie shopping areas and the other over Snohomish County near Everett and the retail corridor near Marysville, Tulalip and Arlington.
To help drivers plan their trips and get to their destinations with minimal delays WSDOT will:
- Re-time traffic signals near off-ramps and interchanges leading to area malls to help prevent back-ups from ramps onto the freeway.
- Post informational messages on electronic variable message boards in Seattle and Tacoma and on portable message signs near shopping centers in Snohomish County.
- Post traffic incident information on the WSDOT Web site.
- Have roving WSDOT Incident Response crews ready to clear incidents and help drivers.
“We want drivers to plan ahead and map out several alternate routes to their destination so they can avoid congested off-ramps and interchanges that could back up onto the freeway,” said Mike Swires, WSDOT Traffic Engineer.
Drivers should:
Keeping Traffic Moving in Snohomish County
As the retail centers to the north in Snohomish County continue to grow, recent traffic improvements will make access in and out of the centers easier this holiday season.
Improvements in the Snohomish area include:
88th Street/I-5 interchange: WSDOT worked with the Tulalip Tribes to widen the 88th Street overpass. On Wednesday, Nov. 21, just in time for the holiday shopping season, we opened an additional left turn lane on the northbound off-ramp and an additional through lane across the overpass. This will help move traffic through the interchange more efficiently and keep vehicles from backing up onto I-5, reducing the risk of dangerous rear-end collisions.
116th Street/I-5 interchange: 116th east of I-5 is now a five-lane roadway ending at State Avenue, with a signaled intersection providing entry into Gateway Shopping Center. The Marysville project is complemented on the west side of I-5 by the Tulalip Tribes’ Quil Ceda Boulevard extension project completed last May. The two-lane roadway features a roundabout at the northern end where it connects with 34th Avenue NE and two left turn lanes at the south end connecting to 116th, creating better access to and from Seattle Premium Outlets.
172nd Street NE (SR 531)/I-5 interchange: Two months ago, the city of Marysville and WSDOT re-striped and widened 172nd at I-5 to create a right-turn only lane to access the southbound I-5 on-ramp, freeing up a lane to accommodate drivers using the overpass to Smokey Point. On Nov. 15, the city reconfigured the middle lane of 27th Avenue leaving Lakewood Crossing to allow drivers to either turn right or left onto 172nd or continue straight. These improvements will help reduce congestion by redistributing traffic accessing the Lakewood Crossing center.
“We want folks to know there are four exits to get to the retail centers, not just one,” said Caldie Rogers, Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce President / CEO. “We also want drivers to take advantage of all the traffic information WSDOT will have in the area to make the best choices about how and when to come.”
< Back to News Home