I-5 north of downtown (Seattle, Tacoma: home, live in, bus)

[Seattle4321]

So I was driving up to everett and I was shocked that I-5 has so few lanes up there. I now know why traffic is so bad up there. I think 1 or 2 lanes in each direction desperately need to be added. I know people need to uses busses and car pool but when you have a metropolis that is so big and getting bigger and there are so few lanes that it is so much over capacity even if a lot of people bus or carpool I don't think it would make up enough for being so much over capacity. Do you guys agree? What do you guys think needs to be done? Thanks!

[Seattle4321]

That is the same case when you approach downtown everyone from the spokane street viaduc has to merge they need their own lane. And the 520 shuffle needs some type of help. And why is there not HOV access to west seattle or I-90? I think I-5 needs some much need updates. It can't even handle weekend traffic in some parts.

[Kayela]

Just to the north? I think the entire thing badly needs some revisions. There are plenty of places in WA where it goes down to two lanes, and it's the major transportation corridor between Mexico and Canada - and two lanes??? Really? I-5 is miserable throughout the entire state.

What I would love to see isn't more provisions for transit - I'd love to see dedicated truck lanes, or truck bypasses, so truckers could just move on through and not have to deal with (or be part of) the snarls we get.

[DutchessCottonPuff]

I agree 100% . I live in Everett/Mukilteo and that part of I5 is a nightmare most of the day and once we were coming home after 1am from something on a weeknight from Seattle and was still fairly heavy . We TRY to always take the bus when going into Seattle if at all possible .

[mkarch]

I find it odd that in Everett, a city of 100,000 residents, I-5 has 4 lanes each direction going through the section closest to downtown. Then you go 25 miles south to Seattle... a city of 650,000 residents, and I-5 has 2 lanes each direction going through downtown!

Based on this, I'd hold off on widening I-5 through Everett until the population is at least topping 1,000,000.

[Botev1912]

Everett has 100,000 people, but is part of a 3 million people metro area. And Seattle has more like 2,000,000 if you count the people who commute to work every day.

[Hemlock140]

Everyone has their pet peeves based on where they live and work. I really don't care about I5 north of Seattle because I only go that way when on a trip to B.C., and it's not during commute hours. I am surprised that with the number of Boeing employees going north to work in Everett there hasn't been ore capacity added, but the state typically handles such problem congestion by making it worse, such as the new "hot lanes" and 3 person car pool lanes north of Kirkland on 405.

[lucy1965]

I live in Bellevue, but drive my husband to Everett once a month for the Amtrak Cascades train to Vancouver; if I had to make that commute more often I would lose what's left of my mind, but I'm not sure adding a lane is the answer.

[AmFest]

Yes, loud and clear. This is one of my biggest complaints whenever I visit Seattle. I-25 is way too narrow. The two-lane sections you have to drive through to get to Seattle from the airport explain why traffic is so bad here.

[CrazyDonkey]

I have no problem with by-passes or tunnels to handle traffic through or around cities (Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, etc.), but not at the expense of transit/light-rail, car-pools, HOV/HOT lanes, bike paths, etc. Building a tunnel under I-5 in downtown Seattle for through/no-exit traffic is just a matter of time. Currently SOV commute-traffic to/from Seattle has remained constant despite Seattle being the fastest growing city in the country. Simply funneling more general purpose lanes into/through cities is counter-productive where arterials and bridges are already clogged and parking is in short supply.