By guest blogger Mike Allende

New flashing lights bring added visibility to I-5 express lane gates.

The I-5 express lanes have been getting some much-needed attention during the past couple years. From automating the way we switch the directions of the lanes to new signs and important communications equipment, we continue to look for ways to help the always-busy stretch through Seattle run more efficiently and safely.

We’re in the middle of a $4.9 million upgrade to the express lanes between Northgate and downtown Seattle. The signs along the express lanes hadn’t received any significant improvements in about 20 years. We’ve already replaced five of them near the entrance at Northgate, and more are going up in December at the northbound James Street entrance. LED lights on the new signs will clearly let drivers know whether the lanes are open or not. While the express lanes normally operate on the same daily schedule, these improvements will still help guide drivers who might be unfamiliar with their hours of operations.

New LED signs let drivers know if the I-5 express lanes are open or closed.

Besides the signs at Northgate, we’ve installed flashing lights on the directional gates. When they swing out during the midday switch to northbound, the lights will flash. When the gates are completely closed, they’ll stay red. We did this to improve safety around the gates: The lights should reduce the number of gate strikes while giving drivers another notice of whether the lanes are open or closed. The added visibility will also help alert drivers to merge if the lanes are closed, which should help ease some of the congestion southbound drivers approaching the Northgate exit know all too well.

We also replaced a variety of communications equipment near the Northgate entrance and will do the same near James Street. The equipment remotely relays information that lets our staff in the Traffic Management Center know that everything is ready for the switch. Once our road crews drive through the lanes to ensure they are clear, our TMC staff can efficiently switch the lanes with the press of a button.

New LED signs let drivers know if the I-5 express lanes are open or closed.

These improvements come a little more than a year after we completed another major part of the project. We automated the express lanes last year, which reduces the amount of time it takes to switch directions. We also added 45 new cameras, signs, signals and communications equipment.

More than 50,000 vehicles use the I-5 express lanes on weekdays, with 60 percent of them heading north. Since automating the lanes, northbound drivers have seen about four minutes cut from their commute. Look for even more improvements with these new signs and equipment.

Even though the Blue Angels are not flying over Seattle this year, there will still be closures of the Interstate 90 floating bridge while the Patriots Jet Team takes to the skies.

Similar to when the Blue Angels practiced and performed for Seafair, the I-90 floating bridge will still close to drivers, cyclists and walkers. The Federal Aviation Administration requires a Safety Zone for the area below the performance. We call it “The Box,” but really it’s more like a few rectangles crossing over each other. The northern part of the box covers the I-90 floating bridges, which is why they are closed during performances by both the Blue Angels and the Patriots Jet Team.

Courtesy: Patriots Jet Team

Traffic
Some minor changes from years past, the closures on I-90 will take less time, and there is no Thursday practice, therefore, no Thursday closure.

Here’s the schedule:
• Friday, Aug. 2:  1:15 p.m. - 2:40 p.m. (Practice)
• Saturday, Aug. 3:  1:15 p.m. - 2:40 p.m. (Full show)
• Sunday, Aug. 4:  1:15 p.m. - 2:40 p.m. (Full show)

Additionally, several ramps will be closed at that time. The I-90 express lanes will also be closed from 12:30 to 3 p.m. each day, but are available in the event of a medical emergency that requires a trip to the hospital. Just call 911.

SR 520
The State Route 520 bridge will remain open for traffic and tolls will be collected according to the rate schedule. Good news for drivers, the bridge will not open for any boats during Patriots Jet Team flights. The bridge will be busy. If you need to take a cross-lake trip while the Patriots are in the air, just plan ahead. Outside of those times during Seafair weekend, the east navigation channel will be open to boats up to 59 feet, which should reduce the number of marine openings.
Whether you’re heading out to enjoy Seafair festivities, or just plain going somewhere else, remember to plan ahead and know before you go.

by guest blogger Bart Treece

Whether it’s a weekend 520 bridge closure or people leaving a football game, we hear this question fairly often and usually from folks who were stuck going the opposite direction of the express lanes.
The simple answer is that the reversible, congestion-fighting powers of both the I-5 and I-90 express lanes add capacity to the direction of travel that can benefit the most drivers. Or, to put it another way, the direction with the most cars, wins. The decision to flip the switch and add lanes doesn’t come from a whim, a guess or a coin toss. It’s driven by hard numbers collected by sensors in the roadway and crunched by traffic engineers, (engineers love numbers).

Take for instance I-90. More people are heading westbound into Seattle during the weekday morning and vice-versa for the afternoon and evening commute, which is why the express lanes are switched to add lanes to all those drivers. During a weekend-long 520 bridge closure, I-90 is the go-to route for people trying to get across Lake Washington. Since our traffic sensors record the number of cars on the road, we know more people take I-90 westbound into Seattle from morning until early afternoon, and vice-versa for eastbound later in the day.

Not so, say some folks who were stuck westbound near Mercer Island late on a Saturday. Darren posted this on our Facebook page, “WSDOT, why not open the WEST bound express lanes on I-90 tonight? 520 is closed and EVERYONE is headed into Seattle. It's a parking lot out here and EAST bound is wiiiiide open.”

Driver feedback is important to us, so we checked the numbers. If we made a mistake, we want to know about it. Turns out, we made the right call. When Darren noticed the stark difference in east and westbound traffic flow, eastbound I-90 had an average of 600 more cars per hour. Anything that blocks the roadway, like a stalled car or a crash can also throw traffic flow out of whack, which is what happened the Saturday night Darren tried to make his way into Seattle.

We also hear from sports fans who want the express lanes to take them to a game at CenturyLink Field and then back across the lake after the final whistle. Sometimes we will, if the extra fans plus the typical normal users will create a larger demand. But, if we know more people will be heading the opposite direction of sports fans, the I-90 express lanes will be there for the majority of drivers. For example, we sometimes get a Monday Night Football game. Look, we love the ‘12th Man’, but during the weekday our first consideration is for the people who use the lanes regularly to get home from work, so we keep them eastbound for commuters.

What about I-5?

The other set of express lanes to consider is on I-5. These lanes are a great way to pass by a lot of Seattle-related traffic and they’re used mostly by folks who just want to get through downtown. If you’re trying to take the I-5 express lanes to CenturyLink Field, your only option is exiting before the stadium at Cherry/Columbia or afterward near Tully’s. Either way, you have to fight surface-street traffic, which doesn’t really help you.

We’re always reviewing traffic patterns to see if we can make improvements, because they can change. We want people to get to the game on time and home safely. We will make some changes with the upcoming UW Huskies and Sounders FC games, keep an eye on the schedule and plan ahead. Switching both the I-5 and I-90 express lanes help us manage traffic congestion and can make for a smoother ride.

By guest blogger Noel Brady

If you ride a bus, a carpool or a vanpool across Lake Washington, you probably know how the express lanes can take the edge off a tough commute. But if they’re reversible express lanes, just make sure your commuting the express direction.

Take the I-90 Express Lanes in the center roadway between Seattle and Bellevue for example. If you live on the Eastside of King County and work a regular 9-5 in Seattle, you’re golden. If you go the other way, well, not so much.

We’re phasing out go-with-the-flow reversible express lanes on I-90 and replacing them with full-time HOV lanes in both directions for around-the-clock express trips for carpools and buses in either direction, save for the unexpected crash or clog. Later this month, a new eastbound HOV lane will open from 80th Avenue Southeast to Bellevue Way, and the second phase of the I-90 Two-Way Transit and HOV Operations project will be complete.

In 1990, a year after WSDOT completed westbound I-90’s Homer Hadley Bridge and the new express lanes, traffic levels eastbound and westbound differed greatly depending on the time of day. Typically traffic was nearly 50 percent heavier headed to Seattle in the morning and back to the Eastside in the evening. Today there’s more traffic, rush hours last about an hour longer and the difference between the number of vehicles heading east and west is relatively minimal. On average about 135,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day in either direction of the mainline and about 15,000 in the express lanes.

When the second phase of the project finishes later this month, lawmakers and transportation officials, including state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond, will cut a ribbon to reopen 80th Avenue Southeast freeway ramp on Mercer Island. After a four-day ramp closure for realignment, the ramp’s big reveal will be direct-access to a new HOV lane on eastbound I-90 mainline. Carpools and buses will have access into the center express lanes before the East Channel Bridge for continued, smooth HOV-only traffic to Bellevue Way and I-405.

Afterward, commuters will enjoy an I-90 generally clear of barriers and hardhats as our engineers work in the office on final design for the project’s third and final stage, which will start construction next year on new HOV lanes in both directions between 80th Avenue Southeast and Seattle.

As soon as the final stage is finished and the I-90 project is complete, Sound Transit will take the reins of the center express lanes and close them to traffic forever to begin building East Link light rail. By 2023 light rail will be an added travel option between Seattle and the Eastside and I-90 will begin to carry more people more efficiently and with less greenhouse gas emissions than ever before.

According to its final environmental impact statement, East Link will be equipped to carry as many as 800 people in each four-car train. It would give the center roadway a peak-hour capacity of up to 24,000 people per hour, about the same as a busy freeway with seven to 10 lanes of traffic. And it more than doubles I-90’s existing capacity while preserving existing lane space for freight trucks, passenger vehicles, carpools and buses.