It was about seven or eight months ago when I first heard about the I-5 closure. I was in a meeting - surprise - when someone mentioned it in passing. The perplexed look on my face was a sure indicator that I had no idea what was being talked about. An email was quickly sent to SDOT and WSDOT asking about the project and when public outreach was going to begin. A reply came within hours and, coincidentally, outreach was beginning at that very moment.
I then attended many meetings where WSDOT explained the situation. This project was going to be the biggest transportation project that has occurred on our bloodline, known as I-5. The freeway is worn and rutted from over 40 years of use. Steel rebar is exposed in some areas and the expansion joints are under stress from heavy traffic. Everyone understood the need: that was never questioned.
It was the impact that was unknown.
Predications were made. If people didn't change their ways, expect a nightmare. Cars could start lining up at 4 a.m. and the traffic could extend all the way to Federal Way. The alternative roadways, like Airport Way South, could be overtaken with commuters. A typical 30-minute commute could take hours. Hours. Or so they said.
This suddenly felt like deja vu to me. Every time I heard the possibility of these transportation horror stories, I kept thinking about San Francisco, my hometown.
Years ago, we went through something very similar with the Embarcadero freeway. When it was severally damaged in 1989 from the Loma Prieta earthquake, the debate about its future heated up. Keep it? Fix it? Tear it down? Surely the latter would cause massive chaos and life in the city, as we knew it, would be over.
As we know, the freeway came down and guess what? Life went on. Gridlock didn't happen and San Francisco wasn't under siege by road rage. People simply made do and found alternative means. Yes, a key difference is San Francisco has other means of transportation, but that's another story (don't get me started).
Anyway, this has always been in the back of my mind when it came to the Seattle I-5 project. Analysts and the media give us the worse case scenario so when that doesn't pan out we'll feel a sense of relief. It's the old adage of "expect the worse and hope for the best."
That's what seems to have occurred. WSDOT painted the picture of potential nightmare scenes, and to some extent, they instilled a fear in us. Perhaps that prompted us to find alternative means. Perhaps, workplaces were accommodating and allowed telecommuting or perhaps massive vacation time was indeed cashed in.
In my neighborhood, we did see an increase in traffic. Airport Way was busier than normal. We took advantage and provided some visuals for the commuters.
Burma Shave-style ads and portraits of some of our merchants lined the streets. But my favorite addition is at 13th Avenue and Airport Way. There, at that intersection, is the newest addition welcoming people to Georgetown. It's a brand new traffic signal.
Airport Way is like a mini-freeway and it feels as though drivers speed as if it were an extension of I-5. It's not. The posted signs of 35 miles-per-hour are like visual white noise and are basically ignored.
Flashes of Frogger, the arcade game, come to mind when you attempt to cross the street, realizing that you are taking life into your own hands. This has been somewhat alleviated by the newest addition.
People now traveling north on Airport Way are warned that a signal is approaching. You can actually see brake lights as they turn the corner near the General Office building. And now you can actually make a left hand turn onto Airport Way from 13th Avenue without having your knuckles turn white while gripping the steering wheel.
With the I-5 project now under wraps, traffic will continue to come and go throughout Georgetown, but I am happy that the signal is here to stay.
Georgetown resident and entrepreneur Kathy Nylandmay be reached at this link..[[In-content Ad]]
