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Shifting work hours, adding transit key to easing Mercer Mess?

SEATTLE — We've all been caught at one time or another in the Mercer Mess, and there's been a lot of talking about it, but when are we going to see some actual work done to alleviate the problems there?

A 1966 newspaper column was the first mention we found of the term Mercer Mess. By 1994 the city had spent millions on 8 major studies.

In 1994, one idea was building a tunnel for Mercer, which never happened and is not being considered now.

In 2001, the city council didn't want to touch the subject.

“We will not be attempting to solve the Mercer Mess. Everybody is in agreement there,” said City Councilmember Jan Drago at the time.

Mercer Street was built in the 1950s as a temporary solution to get around the construction of Interstate 5.  The backups became permanent to this day and the Seattle Department of Transportation is working on solutions.

Adding Transit

This year, a Seattle traffic engineer told KIRO 7 News they are focusing on clearing up Mercer by adding more transit.

Next March, the city will kick out cars from the lanes where the streetcar runs on Westlake Avenue and make them transit-only.

“Buses are carrying 50 to 100 people when they're full, so buses carrying that many people having priority over automobile traffic, which is carrying a little over one person per vehicle, is a way to move more people, provide more mobility," Obeso said.

Metro's Rapid Ride C Line from West Seattle will extend into South Lake Union, contributing to nearly 230 daily bus trips to the neighborhood.

"A bus every three minutes coming into South Lake Union. That's a New York level of service," Kubly said.

In 2018, when the State Route 99 tunnel is estimated to open, the street grid in South Lake Union will be newly connected, giving cars more options, and creating an east-west transit corridor on Harrison Street.

Long-term, city transportation planners want light-rail stops at Aurora and Harrison and at Westlake and Denny.

Sound Transit's $15 billion light-rail expansion plan will go before voters in November 2016.

"The best thing that can happen for South Lake Union is to get Sound Transit 3 passed," Kubly said.

The city is lobbying Sound Transit to include a new downtown tunnel for light rail in the package, running beneath 4th, 5th or 6th avenues.

The Link Light extension is scheduled to open next year at the University of Washington, And Seattle DOT is counting on a large number of people to give up driving on Mercer and instead park and ride the light rail into downtown Seattle.

They estimate by 2030, University Link will add 71,000 riders to the system, which could be a better option than being stuck in the Mercer Mess. Click here for more on SLU transit connections.

Smart traffic lights

Another solution will happen in the next year. It' a plan to better manage the traffic lights. The lights will become Smart Lights that react to traffic issues. The Seattle Department of Transportation is currently choosing an adaptive traffic signal system.

"The way that it's set up,  it's automated, so it recognizes the changing patterns and adapts in real time, but there's always a human element behind it so that we're checking the whole grid," said Dongho Chang with SDOT.

So if a left turn lane on Mercer-- or turning onto Mercer-- gets backed up because of a crash:

"Our signal timing will adjust cycle by cycle and increase that cycle to get people through the intersection," said Chang.

Sammamish recently implemented an adaptive light system with that cameras monitor the traffic to adjust signal times. SDOT is also looking at special traffic lights for the South Lake Union Trolley, to give it priority over cars.

A designated light would turn green for the trolley earlier, allowing it through while holding all other traffic.

Flexible work start times for commuters

Another problem with Mercer is the backup on Interstate 5.

New data shows just how slow the morning commutes are, and the timing of when commuters leave their home can make all the difference in the world.

New information KIRO 7’s Jeff Dubois received from Kirkland-based INRIX shows in detail information that we haven't seen before.

Dubois asked them to look up how long it takes to get from the 320th Street in Federal Way to downtown Seattle at different times of the morning commute.

Here's what they found, on the average last week:

At 5:30 a.m., it was a 26 minute drive; at 6 a.m., 32 minutes.  Then, it starts climbing, up 9 minutes more at 6:30 p.m. to 43 minutes. And finally tops out at 59 minutes at 8:30 a.m.

The drive time doesn't drop below a half hour until noon, so clearly, it's beneficial to leave earlier or have flexible work times.

Roughly 50 percent of Seattle companies offer flexible shift options and telecommuting, but only 4.2 percent of the working population in Seattle telecommute once a week.

Transportation experts say Seattle needs to do better to help reduce traffic congestion.

The head of Seattle's Transportation Department says it's an important piece of the puzzle.

Cox Media Group

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