SEATTLE — The Washington Department of Transportation has temporarily hit the brakes on plans to start metering weekday traffic getting onto I-5 from Mercer Street.
WSDOT says there are still too many drivers who don't know how the metering system works.
There are two lanes going north where drivers can line up to wait for metering lights to go from red to green, allowing cars to get onto I-5 in increments.
The problem is all the cars are stacked up in just the right lane instead of using the left lane as well.
The problem is the same on the ramp to southbound to I-5. Drivers are hesitant to use the left lane.
The goal is to make traffic flow smoother and safer onto I-5 and though Mercer Street drivers are skeptical, officials insist congestion isn't going to get much worse on Mercer.
"There could be some impact, but we just don't anticipate it to get extremely worse. I think a lot of people are afraid it's going to be an extra 20 minutes on Mercer. It’s not. It could be a little bit more, but you have to remember you are going to get onto I-5 a lot more safely and more efficiently,” said Harmony Weinberg with the Washington State Department of Transportation.
WSDOT, which has been testing the new metering system only on weekends since March, was initially going to start metering weekday traffic starting April 10.
But now they will push it back to April 17 to allow more drivers to get educated about the change and also to give crews time to put up additional signage to help lessen the confusion.