Preparing for worsening traffic, Seattle launches new tools to help fight gridlock

SEATTLE — The city of Seattle launched a new transportation team Wednesday that will focus on preventing gridlock by clearing vehicles out of the way as quickly as possible after a crash.

Mayor Jenny Durkan announced the new team as she warned people to prepare for years of more – and worse – traffic.

There’s the Alaskan Way Viaduct coming down, plus construction at the Convention Center and KeyArena, and hundreds of Metro buses that will be taking to the roadways.

“With all of these projects coming online at one time, there's also  going to be extraordinary challenges in the city of Seattle,” Durkan said Wednesday.

But now, the city is now bringing in a Seattle Department of Transportation "Response Team” to help.

“It’s one of the first traffic incident response teams in a major city in America,” said Rodney Maxie, SDOT’s Deputy Director.

The team has  five trucks -- three that are brand new --all packed with tools to get stuck vehicles off the road.

“We have gas for when people run out of fuel, we have tow straps and tow chains, push bumpers on our truck,” said Mike Rongren, with the SDOT Response Team.

One tool the GoJak -- a tool that jacks up car’s tires and lets one person push a vehicle out of the way.

The mayor's office and SDOT  started thinking about how to better clear major crashes after the fish truck that overturned on the viaduct in 2015. That crash caused a backup that lasted 9 hours.

“Ever since that fish truck, we've been starting from then. It’s progressed to where we are now,” Rongren said.

The new team started working about five weeks ago in more of a “soft launch” format.

One example of how it helps – Wednesday morning, a semi-truck stalled during rush hour at 20th Pl S & S Jackson St.

SDOT said it only took about 15 minutes to clear the semi off the road.

Rongren said waiting for a tow truck would’ve taken at least an hour.

“For every minute we have a fender bender stuck in the road, it’s seven in a backup,” Durkan said.

But the new SDOT response team isn’t all.

“We’ve got to get people out of cars and onto transit,” Durkan said.

You'll see more bike shares, especially in south Seattle.

Plus, the city is adding a water taxi from West Seattle to downtown.

And the King County ride sharing app, Ride2,  which just launched on the Eastside, is also coming to Seattle.

That app lets you order on-demand shuttles to help people get to and from transit hubs.

Drivers could also start seeing additional traffic cameras, and tickets.

“We will be doing more enforcement on blocking bus lanes, bike lanes, and blocking intersections. We will be going to Olympia to see if we can get the ability to do that with camera enforcement,” Durkan said. “The truth is, we know it's coming so we're doing everything we can to prepare as a city."

There's no timeline yet for when we'll see those additional transit options arrive in Seattle.

But SDOT crews are on the road and it asks you to pay attention for new pink/coral fluorescent – the national color for incident management – because those signs will mean crews are working ahead.

Cox Media Group