Title: 
Headings: Rush Hour: A Map Of Puget Sound’s Worst Traffic
Rush Hour: A Map Of Puget Sound’s Worst Traffic
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Click on the highlighted parts of the map to see rush hour and "free flow" commute times:
‘Lots Of Moves’
No Design Workaround
Magic Highway
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Content: I-5 Ship Canal Bridge under construction in January 1960. Credit Flickr Photo/Seattle Municipal Archives (CC-BY-NC-ND)
No Design Workaround
The designers of I-5 in the 1950s did not foresee the wrinkle with their plan. When they designed this section of I-5, they didn't know there would a 520 bridge. In the decades before Microsoft colonized the Eastside, it was not certain that I-405 would be anything other than a Seattle bypass route. Interstate 90 was already going to cross Lake Washington, so it was thought that there would be no need for a second bridge. Therefore, designers did not consider how to join I-5 to the 520 bridge until much later. The C-class weave is not the only problem on our highways, which deliver epic commutes even without major accidents. I-405 at Bellevue has improved, but remains a challenging drive. The S-curves in Renton are infamous, and I-5 north into the downtown is so challenging, the highway department has invested in variable speed signs to warn drivers of slowdowns. All this is a headache for drivers, but it also has an economic cost.