"To I-5" in the Seattle area and other comments

[Jim]

I'm on my way home from a few days in Seattle and had a few comments and questions.

More than once, I followed a "To I-5" sign, especially right in Seattle, only to be left without another sign to show me what to do next before it became obvious that I missed something.

The people who zip around in the bus lanes to jump ahead a light in gridlocked traffic are very frustrating.  On Friday afternoon, it took me over 30 minutes to go about 2 blocks because of this problem.  Needs some kind of enforcement.

Does WA 519 by the domes actually exist?  We have it in Travel Mapping but I tried to drive it today and saw no signs.

I was a little surprised by the traffic volumes, even off peak and over the weekend.  Even at 10:30 PM on a Saturday night, I-405 and I-5 were slowing down in strecthes with volume. I lost count of how many times a big bunching up of traffic was caused by someone going below the speed limit, sometimes well below, for no apparent reason.  No wonder people were zipping away like maniacs once they got past the bottlenecks.

[Bruce]

Where exactly were you seeing missing signs? Walking around downtown, the signage for I-5/I-90 is rather complete for almost all the ramps (others may be displaced due to construction, which is frequent and haphazard here).

Enforcement of traffic laws, especially the bus lanes, has been a sore spot for a long time. The Seattle PD does conduct spot checks from time to time, announcing the times and locations and giving out $136 tickets, but they have no dedicated budget from SDOT and thus no motivation.

Driving anywhere near downtown Seattle in the afternoon is a mistake, no matter the conditions.

WA-519 has been re-routed onto Occidental and Railroad Way, on the west side of the stadium. Here's a comparison between the 2009 map and 2014 map:

[Jim]

Where exactly were you seeing missing signs? Walking around downtown, the signage for I-5/I-90 is rather complete for almost all the ramps (others may be displaced due to construction, which is frequent and haphazard here).

I missed or they were missing leaving the convention center area.  2 of the 3 days I left that area I ended up somewhere I didn't want to be since I didn't want to be looking at the map on my iPad so much and decided to rely on signs...

WA-519 has been re-routed onto Occidental and Railroad Way, on the west side of the stadium.

Thanks.  Do you know if it's signed anywhere?  I took the I-5 NB exit for Edgar Martinez Drive and saw no indication that I was on it.

[dfilpus]

In my travels in that area, I have  seen  only one sign for WA 519, on Alaskan Way South, near the ferry docks. That was in 2007.  Now, i cannot find that sign in GMSV, even in 2008. WA 519 is still in the WSDOT State Highway log, but it may no longer be signed anywhere. The signs where a 518 North sign would make sense now have State Ferry signs instead.

[dfilpus]

A little image searching on Google came up with a number of WA 519 signs which no longer exist. There appears to be one sign in GMSV in September 2016. It is the exit sign from the Alaskan Viaduct for Atlantic Avenue, which has a WA 519 Shield and TO I-90 and I-5.

https://goo.gl/maps/fqqdHQeYsbL2

According to WSDOT Highway Log, Atlantic is not part of WA 519. Atlantic changes to Edgar Martinez (WA 519) at 1st Avenue, which is where WA 519 turns. However, the Highway Log is not up to date. It has WA 519 using Royal Brougham from 1st to Avenue to Alaskan Way, then Alaskan Way to the ferry docks. Construction of the tunnel entrance has removed Royal Brougham under the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Alaskan Way from Royal Brougham to King Street. When WSDOT started construction, they created a temporary reroute of WA 519 along 1st Avenue to Railroad Way and Railroad Way to Alaskan Way. This reroute has never been signed or incorporated into the highway log.

[compdude787]

I'm pretty sure that the reason for the haphazard signage of WA 519 is just the fact that there's all the construction of the tunnel and the seawall.

[KEK Inc.]

SDOT really only labels SR-99 and SR-522 as far as state routes go.  SR-523 at least has a sign from I-5 and I believe there's one reassurance shield.  SR-513 has one reassurance shield, but no sign from SR-520.

[Soucinyu]

i5 has had constant construction on it for the past year, so all the signs are wonky at any time.