The Commute Route I Avoid: 520
My commute to work for the past year has been from the Queen Anne area to the East side about 3 times a week (aprox 4000 miles @ 26milles * 3 * 52).
My choices are Mercer to I-5 North to catch 520 east or I-5 South to the I-90 junction. Coming home, its I-90 to I-5 North or 520 to I-5 South to the Seattle Center exit.
Personally, I avoid 520. Not just because it is a 2-lane highway, but I truly despise the ingress/egress of 520 on the Seattle side. The recent decision to put a toll on that road really doesn't bother me because of the poor design of that highway: Merging onto the highway, then crossing 4-5 lanes of traffic within a mile during moderate to heavy traffic doesn't leave me with a happy adrenaline rush. Of the 520 merge/I-5 Crossings, the 520 to I-5 south bound merge to be the most tenuous: Two lanes from 520 ramp merging together then merging into I-5.
I hope that all that money being raised by tolls will also fix the Seattle side of 520, but I am not terribly hopeful.
My choices are Mercer to I-5 North to catch 520 east or I-5 South to the I-90 junction. Coming home, its I-90 to I-5 North or 520 to I-5 South to the Seattle Center exit.
Personally, I avoid 520. Not just because it is a 2-lane highway, but I truly despise the ingress/egress of 520 on the Seattle side. The recent decision to put a toll on that road really doesn't bother me because of the poor design of that highway: Merging onto the highway, then crossing 4-5 lanes of traffic within a mile during moderate to heavy traffic doesn't leave me with a happy adrenaline rush. Of the 520 merge/I-5 Crossings, the 520 to I-5 south bound merge to be the most tenuous: Two lanes from 520 ramp merging together then merging into I-5.
I hope that all that money being raised by tolls will also fix the Seattle side of 520, but I am not terribly hopeful.
Total Comments 2
Comments
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I lived on Queen Anne for 6 years and had to commute to the east side daily. Getting on I-5 from the Mercer mess and having to merge all the way to the right lane to exit onto 520 within a mile was a nightmare, especially with the lack of merging skills local drivers have around here. A Truly poor and dangerous design.Posted 04-03-2008 at 11:52 AM by superslushpuppy
- Toll say-wha-hmm? I have been googling articles since reading this blog post, but I'm coming up with a lot of "2014" stuff and nothing of today. Are you referring to a proposed toll or something that's recently been put in place somewhere on the west side? I live on the north end of the east side so I'm a bit out of the vogue.Posted 07-29-2008 at 12:25 PM by brisk
