Mega Traffic Alert: Viaduct Down to Two Lanes Until 2013

Viaduct by bogester from the Seattlest Flickr pool

For months, drivers in Seattle have been bracing themselves for the inevitable change to the waterfront roadways. Will it be a tunnel? Will it be a surface option? Will we be stuck at loggerheads, despite the impending earthquake that we all have become convinced will happen any day now? While there are many unanswered questions, there's always been one constant: traffic along the waterfront is, whichever way the viaduct crumbles, traffic is going to be shitty.

And now, the time has come. Get ready, commuters: beginning May 16, the Alaska Way Viaduct will reduced to just two lanes going in either direction. Until 2013.

WSDOT released a statement this morning warning of the impending changes that section of Hwy. 99, which ferries thousands of drivers and public transit riders over the top of some of downtown's stickiest streets. However, ignoring the problem and continuing to drive on the viaduct isn't going to make it any safer, and WSDOT wants to start weaning drivers off the seismically-unstable roadway.

While this closure puts the viaduct at 2/3 capacity (a far cry from when, you know, it's totally gone), it is sure to cause some traffic headaches. Between folks who don't read the news (feel free to scoff at them at this time) and those who just can't figure out how to merge, getting in and out of SoDo is going to get sucky.

So it begins.