Ask anyone who lives in Lake Stevens what it’s like to get onto the trestle during peak hours, and you’ll likely hear a few swear words. It jams up every morning heading westbound and every afternoon eastbound.

It just doesn’t have the capacity to handle all the people that now live east of Interstate 5 (I-5) along Highway 9. The original bridge was built in the 1930s. It served both directions. A new westbound trestle was completed in 1969. The original bridge, which was eastbound, was replaced in 2001. Now it’s time to replace the westbound trestle.

More from Chokepoints: Sound Transit CEO says ‘it’s my job to restore confidence’ in public transit

Study No. 6 is now underway, with a focus on improving the westbound connection to I-5 which cannot handle today’s traffic.

“The number of westbound lanes has limited capacity at the southbound I-5,” Maraea Skeen, a public information officer for WSDOT, said. “What can we do for the potential for managed lanes,  such as HOV, active transportation,  access to downtown Everett and just generally moving people through the corridor.”

The agency wants your feedback on what potential improvements should be.

“We are at the point where we’re we’re evaluating the needs of what the community needs from the trestle,” Skeen added.

We’re so early in the process that there are no definitive replacement plans or drawings. Earlier projections put building a new three-lane westbound trestle at $1-2 billion, with a lot of that money coming from tolls on the corridor. This public input will help WSDOT direct its plans.

“The feedback from this open house will help us to streamline the process into that review, but it will still be several years before construction will take shape,” Skeen said.

More from Chris Sullivan: Seattle’s traffic circles are not roundabouts

I would put the over/under on when something might be built and completed at about 10 years. The environmental review will be lengthy. The trestle goes across Ebey Island, and that includes crossing the Snohomish River, Ebey Slough and Deadwater Slough.

The online open house will take feedback through June 7.

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Goran Sparrman knows that no one will ride the trains if they don’t feel safe. Sound Transit’s interim CEO told me that has to change.

“I understand why when you read the newspapers or see on the media the kind of unfortunate incidents we’ve had the last three months with two stabbings, one shooting,” he told KIRO Newsradio. “I totally understand why people made that makes people uncomfortable.”

More from Chokepoints: Oversized scissors, shovels used to celebrate I-405 project progress

And it doesn’t matter to riders or concerned potential riders that, overall, the light rail line is safe.

“I will say that our system actually is, relatively speaking, very safe, but what we recognize is that public reception really does matter,” Sparrman said. “When people don’t feel safe, it’s a big concern to us.”

There have been 44 assaults on light rail this year, including the two homicides and an attempted murder. Sound Transit has more than doubled its security force since 2022, and it plans to add more people to that number.

“We have 500 people working on security alone on the Sound Transit system,” Sparrman said. “My job is to make sure we get the maximum bang for the buck on that and frankly restore the confidence that people feel comfortable and safe using our system.”

With the opening of the new starter line between Bellevue and Redmond, riders have noticed a change in security as well. The Bellevue Police Department is patrolling the trains and several stations with six dedicated officers, including a sergeant. In the first month of operations, Bellevue Police report no problems on the trains or stations. The only issue so far was an officer who noticed a rider with an opened container of cannabis. The officer asked the rider to put it away, which he did.

More on Bellevue public transit: Bellevue to have cops on Eastside light rail trains

That has caught Sparrman’s attention. I asked him if we might see other smaller cities follow suit, adding a few dedicated officers in their jurisdictions.

“We are having conversations with other smaller municipalities, and I envision that the conversation with Lynnwood should hopefully bear fruit,” he said.

Light rail will expand into Lynnwood in August so there is still time to hash that out.

Sparrman also said he’s hoping King County will be able to hire more deputies for his transit police, which is not at full staff.

“The budget has staffing of about 80 or so King County sheriff deputies to patrol our system,” Sparrman said. “Unfortunately, they’ve had some recruitment problems, so we only have 40 to 50 on the ground actually working. So I am looking to have a conversation very soon with the King County Sheriff’s office to make sure what can we do to make sure we’ve filled that up so we get our 90 deputies on the trains where we really want them.”

Since I had the chance to speak with Sparrman, I figured I’d ask him how the new 2-Line is doing. So far so good.

“People seem generally really excited about now having light rail transit as an option on the Eastside and, of course, everyone’s very anxious for us to connect line two across the lake to the 1-Line,” he said. “That’s what we’re planning to do by late 2025, so about a year and a half away, and what we’re hearing is a lot of interest in making sure that happens as quickly as possible.”

More from Chris Sullivan: Seattle’s traffic circles are not roundabouts

Sparrman took over for Julie Timm as the head of Sound Transit in January. His term runs through the end of the year.

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It was a rare double feature for WSDOT Monday. A ribbon cutting for a project that just opened and a ceremonial turning of dirt to kick off something new.

At the Brickyard Park and Ride just off I-405 at NE 160th Street, WSDOT Secretary Roger Millar officially kicked off a four-year project to widen I-405 from SR 522 to SR 527 in Canyon Park in Bothell.

“This will enhance the corridor by delivering multimodal improvements that will provide benefits to all of the users in the corridor,  addressing aging infrastructure, stuff we built generations ago and opening fish habitat,” Millar said.

The project includes adding another express toll lane to the system and a complete redesign of the I-405/SR 522 interchange. It also adds and elevated transit stop in the middle of the freeway at Canyon Park.

“This project will give new choices to Eastside communities, whether they take transit or bike or roll or walk or drive,” Millar said.

A significant I-405 project in Kirkland

A few miles to the south, Millar broke out those oversized scissors to celebrate the completion of the new on and off ramps from I-405 at NE 132nd Street at the north end of Totem Lake in Kirkland.

Construction started on this project two years ago and wrapped up earlier this month. It includes two new roundabouts on 132nd to help manage the traffic flow and about a half-mile of new fish habitat.

Kirkland Mayor Kelli Curtis told a small crowd this has been a long time coming.

“Today is a big day in Kirkland, she said.  “It’s a big day for our north end neighborhoods of Kingsgate, Totem Lake, Juanita and Finn Hill. It’s a big day for those in emergency needing to get to EvergreenHealth and other medical facilities. And it’s a huge important day for the salmon of Juanita Creek.”

Curtis hit on the most important part of this project: It opens up access to Evergreen Medical Center from the north. Drivers no longer have to go down to 124th Avenue and deal with all the congestion there.

Dr. Ettore Palazzo is Evergreen’s CEO and was clear this move is crucial for those who need to get to the hospital quickly.

“When we do need to get someone quickly to the hospital for those urgent needs being able to have access like this, specially from the north, is so incredibly critical,” he said. “Time very well can save someone’s life.”

The roundabouts do have an interesting feature that might throw you off at first. These are two lane roundabouts that don’t have two lanes all the way around. You must change lanes if you are trying to take a left at the intersection, and that runs counter to normal rules of a roundabout that requires you to stay in your lane.

It got me on my first attempt, getting off I-405 south at the new 132nd offramp. To continue straight across the the Kingsgate Park and Ride, I had to be in the left of the two lanes at the end of the ramp.

As I went around the circle, I had to move over to the right lane in the roundabout to exit where I wanted.

If this had been a traditional two-lane roundabout, I would have started in the right lane and stayed there to make my exit.

It was a little unnerving, but it is legal, in this situation.

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We’ve talked about four-way stops and roundabouts already this year, but I received a question from Michael in Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood that brought up a similar topic, traffic circles.

More on roundabouts: A course in roundabouts; They are not that hard

Seattle has more than a thousand traffic circles. These are generally neighborhood intersections where the city has installed a barrier in the middle of them that forces people to slow down. In some cases, they are as simple as large planter boxes in the middle of the intersection.

The Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT) Ethan Bergerson said they are a simple way to make intersections safer.

“They’re not new,” Bergerson told KIRO Nesradio. “They’re something that we’ve been using for quite some time because they have a good success record for increasing safety.”

Michael in Columbia City asked me why SDOT recently installed stop signs at several of the traffic circles in his neighborhood. He doesn’t think they’re necessary, claiming they slow things down while most drivers just ignore them.

I asked SDOT’s Bergerson why the stop signs were put in.

“Those particular examples are right by a high school so you’ve got that safety need,” he responded. “It’s also on our neighborhood greenways network, which are neighborhood streets, recommended bike routes and have a lot of pedestrians.”

Traffic circles can include stop signs, though they aren’t required. SDOT added them based on traffic data at each individual one.

“When we’re making safety decisions, we will do that based on things like historical traffic data and the need,” Bergerson said. “This intersection being right in front of a high school is a good reason why you want to make sure cars are coming to a full stop there.”

After analyzing the intersections and thinking of Michael’s question, I hit upon something simple. Michael kept referring to these traffic circles as roundabouts.

The question was really more about the stop signs interfering with the traffic flow in a roundabout. And that’s where the confusion comes in. Traffic circles are not roundabouts. The words are not interchangeable, and the rules for navigating them are different.

More from Chokepoints: Airport expansion in high gear as summer travel approaches

At roundabouts, you yield to traffic already in them and then go. In some cases, if no yield is necessary, you can simply enter.

Traffic circles are like four-way stops. They are considered an uncontrolled intersection. You should come to a complete stop before entering. Whoever gets there first, goes first. If two cars get there at the same time, you yield to the car to the right.

If an intersection has a traffic circle and stop sign, they are considered controlled intersections, and you have to stop.

Hope that clears things up.

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“Think opposite” is really the best option for getting through the upper and lower drives at the airport terminal. When picking someone up, head to the departures deck. When dropping off, use the arrivals deck. Going counter to the flow usually gets you through a lot faster.

But if you’ve been to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) recently — like I was yesterday — you’ve likely noticed all the construction on the upper and lower drives just before the terminal. Workers are digging out the west sides of both approaches and installing two new retaining walls, all part of a $79 million project to widen the road into the terminal.

More SEA airport news: 46 arrested after pro-Palestinian protest shut down SEA Airport road for hours

The airport is also adding two lanes to the incoming drive, widening it from four lanes to six lanes.

“We’re going to have two dedicated lanes just into the lower drive, and we’ll have one lane that’ll be for all those courtesy shuttles that will go into the third floor of the garage,” Perry Cooper, senior manager of media relations for the Port of Seattle, told KIRO Newsradio. “We’ll have another lane that will be added on the far outside that will go straight into the airport garage.”

It’s all about reducing congestion at the terminal. Two dedicated lanes to the top deck. Two dedicated lanes to the bottom deck. A lane just for the third-floor ground transportation and one just for garage parking.

The project also includes a new pull-out area for the car rental shuttles, just before the garage. That’s where passengers will load and unload.

“That’s going to be where the rental car facility buses will park, pick you up and take you out to the rental car facility,” Cooper said. “We take those large buses off the driveway on the lower drive and make it more available for regular cars.”

There is already a matching pull-out on the south end of the garage.

“It will hopefully reduce the congestion that we especially see at night from 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. evening flights,” Cooper said. “Everybody’s trying to get to that lower drive,” he said.

The off-site parking shuttles will now go to the third floor of the garage with all the other ground transportation.

For airport managers, this is all about squeezing new capacity out of the tiny footprint. Moving the roads a few feet to the west was really the only option for widening the road.

“We got the light rail right there on the east side so how do you add a lane when they got the light rail right there,” Cooper asked. “There’s no space so the only way we can do it is by shoving or creating a new retaining wall space to the west.”

It’s the same mantra for expanding the airport inside the terminal. There is no space to build out. This is not Denver, where the airport has almost unlimited land.

You have likely noticed all the ongoing work near the Alaska Airlines check-in and all the work between the upper and lower floors. The airport is adding check-in services in those in-between spaces.

More from Chris Sullivan: Has tagging met its match with WSDOT’s ‘graffiti-battling’ drone?

And it’s hard to miss the giant crane above the C Concourse.

“You typically don’t see things that tall in the middle of an airfield because you’ve got things flying by,” Cooper said.

The airport is adding four new floors to the concourse, nearly tripling the square footage. Going up is really the only way to expand.

This is all a part of $5 billion in improvements that will continue through 2026.

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It doesn’t have a nickname or fancy acronym, but it’s packed with eight motors, 150 feet of hose, intelligent collision avoidance, two batteries and a six-foot nozzle. If taggers can get there, so can this bad boy.

“This is not your average buy-it-at-Costco drone,” WSDOT’s Mike Gauger said. “This is an industrial-grade aircraft with a six-foot-long wand connected to an airless sprayer that’s capable of lots of pressure.”

More from Chokepoints: Four-month closure just weeks away for Snohomish River Bridge in Everett

Most drone operators don’t have to worry about a nozzle spraying paint, which adds a whole new bunch of physics to the party, but Gauger is not your average drone operator. He’s the head of WSDOT’s Olympic Region Maintenance Unit and the man who decided to turn a drone into a sword against graffiti.

Gauger has worked with drones for years, using them in bridge maintenance and other applications, but never against graffiti. There are 10 drone pilots in the region, but only two others have the skills to join Gauger at these controls.

“You might be very good at flying one of those drones and have a lot of experience doing it, but it doesn’t qualify you to touch this one,” Gauger said. “It’s a different animal.”

And the reason is the hose that dangles below it. That’s not something most operators have even considered.

“It’s not just a matter of being a normal drone pilot,” Gauger said. “There’s an element of training that needs to go with the tethered aspect of it. Some of the tendencies of drones that people get used to are flying a drone until the battery gets weak and when it’s time, it knows to just come back and land. But a drone doesn’t know that it has a hose attached to it, so having that happen could be detrimental.”

Gauger and his crew have tested the drone five times. The first time over the biggest canvas in Tacoma — the giant wall along Interstate 5 (I-5) just north of Highway 16.

“The first tag was big, 10-12 feet long, and in short order, it was covered,” he said. “Everybody there was smiling.”

If you’re not familiar with that spot on I-5, it’s at the top of a very steep, landscaped hillside with no shoulder at the bottom. It just isn’t safe to put people up there.

“We’re never going to let our employees take the risks that graffiti artists take when they’re up there,” Gauger said.

More from Chris Sullivan: Rest area blues and its dire situation on the I-5 corridor

The drone will be out in Pierce and Thurston Counties for the rest of the year. For Gauger, it’s about finding out if this is the right move to keep his people safe and the roadways clean.

“We’re planning to continue to do our research and actively go out and use it when it makes sense to through the summer and fall,” he said. “By the end of the year, we will produce the results.”

As you would imagine, Gauger’s phone is ringing off the hook from transportation departments around the world to see how it’s going. This is the first graffiti-battling drone in operation, and the world is watching.

“Each time we go out the idea is to learn,” Gauger said. “Is this going to be an acceptable maintenance practice for day-to-day use?”

We shall see.

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A spot paint job and a little lubrication won’t be enough this time to keep the bridge in good shape, even though it was rebuilt in 1994. The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is getting ready to shut down the northbound span of the bridge — which is part of Highway 529 between Everett and Marysville — for four months.

But before that happens, WSDOT is going to reduce the northbound direction to just one lane.

It’s not science fiction: A drone that removes graffiti has arrived

“We’re going to reduce the northbound bridge down to one lane starting Monday morning, and that’s going to be the prelude to a full northbound bridge closure which will come up at the end of May,” Tom Pearce, a communications consultant with WSDOT, said.

The four-month-long closure of the northbound span is expected to start May 28.

“We really need to get in and do some more work on the steel and some of the work on the mechanisms that make the bridge function,” Pearce said. “We want to repaint it too because painting is an important part of taking care of a bridge. That helps keep the steel in good shape, and this bridge is 97 years old. We’ve painted it a few times already and this is going to help keep it going.”

When that full closure begins, both directions of Highway 529 will be using the southbound span over the Snohomish River. But the work on the bridges along 529 isn’t the only construction going on between Everett and Marysville.

I-5 improvements between Everett and Marysville

Contractors are in the middle of a massive improvement project on Interstate 5 (I-5). A new northbound HOV lane is under construction. So is a whole new interchange at I-5 and 529. It will provide new on- and off-ramps to the freeway.

Part of this work is concrete improvements on I-5, a reason for WSDOT to close lanes on the highway this weekend. Northbound I-5 will be reduced to just one lane from Friday night through early Monday morning.

“We’re going to remove some asphalt pavement, and we’re going to replace it with concrete,” Pearce said. “That takes a lot of time because we need the concrete to cure and then of course we have to go back and re-stripe it.”

More from Chris Sullivan: Rest area blues and its dire situation on the I-5 corridor

There will be ramp closures too.

“We’ll have the ramp to Pacific Avenue and Marine View Drive closed,” Pearce said. “We’re also going to have the on-ramps from Everett Avenue and U.S. 2 closed in downtown Everett.”

This concrete replacement work is weather dependent so it could be pushed to another weekend.

WSDOT is expected to open the new 529 interchange and new HOV lane in the fall of 2025.

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As you know, I use our rest areas frequently on my trips to Montana. The ones on Interstate 90 are usually in great shape. The ones on Interstate 5 (I-5) closer to Seattle are another story. We have done multiple stories over the years on how some of the rest areas on I-5 have had to be closed for repairs and cleaning because of homeless encampments that have taken them over.

More on Washington’s rest areas: WSDOT claims $500M needed to fix state’s ‘declining’ rest stops

KIRO radio listener Darcia asked me to check into specific rest areas along I-5.

“I request you cover the dire situation with rest areas on the I-5 corridor traveling South from Arlington,” she wrote me. “My dad lives in Belfair and I live in Arlington. When I go to visit, there are virtually no rest areas. Are there plans to open the southbound rest area in Everett? And why wasn’t there a southbound rest area by Federal Way when there is one when traveling north I-5? ”

I know that the southbound rest area at Silver Lake in South Everett well. It’s not too far from my house. It was closed down in 2019 because of a failing roof. There was also damage and vandalism at the site, attributed to a homeless camp at the location. The future of this rest area is still up in the air.

The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) just completed its first full review of the rest areas in 15 years. A study of truck parking is now underway. What happens to the Silver Lake rest area will be decided after this review is finished at the end of the year. Converting it to truck parking only is a possible outcome.

More from Chris Sullivan: A drone that removes graffiti has arrived

According to WSDOT, the need for a rest area there is not as vital. The Silver Lake location ranks 33 out of 47 locations in terms of necessity based on alternative service location availability.

As for the lack of a rest area on southbound I-5 south of Federal Way, WSDOT said it’s not necessary. The reason: Southbound travelers have multiple other stopping opportunities through Seattle and Tacoma.

And don’t expect the state to build one there any time soon. WSDOT doesn’t have the money to build any more. It also doesn’t have the money to fix its existing ones.

According to last year’s review, 87% of the buildings at the state’s rest areas were rated in critical condition, and it’s expected to cost between $375-525 million over the next 15 years to upgrade or renovate them.

Thank you Darcia for the question. It looks like gas stations or fast food restaurants are your pit stop from Arlington to Belfair.

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Maybe I’ve seen “Apocalypse Now” too many times, but that is my vision for this Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) pilot program designed to combat graffiti, especially on bridges and overpasses.

And why not? WSDOT spent $815,000 on graffiti removal in 2023. Workers spent more than 10,000 hours painting over 700,000 square feet of graffiti last year.

The government agency noted in its online story its crews report seeing new graffiti appear “sometimes days or even hours after an area is cleaned.”

More from Chris Sullivan: Bellevue to have cops on Eastside light rail trains

More on the drone that removes graffiti

The machine, built from an Aquiline Endure model, uses a spray nozzle and is linked to a paint supply on the ground. As the agency explains, an operator can position the drone anywhere the tethered hose can reach. The idea is that a drone used this way “makes quick work of painting over graffiti on tall retaining walls, bridges and overpasses.”

Drone No. 1 failed during initial testing, but the newest drone is up and running. It is being tested in Olympia and Tacoma, under control of licensed drone operators inside the Pierce County regional maintenance division.

More Chokepoints content: A guide to restricted parking zones for any confused drivers

The Washington legislature in Olympia passed House Bill 1989 during their session in 2024. The legislation provides WSDOT $1 million to research traffic camera technology for monitoring graffiti removal.

In December, the agency will submit a report to the legislature in December about the findings of the program for further evaluation. WSDOT emphasized in its story that “it will be a while before we know if this is technology that we will implement in the long term.”

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You can expect to see uniformed Bellevue Police officers riding the light rail trains on the Eastside when service between Bellevue and Redmond begins on Saturday, and they are there for one reason.

“They’re there to provide that kind of guardianship and to also make sure that folks know that if there is crime or even the fear of crime we’re here to reduce it,” Bellevue Police’s Drew Anderson said.

More on Bellevue: Strip mall fire leads to huge response, evacuations

The new BLU unit was created just for this job, thanks to the leadership of the city council.

“We were very fortunate for the city council to give us approval to create this brand new unit,” Anderson said. “There’s going to be five officers, consisting of a sergeant and four actual uniform officers, and it will grow.”

This unit will not be doing fare enforcement, and it will work directly with the King County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the transit police for Sound Transit. The unit will be on the trains and around the six stations inside the Bellevue city limits.

“To make sure to provide riders and families the positive experience on a transit line and to really prevent any crime that could happen in the area,” Anderson said.

Riders are encouraged to report suspicious behavior or activity to this unit, as well as the transit police. Bellevue Police has also been working with other regional first responders to prepare for the inevitable accidents that will happen with this new line opening.

The trains cross several intersections at grade, putting trains, bikes, pedestrians and cars all in harm’s way if the public isn’t paying attention. Light rail has been running through Seattle’s Rainier Valley for years, and there are still accidents caused by cars, people and bikes going in front of trains.

“We are doing our part,” Anderson said. “The system is doing its part, but we’re also asking drivers and pedestrians to do their part. We know that this is new, and what’s the one thing we know when things are new, people are learning a new system,” Anderson. “There’s a little bit of change so we’re asking folks to be more vigilant and know that if there’s a train coming don’t try to dodge the arm.”

More from Chris Sullivan: A guide to Restricted Parking Zones for any confused drivers

The 6.6-mile starter line from the South Bellevue Station to the Redmond Technology Station opens to the public on Saturday. There is a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the downtown Bellevue station at 10 a.m. Service begins around 11 a.m.

The trains will run every 10 minutes from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., seven days a week.

This line will eventually connect to Seattle, over Lake Washington, when construction and testing is complete. That is scheduled to happen in late 2025.

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This isn’t a case of some of those parking poles we all have seen, where there are multiple signs instructing drivers what they can and cannot do. But 97.3 KIRO FM listener Allison asked me about a sign she saw in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood.

More from Chokepoints: I-405 expansion to widen freeway in Bothell is underway

The sign is for two-hour parking from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., excluding Sundays, holidays and those with a zone parking permit.

“What does it mean for parking after 6 p.m.?” Allison asked. “Is it implying that anyone may park for over two hours, or that you must have a zone permit to park for any time after 6 p.m.?”

I reached out to the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) for a full explanation.

This one is pretty simple. After 6 p.m., anyone can park in those spots. No permit is needed. Drivers just need to move their cars before the time limit expires the next morning. So if you parked at 6 p.m., you would have until 9 a.m. the next morning to move your car without fear of getting a ticket.

And just a reminder, drivers can only park in the same spot for 72 hours total, even with a restricted parking zone permit.

More from Chris Sullivan: It’s not the whole enchilada, but light rail to roll on Eastside this month

“Parking time limits are one of the ways that we help manage parking demand in popular neighborhoods to help make sure that parking spaces are available when people need them,” SDOT stated. “Restricted Parking Zones help ease parking congestion in residential neighborhoods while balancing the needs of all people to be able to use the public streets. During the times when the permit restrictions are in effect, it prioritizes on-street parking for neighborhood residents so that they can leave their cars on the street if they are at home or getting around without a car while providing short-term parking options for people visiting businesses, schools, churches, parks and other nearby destinations.”

For more information about the Restricted Parking Zone Program and how residents can obtain a permit, check out SDOT’s page here.

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The state is widening both directions of 405 from about 160th at the north end of Kirkland to Highway 527 in Canyon Park. The new lane in each direction will be added to the existing one-lane express toll lane.

This spot is where my kazoo got its start because the tolls could not keep up with the amount of cars on that stretch of I-405. The toll lane continues to hit the $15 max nearly every day there because it’s so crowded.

More from Chokepoints: Nine-day closure coming to Lower Spokane Street Bridge

This expansion will also come with a redesigned 405/522 interchange to help manage the flow there. The Washington Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) Craig Smiley said there isn’t a lot of room to make huge changes there.

“That interchange at 522 has a lot of constraints,” he said. “There’s a lot of flyover bridges and different things going on there. You got the Sammamish Slough, so it’s really a challenge to get additional capacity through there.”

But WSDOT plans to move some of those ramps. Drivers have noticed all the trees being removed on the east side of the freeway recently.

“We’ll be adding additional capacity from that northbound to eastbound ramp that’s been a challenge for a long time,” Smiley said. “That will have some additional capacity there and hopefully help out with that movement.”

Contractors will also be doing some other work on the corridor as well.

“We’re taking care of some of those culverts that don’t allow fish to go underneath the freeway,” Smiley said. “That’s a pretty big part of the project, and it also builds structures and bus rapid transit stations so infrastructure to support Bus Rapid Transit.”

To make this all happen, there are going to be a bunch of road and ramp closures during the project. The first was last weekend. There will be another one this weekend on Highway 522.

WSDOT’s Lauren Penning said all eastbound lanes near 405 will be closed to create a work zone.

More from Sullivan: It’s not the whole enchilada, but light rail to roll on Eastside this month

“It’ll be 10 p.m. on Friday, April 19 to 4 a.m. Monday, April 22,” she said. “We’ll have all eastbound 522 closed and one lane of westbound right by the I-405 interchange there.”

For drivers heading east out of downtown Bothell who want to head into Woodinville, you’re going to have to use a detour to get there.

“Drivers heading eastbound will be detoured off onto southbound 405 to take the northeast 160th street exit,” Penning said. “You will cross over the freeway and then get on north 405 and continue at the 522 interchange.”

Don’t expect much relief over the short term. This $834 million expansion isn’t set to finish until 2028.

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The eight stations are ready to roll. Test trains are running on the tracks. The operators are training. Service on the Sound Transit starter line between south Bellevue and the Microsoft campus in Redmond begins Saturday, April 27.

While not the full ride from Seattle to Redmond that Sound Transit promised, Jon Lebo, the executive project director, said it’s a good start.

“I think for the public it’s the realization that we are going to have light rail on the side, and they’re going to see the advantages of having this kind of system in their backyard,” he said while surveying work at the south Bellevue station this week. “I think the next step is to bring it across the lake, and it will be absolutely fabulous.”

More Chokepoints content: Washington begging drivers to slow down in work zones to avoid crashes

The full 2 Line, which is now the name for the East Link extension, was supposed to open in 2023 under the latest estimates.

You throw in the COVID-19 pandemic and bad concrete, and you get the delay Sound Transit is working with today. The agency had to pull up all the tracks on the Interstate 90 (I-90) floating bridge and replace the more than 5,000 concrete plinths that held them up.

The agency tried to repair them, but it eventually had to replace them.

Where are we on that process now?

“We’re about 75% done with the track work that needs to be reconstructed,” Lebo said.

I asked Lebo his thoughts on that concrete issue and how it was handled. “It’s very disappointing,” he said. “It’s very disappointing both in terms of what work was done by the contractor.  There are things that we would do in hindsight, and I think we’re doing them right now.”

From Chris Sullivan: A course in roundabouts; they are not that hard

And he believes they have taken the proper steps to keep this from happening again.  “We have full time inspection on all of the concrete work that’s going in so we know for sure that the work has been done correctly,” Lebo said.

I spoke with Redmond Mayor Angela Birney about the upcoming opening while touring the south Bellevue station. Her hope for this starter line is that it gets people thinking about and using light rail as they wait for the line to Seattle to open.  “I know it’s not the full meal or the full the full enchilada or whatever you want to call it,  but it’s really an opportunity for people to get used to riding light rail that maybe have never used it before,” she said.

There are about 1,500 parking spots at the south Bellevue station.

The 14-mile light rail extension from Seattle to Redmond has a price tag of $3.7 billion. It is currently running five years behind schedule. It was approved by voters in 2008.

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The Lower Spokane Street swing bridge will close at 12 a.m. Friday, April 19. It will remain closed until 12 a.m. Sunday, April 28. That’s two weekends and a full work week where the low bridge will be out of commission.

This isn’t the first time the bridge has been shut down for ongoing upgrades over the Duwamish River.

More on Wash. roads: Washington begging drivers to slow down in work zones to avoid crashes

“We actually have a lot of exciting new elements happening over at the Lower Spokane swing bridge,” Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) Regional Director for Roadway Structures Kit Loo said. “They tried to make it more resilient, but also just to replace a lot of the old aging infrastructure and the mechanical electrical elements associated with the bridge.”

Workers have already replaced some cylinders that help the bridge turn. Now it’s time to work on all the wiring for the control and communications system.

“It’s basically the computer system, all the knobs and all the push buttons, everything that the bridge operator needs to utilize in order to open and close the bridge,” Loo said. “We’re basically replacing the entire system.”

The old control tower wires were actually strung on the high bridge. They have been moved to a conduit under the Duwamish River.

“We fished the new line through already, and we’re in the process of splicing it,” Loo said.

It’s that system replacement that will be completed during the upcoming nine-day closure.

To make sure SDOT can get it put in during this closure, Loo said they built a mock control system off-site and tested it so they know what to expect.

“We had a bridge operator go down there and actually test the system to see if they could break it,” Loo said.

This is expected to cause delays for people heading into and out of West Seattle. There is also freight impact for trucks heading to Terminal Five on Harbor Island.

More from Chokepoints: A course in roundabouts; They are not that hard

People should add extra time to their trips.

“There’s going to be some congestion on the High Bridge during the normal weekday, during that closure, but we have a detour route and have worked with Port of Seattle to get the detour routes in place,” Loo said.

The biggest impact of this closure, other than the truck traffic, will be the bicyclists and pedestrians. Metro is offering those communities free daily round-trip passes. You can use the Transit Go Ticket App and use rewards code LOWBRIDGE24 to get your free passes.

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There were 1,228 crashes in work zones or their related backups in Washington last year. Twenty-eight of them resulted in serious injuries. Ten of them were fatal. The risk to those working along our roads is great.

“The number of work zone fatal crashes in 2023 doubled as compared to 2022,” the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Secretary Roger Millar said this week. “This is simply not acceptable.”

Following too closely. Excessive speed. Distraction and impairment are the most likely causes for slamming into a work zone.

There have already been two work zone crashes this year where impairment is suspected. In January, six WSDOT workers doing overnight pothole repair were injured when a suspected drunk driver plowed into their truck near Vancouver.

More on construction zone accidents: WSDOT pleas for safer driving in work zones after more workers injured in crash

“Please slow down in work zones, remain alert, put the phone down and never, ever drive under the influence,” WSDOT Southwest Regional Manager Carley Francis said. Those six workers are in her district.

DUI was a factor in the seven fatal work zone crashes in Washington last year. While not in a work zone, State Trooper Christopher Gadd was killed by a suspected drunk driver going well over 100 mph in Everett earlier this year.

State Patrol Chief John Batiste begged drivers to change their ways at a memorial for fallen WSDOT workers this week.

“When we’re behind the wheels of our cars and our trucks, it’s all about decision making and choices that we make,” he said. “It’s a choice and a poor decision to drive under the influence. It’s a choice and a decision to speed in particular through work zones.”

WSDOT has changed its procedures this year to try and cut down on the number of work zone accidents. Changes include bundling more jobs together to reduce the amount of time workers are exposed to traffic. Moving more jobs to daylight hours.

It’s all so every worker gets home safely every day.

More from Chokepoints: A course in roundabouts; They are not that hard

“If it’s not safe to do it at night, you do the work during the day,” WSDOT Secretary Millar said. “If it’s not safe to do work on the shoulder without taking the lane, take the lane and keep people away from your crew. If it’s not safe to work in the lane, close the highway and keep our workers safe. It’s an inconvenience to the public. But at the end of the shift, everybody goes home.”

The state is also expected to roll out new camera enforcement in work zones, now that the legislature has approved it.

This is National Work Zone Awareness Month. It’s a great reminder for all of us drivers. Those workers are out there for us, making sure our roads are safe to drive.

We should make sure they’re safe while they’re doing it.

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I’m not sure why so many have issues with roundabouts. They really aren’t that difficult. My best guess is that because they are somewhat new to the Pacific Northwest, and drivers just don’t have much experience with them.

Why am I bringing this up again? Overwhelming demand from the text line and here at MyNorthwest after last week’s Chokepoint on roundabouts coming to North 145th Street on either side of Interstate 5 (I-5).

Construction on them began last night. The City of Shoreline’s Eric Bratton told me he expects a learning curve when they open in seven months.

“Wherever you go into a roundabout, there is a roadmap for you and signage to tell you what lane you need to be in for wherever you want to go,” he said. “Just make sure you look at that before you get into the roundabout. We know that this is going to take some time for people to get used to.”

More from Chris Sullivan: Major disruptions to impact drivers who use I-5 overpass at 145th Street

And Bratton hit on the key to understanding and navigating roundabouts: Just follow the signs. But, even before that, I recommend that you know where you need to go before getting to the roundabout. That way, you will put yourself in the best possible position.

Let’s start with single-lane roundabouts. They are quite easy to understand (I will be using the Washington Department of Transportation video guide on how to drive both single- and multi-lane roundabouts).

Rule No. 1: Cars in the roundabout always have the right of way.

“Traffic that is inside the roundabout has the right of way,” the video said. “Drivers entering the roundabout must yield to vehicles already inside and look left, as traffic always moves counterclockwise.”

That last one sounds simple, but I have seen people try to take a left when entering a roundabout. That is a no-no. Traffic always goes counterclockwise.

I think it’s the double-lane roundabouts where most drivers get anxious and confused, but they really aren’t much different. You still must yield to traffic already in the roundabout.

But here is where knowing where you want to go is key. You have to pick your lane before you enter. Back to the video.

“As a rule of thumb, to turn right be in the right lane and to turn left be in the left lane,” the video states. “Straight is usually either lane but check the signs to be sure.”

Do not change lanes in the middle of a two-lane roundabout. That is illegal and dangerous.

More from Chokepoints: Driving with headphones, windshield obstructions in Washington

I get a lot of questions about sharing roundabouts with big rigs. Truck drivers also plead with me to tell drivers to give them plenty of room.

As the video states, “keep a safe distance behind trucks and large vehicles. Freight trucks are allowed to use both lanes prior to entering the roundabout while driving inside the roundabout and for a short while after exiting. Sometimes trucks use the edges of the center island to maneuver. That’s OK as the center island is designed to help. Do not pass a truck in a roundabout. It is very dangerous.”

My best advice is to let those trucks go through solo. It’s just much safer.

This question comes up a lot too. What happens if you’re approaching or in a roundabout when an ambulance or fire truck comes up behind you? Where do you pull over?

“If an emergency vehicle approaches, drive through the roundabout and pull over just like you would at any other intersection,” the video said.

I hope this helps. Roundabouts are not going away. In fact, they are being used more and more to eliminate T-bone crashes and other issues at intersections.

Don’t get freaked out. Follow the signs. Follow the rules. And you should be fine.

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The North 145th Street overpass of I-5, right there at the new light rail station, is about to close for seven months. You will not be able to cross the freeway starting Monday night.

And talk about under the radar. I had no idea this was coming. It took a listener text on Tuesday to realize just what is happening here, and I’m glad this person reached out because this is a huge deal.

More on Wash. roads: Late-night I-5 closures coming up this week as WSDOT works on new tunnel

145th needs serious improvements to handle all the upcoming growth created by the new light rail station.

“We’re going to be putting in left turn lanes, and we’re gonna be widening the roads,” City of Shoreline’s Communications Program Manager Eric Bratton said. “We will have sidewalks that are accessible for everybody to use. There’s a lot that needs to be done to improve 145th.”

The city will also be removing all the signals on either end of the overpass, replacing them with two, two-lane roundabouts.

“Roundabouts turned out to be the best way of making sure we had an efficient flow of traffic through the region otherwise it would just get bogged down,” Bratton said. “We’re going to be putting roundabouts at either end which will help with that traffic flow much better. You’re not going to have to cut across traffic.”

These roundabouts should greatly reduce the crashes at either end because people will no longer be running the red lights to access I-5. This full, seven-month closure will get the project done faster and for less money.

“We recognize it’s going to be a bit of a pain for people to move around, but it really is going to be better for the project and shorten the time frame,” Bratton said.

So what are drivers supposed to do during this closure?

More from Chokepoints: Driving with headphones, windshield obstructions in Washington

145th is a major access point for I-5 drivers, both on and off the freeway. One lane in each direction will remain open on the overpass to allow access to the freeway.

“The overpass will be reduced to one lane, but it’s still accessible for access to I-5,” Bratton said.

The best way to cross the freeway will be to take Northeast 155th Street or North 130th Street.

And while this seven-month closure is going to be a huge pain, it isn’t the end of the work. The widening of 145th west of I-5 will continue through the fall of 2025.

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The first one is about windshield obstructions. A listener hit me up on the Muckleshoot Casino Resort text line asking about driving with her disabled parking permit hanging from the rear-view mirror. She asked me if it was OK to drive like that.

And while this might not seem like a big deal, driving with that disabled parking permit hanging from the rear-view mirror is technically illegal.

More from Chokepoints: Sweeping bus-only lanes, what’s the right move?

“No person shall drive any motor vehicle with any sign, poster or other nontransparent material upon the front windshield, side wings or side or rear windows of such vehicle which obstructs the driver’s clear view of the highway or any intersecting highway,” RCW 46.37.410 states.

Now, one could argue that a disabled parking permit does not obstruct one’s clear view of the highway, but that comes down to a judgment call. This would apply to a Discover Pass, a game or concert parking pass, a phone holder or even your fuzzy dice.

Considering the amount of people I see driving with many hanging obstructions, I don’t think she has too much to worry about. Of course, you can be pulled over if you have a badly enough damaged windshield. Cracks are an obstruction too.

Headphones while driving

I have seen a lot of people wearing headphones, earbuds and all sorts of listening devices while behind the wheel, and another listener asked about that recently. This person wanted to know if it is legal to drive like that.

The answer is no. It is not legal to wear headphones while driving. You cannot have your earbuds in while driving.

“No person shall operate any motor vehicle on a public highway while wearing any headset or earphones connected to any electronic device capable of receiving a radio broadcast or playing a sound recording for the purpose of transmitting a sound to the human auditory senses and which headset or earphones muffle or exclude other sounds,” RCW 46.37.480 states.

More from Chris Sullivan: Why do so many people get freaked out at four-way stops?

But here is where we get into a gray area. That same law exempts drivers from “using hands-free, wireless communications systems, as approved by the equipment section of the Washington State Patrol (WSP).”

I’m still waiting to get a definitive answer from WSP on whether wearing one earbud is OK. My best advice is that headphones are a no-go, as well as two earbuds in at the same time.

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I have never understood why so many people get freaked out at four-way stops. They are relatively easy to understand, but many drivers remain confused.

I’m bringing this up because a big Chokepoints fan named Kathryn asked me to go over the rules.

More on Wash. roads: Seattle drivers prepare for full I-5 closure Wednesday night

For those following at home, this is found from Section 3-23 to 3-26 in the Washington Driver’s Guide, under the heading “right of way.” As the guide points out, no one has the right of way. Drivers must yield the right of way to others.

The general rule is simple. The driver who gets to the intersection goes first. And that means the driver who comes to a complete stop first. None of this “rolling through” nonsense.

If two cars arrive at the same time, the driver to the right goes first. Now this only works if everyone is using their turn signals so everyone knows where everyone is intending to go.

Kathryn’s question was a little more specific. What happens if you have the right of way, but there is a pedestrian in the mix? Drivers must always yield right of way to pedestrians and bicyclists.

More from Chris Sullivan: Sweeping bus-only lanes, what’s the right move?

In this case, the driver must wait for the pedestrian to clear and then enter the intersection. Another driver can enter the intersection while the first driver is waiting, but that first driver doesn’t lose his or her place in the queue.  That driver gets to go once the pedestrian has cleared. The whole “who got there first” doesn’t start over for this driver.

And this doesn’t just apply to four-way stops, but also intersections where there are no stop signs, yield signs or traffic signals.

Just be courteous. Use your signals. And watch for pedestrians.

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It highlighted the importance of following the law on turning and Washington’s law is clear — you must turn into the closest lane. It’s pretty simple.

More from Chris Sullivan: Lane sweeping is all too common and needs to stop

But lane sweeping is a huge problem and it’s dangerous. It’s when drivers sweep into a second or third lane when they should be turning directly into the closest lane.

A lot of listeners reached out to me, raising a very specific situation. It’s something that KIRO Newsradio’s Heather Bosch brought up too.

What happens when you are turning and the closest lane is restricted in some way? For example, the closest lane is designated as a bus-only lane. Do you turn into that closest lane and then merge to the left, or do you turn into that second lane, avoiding the bus-only lane entirely?

More Chokepoints stories: Sound Transit parking changes on the way

This is not specifically covered in the RCW or in the City of Seattle code. Local jurisdictions can make these kinds of changes for restricted lanes.

I spoke with Seattle Police and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). Though a bus-only lane is a restricted lane, drivers can turn into it at an intersection and then merge over a lane.

Here is some more detail from SDOT: It is illegal to block the bus lane, so drivers should not turn into the bus lane unless the next lane over is clear enough to quickly and safely merge over. It is not legal to use the bus lane to pass other cars stuck in traffic or travel in it for longer than necessary to safely make a turn.

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