Lynnwood preparing for new Costco traffic at Alderwood Mall

One of the busiest areas in Snohomish County is about to get a lot a busier. A Costco is going in right across the street from the Alderwood Mall.

If you’ve been to the mall in Lynnwood, you know it can be a nightmare getting through all the traffic. There’s Target, Kohl’s, Home Goods, the mall itself, and a huge movie theater on the west side of I-5. On the east side, you have Best Buy, Old Navy, and Nordstrom Rack. It backs up all the time; not to mention the holidays when you can’t even move.

Tell us about a chokepoint

Now a Costco is under construction on the old Lynnwood High School property located just north of Nordstrom.

“It’s going to have an impact on the traffic demand in and around Alderwood Mall,” said Lynnwood traffic engineer Paul Coffelt. “We’re just not going to be able to avoid that.”

Costco is the first and anchor tenant at the new development and Coffelt expects it to push the limits of what the area can handle.

“We’re going to be busy and pretty close to capacity, especially during the holiday shopping season,” Coffelt said. “That’s an easy prediction to make anyway, just because today, without Costco, we’re at capacity and very near gridlock.”

Isn’t that just setting Lynnwood up for failure?

Coffelt said all the studies suggest the roads will be able to handle the increased traffic. He will be watching to tweak the lights to minimize the impacts.

Coffelt said he’s not entirely sure what to expect.

“But we feel somewhat comfortable that the models telling us that we’re going to be close to capacity certain times of the year, and we’ll just do our best to find the patterns and keep the traffic moving through the grid,” he said.

To prepare for the increase in volume, Lynnwood has added new streets, signals, and access to the location.

“We’ve asked Costco to pay for that roadway to be built,” he said.

There will be multiple entry points into the Costco parking lot. You won’t have to go all the way to the mall to get there.

The Costco is set to open in August with more development to follow.