Mercer Street fix includes permanent closure of Broad Street

This morning, commuters are facing the unusual experience of driving straight through on Mercer Street all the way from I-5 to Queen Anne.

The Mercer Corridor project is not finished because the plan calls for three lanes from the freeway to Seattle Center.

“We’re widening Mercer to make it three lanes in each direction, continuing what you have now complete in the South Lake Union area over to 5th Avenue North,” said Seattle Department of Transportation project manager Eric Tweit.

Westbound Mercer Street no longer has that jog to the right, just past Westlake, that shifts westbound traffic to Broad Street. That’s because Broad Street is closed, permanently, from 5th Avenue North to Dexter Avenue.

“And the reason we have to close Broad Street is so that we can build those final lanes in that area that is now Broad Street,” he explained.

Tweit thinks westbound drivers should be fine with Broad eliminated. But the evening, eastbound commute might be worse.

“From Seattle Center to I-5, you’re probably going to experience more congestion because we still have just two lanes on Mercer, we now have two-way traffic and with Broad closed, we’re going to have more people trying to use Mercer to get eastbound,” said Tweit.

Drivers might see uniformed police officers on scene to keep traffic moving through the re-configured Mercer Street corridor.

So, Mercer Street is going back in time. When it was first built, it was a two-way arterial. The entire Mercer Corridor project is scheduled to finish in mid-2015.