Drivers taking risks to reach Auburn mall exit on SR 167
Jun 28, 2016, 7:13 AM | Updated: 10:22 am
An addition to southbound 167 near Auburn is causing some drivers to take unnecessary risks to try and exit the highway.
It’s been about a month since the first three miles of an eight-mile extension of the HOT lanes opened to the public, but drivers trying to exit to 15th Street are still finding themselves trapped.
The left lane now extends from where the HOT lane used to end around 37th Street NW to 15th Street SW, south of Highway 18. Until the tolling equipment is added, this three miles is HOV-only.
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But that’s not the issue.
The exit to 15th Street, which is how you access the outlet mall, is not accessible from that HOV lane, and drivers are realizing it too late and attempting to cross three lanes to get there.
“We do expect drivers will need to take some time to, you know, get familiar with the situation. But we are evaluating it,” said Carla Maloney, WDSOT’s assistant project manager for the lane extension.
There are signs that warn drivers they can’t make the move. Maloney says adding signs reminding drivers that the mall is at that exit might help.
“Every driver is going to behave how they behave,” she said. “What we need to do is to make sure we’ve provided adequate notification about the situation.”
Commuter Ricky Ferguson sent me an email with a possible solution. He thinks extending the guard rail about 200 feet from where 167 crosses Highway 18 would keep people from the risky lane changes.
Though Maloney doesn’t have all the information needed to determine if Ferguson’s idea would work, she said that, in general, a barrier would just add to safety hazards.
Maloney says it’s possible that more state troopers will patrol the area.
“If we hear feedback from the Washington State Patrol or others that this this type of maneuver is happening, we’ll take measures at that time,” she said.
For now, drivers like Ferguson are hoping that nobody takes unnecessary risks.
“I just hope they don’t have to scrape me off of 167 because somebody had to get to the mall,” he wrote.
As for the project itself, the final 4.5 miles of the extension should be open to HOV drivers by late fall. That will extend the lane all the way to 8th Street in Pierce County.
The tolling equipment is scheduled to be installed in during the spring, and at that time the extra lane will become a HOT lane.
