Chicken congestion: New Raising Cane’s in Lynnwood expected to impact traffic

It’s another chicken chokepoint, this time in Lynnwood. A new Raising Cane’s is about to open on 164th Street S.W., and the county has implemented special traffic management plans to address potential congestion.

The chicken-finger joint is taking over the old Wells Fargo Bank Branch on 164th Street S.W., just east of I-5 in Lynnwood. It is set to open on June 23. This will be Raising Cane’s fourth location in Washington and the furthest north.

While I have never had Raising Cane’s or the sauce that I have heard is so delicious, I am very concerned about the impact this location could have on traffic.

Chicken-prompted traffic

164th Street S.W. is one of the busiest east-west corridors in Snohomish County. It provides direct access to Mill Creek, and it backs up terribly every day, in both directions, even though there are three lanes in each direction and a center turn lane.

The restaurant is about a thousand feet from the northbound I-5 off-ramp, using a right lane that is already a merging nightmare for people trying to get to the Walmart, and that right lane also becomes exit-only 500 feet east of the restaurant. Left-hand turns from 13th Avenue to 164th Street S.W. also complicates traffic.

Add Raising Cane’s to this, and we have the potential for chicken congestion.

The concern is so great that Snohomish County Public Works wants to prevent left lane turns into the parking lot from 164th Street S.W. and 13th Avenue, at least during the opening. This is to prevent those roads from backing up even more and shutting this intersection down during peak hours. Drivers trying to do this would be crossing multiple lanes of traffic, which are usually backed up too.

County engineer and deputy public works director Doug McCormick said his team will be monitoring those turns closely.

“I can see us potentially in the future, maybe if there becomes a problem having to limit that, where people will have to either go into one of the earlier driveways and then make their way over, otherwise they’ll have to turn on 13th and then come around,” he said.

That could mean adding control devices to prevent the turns in the future.

During the opening, you will only be able to access the Raising Cane’s parking lot via a right turn from eastbound 164th or a right turn from northbound 13th Avenue, and the county is also requiring traffic control during the opening.

“That is part of our plan, talking with them to have off-duty police officers, whether that be Snohomish County or whoever is in that pool that day, that they can hire to help manage traffic for that grand opening,” McCormick said.

They’re still working on all final plans, but McCormick is pleased with the direction so far.

“I’ll be more comfortable when we talk to them more and make sure we have a good, solid plan in place, but I’m glad that we’re having conversations with them,” he said. “I know we’ll have a good plan by the time they have their opening.”

Unlike the new Chick-fil-A location north of 128th Street, which hasn’t been too bad, this new Raising Cane’s will likely have a significant impact in the short term.

Mill Creek residents and visitors might want to consider using 128th Street until the initial wave of tenders lovers has passed.

Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.

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