‘It’s just a nightmare’: KIRO hosts launch Revive I-5 Express Lane petition

In the midst of the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) Revive I-5 project, which has plagued Seattle’s commuters, the city has decided to keep the Express Lanes closed without any consideration for other options.

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, decided to take their traffic-induced anger out by launching a petition calling on WSDOT leadership to hear the people’s pleas for a better system.

“I was very frustrated because I sat in two hours of traffic this morning on my way in. The reason I sat in a big chunk of traffic was that they have the Revive I-5 project going on,” Jake said. “It’s just a nightmare. If you have to drive on I-5 like I do twice a day, your only saving grace in the morning is that they have those express lanes open.”

Jake and Spike propose solutions to ease I-5 traffic nightmare

In response to WSDOT’s decision to keep the I-5 Express Lanes closed, Jake and Spike took initiative and created a petition, clamoring for WSDOT to consider other avenues that could cut down on the lengthy commute times over the next year.

“One of our texters said you should start a change.org petition, and I said I’m going to jump on it, I’m gonna do it,” Jake said. “I’ve never started one of those before, but I took the initiative, and I have a change.org petition now. You can go and read it if you want. It basically says, ‘We beg you, WSDOT, please open the Express Lanes.’ What we need is people to sign this thing, because currently, petitions don’t really matter if nobody signs them.

“Worst case scenario, it doesn’t work, and traffic doesn’t get better, and then there’s more traffic as a result,” Jake continued. “We’re already in traffic for two hours a lot of days if you’re heading in from where I’m coming from in Snohomish. Worst case, you have a little bit of traffic, which we’re already doing.”

Spike thought of an alternative idea, which involved giving WSDOT Secretary of Transportation Julie Meredith an inside look at commuters’ qualms, while also offering her room and board for her troubles.

“We should invite Julie Meredith to stay at my house and drive with us one morning,” Spike said. “Spend a week commuting with us for a week, we’ll even carpool. I can’t use the skeleton I used last year.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.