Harger: WSDOT needs to try opening the southbound express lanes amid ‘Revive I-5’
Jan 27, 2026, 7:22 AM | Updated: 3:45 pm
I get it. I really do.
The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has a plan. The Revive I-5 project is a massive undertaking. The Ship Canal Bridge carries nearly 240,000 vehicles a day despite being 60 years old, and it has needed more than 200 emergency repairs since 2019. The work has to happen. Nobody’s arguing that.
And I understand the logic behind keeping the express lanes northbound only during this phase. You’ve got two northbound lanes instead of four. One fender bender and the whole thing locks up. The express lanes act as a relief valve. It makes sense on paper.
But every morning, KIRO traffic reporter Chris Sullivan comes on and describes what’s happening out there. Ninety-minute commutes. Backups past the county line. And I wonder if anyone at WSDOT is paying attention to what’s actually happening, or are they just trusting the projections?
Ninety minutes from Lynnwood to Seattle. Backups to the King-Snohomish county line. Commuters are calling it “debilitating.” An “untenable new norm.” Those aren’t Sullivan’s words for dramatic effect. That’s what people are living through every single morning.
WSDOT made this decision based on models. Projections. Computer simulations that said keeping the express lanes northbound would balance the system and prevent catastrophic backups in the construction zone.
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But projections aren’t the same as reality
Models are educated guesses. They’re useful, but they’re not gospel. So here’s my question: Why not test it?
I’m not saying flip a switch tomorrow and commit to running the express lanes southbound every morning for the rest of the year. I’m saying pick a week. One week. Open them southbound during the morning rush and see what happens.
If the projections hold up, if northbound turns into a parking lot and the whole system collapses, fine. We’ll have learned something. Keep it northbound only, and we’ll all stop asking.
But what if the real world doesn’t match the model? What if southbound improves dramatically and northbound holds up better than expected? What if the projections were too conservative? Wouldn’t we want to know that?
Think about what this is costing. Not just in frustration, but in real dollars. Late arrivals to work. Missed meetings. Delayed shipments. Parents late to pick up their kids. Hourly workers losing wages because they’re stuck on the freeway. That adds up. That matters.
King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn has been pushing for this. Commuters have been begging for it. And so far, the answer from WSDOT has been: no, the model says this is the best approach.
I’m not an engineer. I’m not a traffic planner. But I do know that sometimes the best way to find out if something works is to try it.
We’re supposed to be an innovative region. We’re supposed to be open-minded. We’re supposed to believe in testing assumptions and adapting when the data tells us something new.
This isn’t about second-guessing the experts. It’s about trusting but verifying. One week. A real-world test. If it fails, we move on. If it works, we adjust.
Look, if the model is correct, we’ll all say sorry and sit in traffic like good Washingtonians. But if it’s not, wouldn’t it be nice to know before December?
Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here.
