Dramatic increase in crashes on I-5 between Highway 16, Fife

New numbers support complaints from South Sound drivers who say they’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of crashes on Interstate 5 in Tacoma.

The problem is the section of I-5 that runs past the Tacoma Dome, KIRO 7 reports.

The stretch is a notorious bottleneck area, made worse by the seemingly endless construction.

Related: How much longer will I-5 in Tacoma be under construction?

Billy Eastman and his co-worker were rear-ended Feb. 24 by a driver who slammed on their brakes to avoid another crash on I-5. It snarled the morning commute for thousands of drivers headed north through Tacoma.

KIRO 7 traffic anchor Alexis Smith has been tracking numerous crashes between Highway 16 and Fife recently. The first week of February, there were multiple collisions two mornings in a row, which slowed traffic for several miles.

With so many wrecks in the morning, KIRO 7 asked the Washington State Department of Transportation for some statistics.

Last year, there were 177 collisions during the weekday morning commute on the stretch of I-5. Drivers blame construction.

WSDOT is in the middle of a three-year project to build new bridges over the Puyallup River and add HOV lanes.

Crash statistics before the construction started in 2013 show there were only 109 crashes. Since then, crashes have increased 62 percent.

The biggest complaints from drivers are that for months, the lanes were constantly being shifted and re-striped, and in some sections, the lanes are a foot narrower than normal freeway lanes.

But WSDOT and the Washington State Patrol said they don’t think the increase in crashes is the fault of the construction, but the fault of drivers who aren’t paying attention or are going too fast for the changing driving conditions in the work zone.