SDOT increasing speed limit on Spokane Street Viaduct
Dec 13, 2013, 3:51 PM | Updated: 4:33 pm
The Seattle Department of Transportation will increase the speed limit on the Spokane Street Viaduct from 35 mph to 40 mph Saturday. (SDOT image)
(SDOT image)
The drive to West Seattle might not get any faster, but it could feel like it as the Seattle Department of Transportation is set to raise the speed limit on the Spokane Street Viaduct this weekend.
The speed limit will go from 35 mph to 40 mph on the stretch between I-5 and First Avenue South. SDOT has been monitoring actual speeds since work widening the structure’s original design finished last December.
Engineers determined increasing the speed limit would improve safety on the road.
“If you look at the data, drivers are traveling about 40 miles per hour, so we don’t want that speed differential with somebody who’s driving slower,” says SDOT traffic engineer Dongho Chang.
The Spokane Street Viaduct Project doubled the viaduct’s width, and refurbished and seismically reinforced the older portion, SDOT says. The project created wider travel lanes, shoulders, and deceleration and merge lanes.
SDOT also added a new eastbound off-ramp at Fourth Avenue S. and fully reconstructed the lower S. Spokane Street.
The new limit probably won’t change much for the 40,000 drivers who cross the structure every day. But at least their chances of getting a ticket will slightly decline.
