White River Amphitheater’s new schedule could make traffic worse

Imagine leaving your home for a quick trip to the store, only to be stuck in a five-hour backup just to get home. It happens to people in Auburn any time the White River Amphitheater hosts a big-name performer.

Helen Evans wrote in saying it’s inconceivable that this venue was allowed to be built on a small rural road and asked if there was anything that could be done.

Now, the venue has plans to expand its concert and events schedule.

You might remember the blowback from the Journey concert in July when drivers couldn’t move in Auburn or on Highway 164 to the amphitheater. Some people turned around after waiting five hours. Residents were prisoners in their homes. They couldn’t go anywhere.

Dana Hinman, the Public Affairs Manager with the City of Auburn said, “It is literally gridlock” during one of those heavily-attended concerts.

“The traffic plan getting in there is not great and that’s no secret. They will say it. We will say it. Our citizens, on those nights, will certainly let us know.”

There’s only so much Auburn can do on those nights. It tweaks the light timing to move more cars. It warns residents of big shows, but when the crush of cars comes there is little that can be done.

Hinman said White River plans to expand its concert series next year, becoming a year-round venue, but with an emphasis on smaller shows that generate less than 8,000 people. According to Hinman, that’s the sweet spot for traffic. Any crowd larger than that turns into a nightmare for the surrounding communities.

“They would like to move in that direction, simply because they don’t want to be known as the bad traffic people, and they know that they are,” Hinman said. “They don’t want that reputation. They want to be a positive part of the community.”

White River Amphitheater is owned by the Muckleshoot Tribe and is managed by Live Nation. It’s not like Auburn can tell them to only schedule small shows or restrict what days they can have them.

But at least one solution to the area’s congestion can be achieved by drivers: Concert-goers do not have to use Highways 18 and 164 to get there. It’s what pops up on GPS. It’s the most direct route, but there are choices.

Drivers can get there by going Highway 169 from Renton. It’s longer but usually moves better. People can also take Highway 410 from Summer.

“People tend to go with the route they know,” said Travis Phelps with the Washington State Department of Transportation. “If you take some time to research the back roads, it might be able to save you some time.”

It might be a rural area, but on concert days it’s anything but.

Listener Evans asked me why the state couldn’t partner with the Muckleshoot Tribe to widen the highway. Phelps said that wouldn’t be a good use of limited dollars because this route chokes up occasionally, and there are roads that back up daily that take priority.

“Funding a lot of money to widen it when there could be additional chokepoints elsewhere that may be congested on an hourly basis is kind of what we’re looking at,” he said.

White River declined an interview for this story.