WSDOT WANTS TO METER THE MERCER RAMPS TO I-5, MEANING YOU’LL STOP AT A LIGHT BEFORE YOU CAN GO. GREAT CHANGE… OR RIDICULOUS?

The Washington Department of Transportation has big plans for Seattle’s notorious Mercer Mess — adding meters to the ramps onto I-5 in a move that WSDOT officials say will improve the flow of traffic on the interstate.

Wait a second. It may improve the flow of traffic once it gets to I-5– and ON I-5– but a lot of drivers want to hit the brakes on the plan because of its possible impacts on MERCER.

You see, the project isn’t designed to improve traffic on Mercer. In fact, I asked WSDOT spokesperson Harmony Weinberg, “Are these changes going to make the Mercer mess messier?”

“We’re not anticipating the wait on Mercer that people are experiencing now to get any worse,” Weinberg told me.

But as you can see from the comments on The WSDOT Blog, a lot of drivers aren’t buying that. They call the project “ridiculous.” They ask, “Do you want traffic to back up past KeyArena on Mercer? Because you’re going to get it.” They say, “SDOT and WSDOT projections that this will not impact city traffic [are] difficult to believe.” One person, at least, does stick up for the project and its aim.

It’s a tricky area to tweak.

I spoke with Alex Lawrence, who works at the I Love My Gluten Free Food stand just off Mercer. He has a front-row seat to the chaos that occurs as drivers try to navigate the Mercer Mess.

“People will be in the left lane and try to get over, especially at the end, trying to get their way in there,” Lawrence said.

WashDOT says its plan will improve the flow of cars merging onto I-5 — at the cost of $250,000.

“You have this big pile of traffic, cars coming from Mercer, all trying to merge on into the system onto southbound I-5,” Weinberg said. “But by taking one car at a time, it’s going to allow one vehicle into that system — that’s going to make them easier to get over.”

She also said ramp meters will reduce collisions on the interstate by a third. WSDOT did not have the number of crashes available but provided a heat map instead (I’ve asked for the numbers). They point to the areas after the ramps as proof that crashes are happening in part because they say people are trying to merge and change lanes.

“I think that’s a good idea if actually does work how they mean it to work,” Cecy Topete, who works in the area and parks elsewhere, said.

“I don’t think it will,” driver Steven Iacolo said. “You’re still going to have people on the highway that are trying to get to the right or left.”

“It will definitely back it up a lot more,” Alex Lawrence predicted. “If you’re having to meter each car going in, that’s going to take a long time, I think.”

We’ll see. Work will start on Saturday when the on-ramp to I-5 South will be closed overnight to start installing equipment. The meters will eventually be installed at lanes for I-5 Northbound and Southbound from Mercer Street. The metering will begin on weekends on March 10 and on weekdays on April 10.

What do YOU think?